Common blueberries are now considered a super food. Yes, the same little blue beauties that have been sprinkled in your pancakes and muffins forever, and were only used for taste, are suddenly the star of some of the most important cancer research in years.
In fact, researchers at the University of Alabama report that eating just one cup per day prevents the type of cell damage linked to cancer. How is it that something so simple, so common and so delicious outperforms some multi-million dollar drugs that some companies have been working on for DECADES?!
Don’t Believe the Hype
Blueberries have gained such a great reputation for health and healing that food companies are adding dried berries to many packaged products. They are almost always loaded with sugars, high fructose corn syrup, and/or damaging oils – all of which feed cancer.
Stick with organic, fresh or frozen blueberries – a super food, a medicine and a delicious treat we’ve known and enjoyed all our lives.
Now here’s the jaw-dropping science behind all the excitement…
Blueberries are loaded with antioxidants and flavonoids that help prevent the cellular damage that primes you for cancer.
They’re rich in flavonoids called anthocyanins… formed from the Greek words antho- (meaning flower) and –cyanin (meaning dark blue). Anthocyanins can actually be red, violet, or blue, depending on pH level. Blueberries also contain phenolic acids.
Anthocyanins are antioxidants that protect the plant from oxidative damage. Inside your cells, they play a similar role. Many studies now show that antioxidants (including anthocyanins) help prevent free-radical damage associated with cancer.
Blueberries are a super food rich in vitamin C, which is important for your immune health. Vitamin C also helps keep your blood vessels firm, offering cancer patients protection against bruising… according to Laura Newton, M.A.Ed., R.D., and associate professor at the University of Alabama.
Blueberries Take on Radiation and Win!
An important 2013 study showed the utter failure of conventional radiation cancer treatments – as well as the real possibility that a compound found in blueberries cancels some of the dangerous effects of radiation.
The researchers made two discoveries:
Radiating liver cancer cells with “normal” radiation therapy only increased the cancer cells’ resistance to treatment. In other words, it was the opposite of a cure for liver cancer. It helped only to the worst, most dangerous cancer cells!
Adding pterostilbene overcame many of the sickening effects of radiation.
Conventional “treatments” can actually boost cancer cells – and certain natural compounds can selectively kill only cancer cells.
But will the results of these studies stop cancer treatments that can make cancer worse? Why wait to find out? Use these results today, and find more answers in super foods, the natural cancer killers that are in your local supermarket, health food stores and read more about it online at www.pubmed.gov.
Research suggests that pterostilbene should be included as a complementary treatment for patients in radiation therapy. Translation: Eat all the blueberries you can find.
Maybe we can dump radiation as a therapy entirely and replace it with a super food diet, targeted supplements and detoxification that would minimize cancer formation? Ya think?
It’s logical but logic often goes out the window when people are confronted with the big “C”. So we think the best course is to look to super foods like blueberries that can prevent and reverse all kinds of illnesses including cancers that harsh chemical drugs and radiation can’t touch without severe side effects.
Radiation often just cuts the total population of cancer cells, (of course, it kills EVERYTHING) making you think that the treatment is working. But it actually boosts the proportion of cells that are highly malignant, often leading to the treatment-induced death of the patient.
That’s why it’s misleading to say it shrinks a tumor. The surviving cells have merely survived a sort of Darwinian struggle that killed off the weaker ones, and cancer bounces back worse than ever.
On the other hand, blueberries – a trusted, well-known, super food, safely kills off many kinds of cancer cells.
Hello! Is this internet blog thing working?
Blueberries have already been shown they can kill highly virulent breast cancer cells. New research shows that the resveratrol contained in blueberries can kill dozens of other lethal cancers.
At the University of Illinois, a recent study found that the blueberries’ free-radical-attacking properties worked against prostate cancer as well. The researchers actually called blueberries a potential therapeutic agent for early-stage prostate cancer and prevention. Cancer prevention? Has anybody ever talked seriously about cancer prevention before?
And there’s even more: Another study found that blueberry’s anthocyanins suppressed the spread of oral cancer KB cells and killed oral cancer KB cells
Lose Fat, Keep Memory – and more – with Super Food Blueberries.
Super foods because they are whole fruits, plants or nuts contain hundreds or thousands of micro-nutrients that not available anywhere else, especially in processed foods. These micro-nutrients turn out to be extremely important for the body to ward off obesity and dementia – to name just a few conditions that are promoted by empty, processed, sugar-laden prepared foods.
Researchers found that pterostilbene reduces the accumulation of body fat, which is related to the risk of developing many other conditions.
Blueberries have a positive impact on the blood sugar levels of type 2 diabetes patients. Study participants showed significant improvement in blood sugar regulation over a three-month period, as measured by the A1C test.
Blueberries and Memory
Also new evidence suggests that blueberries can improve your memory. A recent study of older adults (average age 76) showed that 12 weeks of daily blueberry consumption was enough to improve their scores on two different tests of cognitive function, including memory.
Participants in this study consumed blueberry juice. Three-quarters of a pound of berries was used to make each cup of juice – quite a large amount. Since participants drank 2 to 2 1/2 cups each day, they consumed the equivalent of 1 1/2 to 2 pounds of berries per day.
The study’s authors believe that, besides improving memory, blueberries could also postpone the onset of other cognitive problems often attributed to aging.
Blueberries and Heart Disease
Women who ate three or more servings per week, in another recent study, showed that anthocyanins helping counter plaque buildup and improve cardiovascular health.
Though blueberries are native to America, a recent study reported that only 48% of American consumers had purchased any during the previous year. And of those who did, 61% said they did it for the flavor, not for the flavonoids.
And you might think organic blueberries are expensive, well eat them them anyway. Really. Are you serious about the long-term health of your family? Are going to pass up something this delicious, powerful and frankly beautiful to save a few bucks at breakfast? Really?
Are you going to buy blueberry Pop Tarts instead?
I hope you can see that food you make yourself from fresh, raw ingredients is worth the extra time and money.
Buying and Using Blueberries
You can freeze blueberries for three to six months without damaging their antioxidants. This means that when they’re in season, you can buy and freeze them for later use. The advantage isn’t huge, because blueberries are shipped up from South America during the fall and winter. But you might save a few bucks by freezing American summer berries.
It’s essential to buy organic blueberries (or berries of any kind). Conventionally grown blueberries are on Environmental Working Group’s “Dirty Dozen” list, because they’re heavily sprayed with pesticides and other toxic chemicals.
And the conventional berries have less nutritional value. Here’s the proof. . .
A recent study compared the antioxidant capacity of organic versus non-organic blueberries. The organic ones had significantly higher concentrations of total phenol antioxidants and total anthocyanins than the conventionally grown berries.
References
We use and thank our many sources of information including pubmed.org, Lee Euler and Cancer Defeated, David Wolfe and Longevity Warehouse, Matt Monarch and The Raw Food World.
i [1] Chi-Ming Lee, Yen-Hao Su, Thanh-Tuan Huynh, Wei-Hwa Lee, Jeng-Fong Chiou, Yen-Kuang Lin, Michael Hsiao, Chih-Hsiung Wu, Yuh-Feng Lin, Alexander T H Wu, Chi-Tai Yeh. BlueBerry Isolate, Pterostilbene, Functions as a Potential Anticancer Stem Cell Agent in Suppressing Irradiation-Mediated Enrichment of Hepatoma Stem Cells. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2013 ;2013:258425. Epub 2013 Jun 26. PMID: 23878592
ii Radiation-induced reprogramming of breast cancer cells. Stem Cells. 2012 May ;30(5):833-44. PMID: 22489015
iii Cancer Res. 2010 May 1;70(9):3594-605. Epub 2010 Apr 13. PMID: 20388778
iv Schmidt BM, Erdman J, Lila M. Differential effects of blueberry proanthocyanidins on androgen sensitive and insensitive human prostate cancer cell lines. Cancer Letters. 2006.
v Yi Chuan. 2014 Jun 20 ;36(6):566-73. PMID: 24929515
vi Saioa Gomez-Zorita, Alfredo Fernandez-Quintela, Arrate Lasa, Leixuri Aguirre, Agnes M. Rimando, Maria P. Portillo. Pterostilbene, a Dimethyl Ether Derivative of Resveratrol, Reduces Fat Accumulation in Rats Fed an Obesogenic Diet. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2014; 62 (33): 8371 DOI: 10. 1021/jf501318b