Posts Tagged ‘raspberries’
Raspberries are rich in ellagic acid, which is a natural phytonutrient that belongs the tannin family, and it is the most significant antioxidant that is present in raspberries. You can find ellagic acid at health food shops, as it is sold there, being a dietary supplement.
This ellagic acid, found in raspberries is helpful to avoid damage of DNA and cell membranes, because they stop the free radicals by reducing the oxidant potential.
Raspberries are also having other important phytonutrients called flavonoids. The most important flavonoids are kaempferol, and quercetin. These flavonoids fit in the group of anthocyanins. Anthocyanins are pigments that give color to a number of berries, including raspberries.
Anthocyanins are not just responsible for the color giving properties. They also have anti-oxidant powers. Studies have shown that they fight effectively against fungi and bacteria.
Researches are being carried out, and the initial results show that raspberries have cancer-fighting properties. Some animals infected by cancer cells were given raspberries, and they showed significant progress than the others who didn’t get raspberry supplements.
According to the studies held in Netherlands, raspberries have much higher antioxidant content than other berries. Compared with strawberries, raspberries have 50 % higher content of anti oxidants. Compared with kiwifruits, raspberries had three times more antioxidants and they had ten times more antioxidant content when compared to tomatoes rich in lycopene.
Some say that their high antioxidant content is due to the existence of ellagitannins. These substances are present exclusively in raspberries, and are found to be anti-cancer.
Studies have also shown that frozen raspberries do not lose their antioxidant powers, although processed berries have a lesser amount of them. So you should always prefer fresh berries, or frozen berries than processed ones, if you are going for health benefits. Though, some of the nutrients do get reduced during freezing as well. For example, vitamin C in the raspberries reduces to half when you freeze them. If you want to freeze raspberries without losing the health benefits, it is always advised that you add s bit of lemon juice to them, while you freeze them.
Raspberries have tons of nutrients. They are rich in manganese, vitamin C, folate, magnesium, riboflavin, niacin, copper and potassium. They are also a good source of fiber, and thus keep our digestive system clean.
If you want to gain all these benefits, start including raspberries in your daily diet. You can include them as fresh fruits, or as an ingredient to any of your recipes. Their health benefits are numerous.
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Have you ever picked wild berries from the woods? If yes, then you know the joy of berries. Berries are not just fun and delicious, but also, they have numerous health benefits. They have a high nutritional content. A cup full of strawberries has vitamin C up to 100 mg. This is the same amount of vitamin C that is found in a small glass of orange juice. Vitamin C is required by our body for the proper functioning of our immune system. Shifting focus on blueberries, a cup of them offer lesser vitamin C content than strawberries, and they have 83 calories per cup. Cranberries offer approximately the same amount of nutrients, but with 44 calories, and a cup full of raspberries presents 64 calories.
Health benefits of some of the berries are:
* Berries of dark color, like blackberries, blueberries, wolfberries and raspberries are rich in antioxidants. Antioxidants strengthen your immune power, and you are less prone to diseases such as common cold, and flu.
* Bilberries, raspberries and blueberries are rich in lutin, a compound important for healthy eyesight.
* Raspberries have good quantity of cancer fighting phytochemicals and anthocyanins, such as ferulic acid, ellagic, and coumaric.
* Extracts of the fruit of pomegranate have powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant qualities, and has been proved by studies of being advantageous in case of expanding cancer cells and also in recovering from coronary heart diseases. Pomegranate extracts are also beneficial in gum diseases.
In a research in 1999, at Tufts University, researchers fed old rats berry extracts and younger rats the regular diet. The results were as follows:
* Older rats were fast in learning than the younger rats
* Older rats were far more coordinated than the younger ones
* Older rats also had improved motor skills
* Older rats had more memory than the younger rats
As it can be seen, the experiments clearly show that berry extracts did wonders for some rats although they were older. Similar holds true for humans as well. Studies have been conducted on human subjects and the groups that were fed berries showed a dramatic improvement over the other groups.
Berries protect against brain damage. Many types of berries, especially blueberries help the neurons and protect the brain from any kind of damage.
Almost all the berries contain flavonoids that help fight against some specific type of cancer cells. Berries taken regularly can help reduce the chances of cancer in the body. There are many types of berries, and it’s not possible to have a regular intake of all the berries everyday, so berry extracts are recommended for a healthy living.
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