Top 10 Amazing Health Benefits Of Blackberries

Blackberry photo – Wikipedia – lic. under CC 3.0 Recipe photo – © lecic – Fotolia.com (under license)

One of the things that make blackberries special is the fact that, in reality, the single blackberry you hold in your hand is not really just one fruit. It’s an aggregate fruit – a cluster of multiple individual berries, each with their own seeds, skins, and pectin, all crammed up into one yummy, healthy, singular-looking package that we call a blackberry. ^[1] The blackberry is densely packed with fiber, anthocyanins and vitamin C. Scientists have reported numerous health benefits of blackberries and we’ve brought you ten of the best.

1. Make Healthier Cocktails – Strange but actually true… blackberries are already famous for their high-level free-radical scavenging capacity, but if you want to boost their health benefits even further, add them to your champagne cocktail. A 2007 study shows that treating blackberries with ethanol (which is found in most alcoholic drinks) enhances the fruit’s free-radical scavenging capacity, making it a super free-radical scavenger. ^[2]

2. Prevent Parkinson’s Disease – In a study of over 800 male and female subjects, researchers found that higher consumption of anthocyanin-rich foods such as blackberries is associated with a 40% lower risk of Parkinson’s disease, a progressive disorder of the nervous system, among the male population. (No similar association was found among the female subjects.) ^[3]

3. Reduce Heart Attack Risks – If blackberries are effective in protecting men’s nerves, they are also effective in protecting women’s hearts. In Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, researchers found that four or more servings of anthocyanin-rich fruits, like blackberries, lower women’s heart attack risks by as much as 32 percent compared to their counterparts who ate plenty of other fruits and vegetables that were less full of anthocyanin. ^[4]

4. Keep Your Colon Clean – Dietary fiber is crucial for keeping our stool soft, bulky, and easy to pass out of the colon. Among the fruits with the highest dietary fiber content are blackberries, with 3.8 grams of fiber for every half cup. That’s more fiber than half a cup of pears (2.2 g), a slice of whole wheat rye bread (1.9 g), 1/2 cup cooked brown rice (1.7 g), or even 1/2 cup cooked oat bran (2.8 g). ^[5]

5. Reverse Aging – In a peer reviewed study published by Nutritional Neuroscience, researchers describe how an eight-week blackberry-supplemented diet improved the balance, coordination, and short-term memory of aged test animals. ^[6]

6. Prevent Wrinkles – Blackberries are rich in vitamin C, which is crucial for our body’s collagen production. ^[7][8] Collagen is what gives our skin its firmness and strength. Without vitamin C, we can’t produce enough collagen; and without sufficient collagen, our skin would wrinkle and sag. ^[9]

7. Improve Your Mood – Researchers have also observed that people with abnormally low vitamin C levels feel better and happier when extra vitamin C is added to their diet. While the reasons for such effects have not yet been established, some propose that it could be because vitamin C deficiency often leads to feelings of depression or fatigue, and these are ameliorated when the deficiency is corrected either by taking supplements or by consuming vitamin C-rich food such as blackberries. ^[10]

8. Arrest Macular Degeneration – Macular degeneration is among the top causes of legal blindness in the United States. Although vitamin C has not been proven to prevent the occurrence of macular degeneration or prevent the disease’s progress in its early stages, it has been observed that a combination of Vitamins A, C, and E, and the mineral zinc can prevent the progression of advanced macular degeneration so that total blindness can be avoided. ^[11] Vitamins A, C, and E, and zinc can all be found in blackberries. ^[7]

9. Reduce Coughing – Data from a five-year study conducted on over 63,000 middle-aged men and women suggests that a diet rich in fruit fiber can lessen the incidence of coughing with phlegm. Blackberries are among the most fiber-dense fruits available in the market. ^[12]

10. Lower Cholesterol Levels – The fiber content of blackberries and other fruits have the specific effect of making food pass more slowly through the intestines. This results in a reduction of blood cholesterol levels. ^[13]

Blackberries are also a good source of vitamin K, manganese, copper, potassium, and folate. Nearly 80% of its calories come from sugar; the rest are almost equally divided between proteins and fats. Blackberries are popularly made into pie, but they can also be used in juices, as sauce for meat or as toppings for poultry, pancakes, ice cream, or gin.

Final Tip – if you are going to pick your own blackberries, seek a place away from roads that get a lot of traffic – as both soil and air are more polluted closer to busy roads and this may negatively affect blackberries growing there.

Blackberry kale juice recipe – https://thedailymeal.com/blackberry-kale-smoothie-recipe