Today begins a bi-annual 4th International Berry Health Benefits Symposium in California that Dr. Mary Ann Lila, Director of the Plants for Human Health Institute at NC State Research in Kannapolis, will be participating in. Dr. Lila explains some of the research that will be presented:
“It’s an international conference that’s dedicated to exploring the latest scientific research related to berries and human health. This is a huge growing area of research because there’s been such a plethora of different health benefits attributed to berry consumption.”
The research center in Kannapolis is involved in several research projects in berries, and Dr. Lila explains some of the benefits that have been discovered by including berries in the diet:
“It’s almost unbelievable, then it’s not, it’s really robust research that berries have a positive and a profound effect on human disease prevention and just improvements in human metabolism and immune function. And this is really bringing together researchers from around the world; we’re almost astounded by our own research because unlike a lot of other functional foods, which are known to do one thing like help prevent prostate cancer or to help increase bone density different functional foods that are known for one thing or another the berries have sucha wealth of different health benefits for health in cardiovascular disease, and cancer-chemo prevention, and inhibition of diabetes and metabolic syndrome, attention deficit disorder, cognitive and motor functions in aging populations; and it’s just an incredible array of different benefits it’s because the berries themselves are so chock full of very complex profiles of natural chemicals that are designed to protect the berry from the stresses of the environment, that they also help human health with the berries are consumed.”
Dr. Lila works with several different berries in her research:
“I’m working with black currents, and I’m working with cranberries, but my number one with a bullet that I work on the most, is wild blueberries. And the reason I work the most with wild blueberries is number one they are wild, they have the natural compliment of phytochemicals that they’ve developed over the centuries to protect themselves from the environment, they haven’t been changed by breeding or selection for packaging ability or other attributes that a breeder would look for. So, wild berries are the most concentrated source of these phytochemicals.”
While Dr. Lila’s research involves wild berries, she says that there’s nothing wrong with cultivated varieties:
“We loose some. Which is not to say, and I want to make that clear, it’s not to say that cultivated is bad, cultivated is wonderful. The reason I go to wild is because this is the purest form of these chemicals that haven’t been changed at all with breeding. When we breed, and maybe we select for the ability for a berry to be plump and sweet, you trade one thing for another. So in that process of breeding you’re losing some of those chemicals which protect human health, in favor of some of these other attributes. This is not a bad thing, because without the breeding and without the cultivation of the berries we wouldn’t have these things available for humans to use. We wouldn’t. so, the breeding and cultivation and the selection practices are essential to get things into the market place and available for humans. So, maybe you would need an increased amount and increased volume of berries that are cultivated compared to the wild. That’s really the only difference.”
Dr. Mary Ann Lila, Director of the Plants for Human Health Institute at NC State Research in Kannapolis
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