Blueberries For Health
Superfood Or Super Fad?
by Sam Serio
If you pick up any health and beauty magazine and read an article written
about the health benefits of a certain food, the likelihood is that you will see
a specific term - “superfood”. This is a term that has been coined by health
experts in the last five years or so to describe any of the raw foods on the
market that have great essential health benefits. High vitamin, antioxidant
and omega 3 foods are the ones commonly referred to as superfoods. This
is not a scientific term, but is extremely apt considering that all of the food
that the tag has been given to can be of immense benefit to your health. The
blueberry is one of the foods that the tag has been given to, but is that really
an accurate perception of the little berry?
Many health experts that are not affiliated with health magazines dispute that
there are such superfoods, stating that the term is commercialised and has
no factual basis. They argue that it has been designated to foods to denote
potentially unhealthy crazes or fads. However, you only have to look at the
actual health benefits of the blueberry to see that their argument does not
hold. The term is definitely used to identify health crazes, but this does not
mean that foods tarred with it will simply be short-lived fads. The blueberry
is as far from a super fad as you could possibly get when you consider its
illustrious history.
The blueberry is native to the United States and has been used for centuries
as a source of medicine and food by Native Americans. They swore by the
properties of the blueberry for curing coughs and colds, but its uses were
seemingly limitless. Blueberry tonics were used to relax expectant mothers in childbirth and many Natives believed that it had the ability to cleanse
the blood and sustain good health beyond their expected years of life. They
consumed blueberries every day, recognising their nutritional value as well
as their medicinal value. As a result, the blueberry was a staple of their diet
for both medicinal and nutritional reasons.
The blueberry is native to the United States and has been used for centuries
as a source of medicine and food by Native Americans. They swore by the
properties of the blueberry for curing coughs and colds, but its uses were
seemingly limitless.
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