Post date: 23.07.2010 4:59 PM

Blueberries are packed with antioxidant power, but the benefits of blueberries are far more than just the plant chemicals you hear about so often. Blueberries fight disease on multiple levels, and are an underused tool of naturally good health.

Probably you have heard about cranberry juice as a tool for fighting bacterial infection of the urinary tract. Millions of cystitis sufferers are told to drink unsweetened cranberry juice to get rid of the E. coli and Proteus infestations that cause painful urination, abdominal cramps, and even bleeding.

Cranberry juice, as long as it isn’t doused with sugar, really works against common urinary tract infections. The problem is that it sometimes works a little too well. Aspirin-like compounds in cranberry juice trigger allergic reactions in the aspirin-sensitive, and cranberry extracts really aren’t safe in children under three. In fact, infants and toddlers have had to be hospitalized after treatment with cranberry juice extract.

Fortunately, blueberry juice and fresh blueberries also fight urinary tract infections, and they are safe for young children and for people who are sensitive to aspirin. One of the major benefits of blueberries is that they are tasty all by themselves, no sugar added because no sugar is needed, and they also fight the build of sticky biofilms left by infectious microorganisms in the urinary tract.

Blueberries are also beneficial for your brain. On a test tube level, blueberry antioxidants activate two brain-protective enzymes, catalase and superoxide dismutase. These are the enzymes that keep neurons from being “deactivated” after they are attacked by free radicals. Scientists at the Montreal Diabetes Research Center and the University of Montreal in Canada even believe that blueberry juice will be the source of treatments for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and age-related memory problems, and that eating blueberries confers similar benefits now.

There is no downside to eating blueberries, except that if you eat enough to make a black bear jealous, your digestive tract is going to slow down to handle all the pectin. Up to a quarter cup of delicious blueberries every day for kids and up to a whole cup of blueberries every day for adults offers all the benefits of blueberries in a delicious summer package–and you can enjoy all-fruit blueberry conserves and blueberry juice every day of the year.

Article By BeWellBuzz Featured Writer Robert Rister:

Chemist, commentator, and formulator of natural products, cited as an authority on herbal medicine in publications such as the Journal of the American Medical Association and Natural Health, Robert Rister is the author or co-author of over twenty books on natural health, including the forthcoming Coconut Grove Diet.