Just Juicing

This is not a story about Mark Mcgwire and steroids. It's about the big blueberry story. We love the story because its a healthy way or getting and staying healthy by raising a glass and bending our elbow. Not just once but two or three times a day.

The reports say don't make a big deal out of it because it's sponsored by the wild blueberry association and it only involves a small sample of people so don't put a lot of stock into the news. All of which is true but missing is how the same researchers have been investigating the benefits of wild blueberries since 2002.

Mary Ann Hodorwicz, a dietician in private practice in Palos Heights, also touts the benefits of the blueberry. She cites the antioxidant properties as the reason for aiding memory and many other health benefits including fighting cancer, promoting healthy aging and reducing inflammation. “Generally speaking the darker the fruit, the higher the antioxidant properties,” Hodorwicz said. “Shoppers should look for deeply colored fruits.” (MEDILL REPORTS)

Time magazine had the most interesting take on the research and one of our favorite reports on the wild blueberry juice benefits.

While all participants experienced age-related cognitive problems, the blueberry-juice drinkers showed significantly better performance on two memory tests than a control group of seven participants who drank a sweet placebo beverage that contained no juice. What's more, the juice drinkers' test scores had improved by the end of the 12 weeks. In case you were wondering, all that juice also didn't make them fatter. 

One caveat: Although the study was conducted independently at the University of Cincinnati and received National Institutes of Health funding, it was also partly funded by the Wild Blueberry Association of North America, a trade group that no doubt would be very happy if you decided to buy blueberry juice as a result of the study. (TIME)

 Our caveat is one shared by a reader of the TIME blog who shares a study that we couldn't verify exists saying that you can fake any study and fool three (300) hundred first year psychology students. If we could verify the fake study where a fake website was created to fool three (300) hundred or more viewers we could quote it. You decide if the study is worth bending an elbow or two.

Blueberry Haze: The Jenn Slemmer Experience
“We had two groups of men with a moderate risk of heart disease and hypertension. One group drank a cup of blueberry juice every day for three weeks. We gave the other a placebo. In that short amount of time, the blueberry group showed trends towards improved metabolic parameters including insulin and glucose levels.” - Scientist Jenn Slemmer 

It Can't Hurt! We'll take our gym membership money and spend it on frozen wild blueberry juice anytime. How can that be a bad thing? Now if we could just do something about the high cost of frozen wild blueberry juice.