Blueberries
By Jacob Schor, N.D.
Outside
of Colorado, it's blueberry season. I can tell, because King Soopers has them
as a loss leader this week at $1.49 a pint. Plump berries trucked in from Oregon,
Michigan, and Maine. Sure this is more expensive than the 22 cents a pound I
used to pay for the organic u-pick berries that filled our freezer in Portland,
but I can live with it. Twenty bucks still buys a pile of berries.
Blueberries freeze well, buy enough to last the winter. They make
great smoothies, and the best pies. As you've come to expect from these articles,
the next question is what's so healthy about them? I've just done a quick abstract
review under the heading "blueberry" over at the National Library
of Medicine while my pies are cooling, so let's see what they say.
Good
Health on the Internet
But a quick diversion first. The National Library of Medicine
and their search engines PubMed and Medline are online and free to use. I can
never remember their address, so I go to "Medherb.com" (which I can
remember) and click on their Medical Journal Links page or go to my web page
at denvernaturopathic.com and click on "related sites" and scroll
down to the appropriate link.
Type in "blueberry" (or whatever other subject you're
interested in researching) in the box and hit return. There are 70 or so articles
that come up initially. Read through the titles and if one sounds relevant or
interesting click on the it to read the abstract. Depending on the journal,
you may be able to go to the entire text of the article. If the article seems
to be exactly what you want to read, click on the box "related articles"
to see if anything else turns up. Some searches will give you too many listings
to do you any good, for example, "Vitamin C." In that case narrow
the search down by connecting two topics of interest with "AND" (in
capital letters), such as "Blueberry C AND Cancer."
Patients
have told me that their memories have improved after taking blueberry extracts
to improve their eyesight. Blueberries contain chemicals which protect the brain
neurons from oxidative damage, preventing and reversing some of the brain damage
associated with aging.
Blueberry leaves lower blood sugar levels in diabetics by about
26% and triglyceride levels by almost 40%. Blueberries also have an anti inflammatory
effect and produce long lasting protection for the capillaries. Extracts have
been shown to prevent carcinogenic chemicals from causing cancer.
The
Fun Part
Served frozen blueberries are a fun snack for children. Whizzed in
a blender or food processor with a little honey and yogurt they make almost
instant frozen yogurt. Don't add frozen blueberries to pancake batter though.
You'll end up with raw batter. Thaw them for a few minutes in tap water before
adding them. The same goes for muffins.
Blueberry Pie
Crust:
3 cups flour
2 sticks butter
1/2 tsp salt
ice water to form dough (see your favorite cookbook for preparation instructions)
Filling:
4 pints blueberries
1-2 cups sweetener
1/3 cup flour
a bit of butter
dash of cinnamon
squeeze of lemon juice
Gently mix together. Bake at about 400 degrees till crust is golden and berries
are bubbling.
(makes two deep dish pies)
Jacob Schor, N.D. majored in Food Science and Product Development as an undergraduate at Cornell University, and received his doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine at National College in Portland, Oregon in 1991. He served as President of the Colorado Association of Naturopathic Physicians from 1992-1999 and maintains a private practice at the Denver Naturopathic Clinic.