Blueberries for Better brain, belly, and blood sugar
Blueberry beginnings
When I think of blueberries, I’m immediately brought back in time to the age of four, sitting in the kitchen of our townhouse in Northern Virginia, watching my dad busy at the stove. White Fruit of the Loom t-shirt on, hand towel draped over his shoulder, and a spatula in his hand.
My father worked a lot, but always made time for his family. He made it a Saturday tradition to cook a big breakfast for the four of us, usually French toast or pancakes. He enjoyed it, and it gave my mom a break, who held down the fort and cooked all of the meals throughout the week. Being a very health-conscious family, I would spend the other six days of the week looking forward to Saturday mornings.
On pancake day, he’d grab a giant blue bag of frozen blueberries from the freezer and stir them into the batter until it went from a creamy white to a light purple. I’m sure I would’ve always ended up loving blueberries, but introducing them via pancakes was a great start.
Adding blueberries upgraded the pancakes from good to great, but I had yet to learn that they’re arguably one of the most nutritious foods on the planet, especially if you eat them without the pan-fried flour and copious amounts of maple syrup.
ANTHOCYANINS
These juicy, nutritious spheres are packed full of health benefits that may positively impact: cognition, gut health, blood sugar, inflammation, and exercise performance.
Most of these perks come from the anthocyanins, which cause the blueish color in the berry. Anthocyanins act as antioxidants, which are little warrior-compounds that help neutralize free radicals and protect your cells and DNA.
You’ll find anthocyanins in pretty much any fruit or vegetable that has a red, blue, or purple color. There’s a reason we’re told to “eat the rainbow” when it comes to our food.
For thousands of years, Chinese Medicine has stood by the belief that different colored foods are associated with specific organ systems in the body. This correlates well with Western Medicine, which teaches that different colored foods have various benefits because of the phytonutrients that are contained in each color. When it comes to our blue colored friends, think heart, brain, gut, and inflammation.
So, let’s dive a bit deeper into how these little berries can positively impact your health and mind.
Cognition
The brain benefits of blueberries seem to be pretty comprehensive. Not only do they positively impact your concentration and focus, but they also play a role in your mental health and the prevention of neurodegenerative diseases that are typically prevalent in aging adults.
UNC’s Nutrition Research Institute performed a study that shows that consuming wild blueberries can improve the speed at which the brain processes information [1]. Whether you’re perfectly healthy or someone like me who’s suffered damage to the brain, I think we can all agree that getting a little mental boost isn’t a bad thing.
The second brain benefit of these berries is that they’re neuroprotective, meaning they may prevent, delay, or reduce the effects of diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Dementia, and Parkinson’s [2,3,4]. It’s never too late to make impactful changes, but we’re told that most neurodegenerative diseases can start 15 years or more before you experience any symptoms. So even if you’re on the young side of life, it’s a good idea to start incorporating brain-healthy foods into your diet, such as blueberries.
BlueBelly
One of the newer trends in the health and nutrition world has been focused on the gut microbiome. Countless different probiotic options on the market, keifer parfaits, and Kombucha beer for anyone who wants to convince themselves they’re being healthy while they enjoy a drink (to be fair, they are pretty good).
Blueberries are a promising addition to improving your gut bacteria [5,6]. To anyone unfamiliar with the concept of gut health, you need a healthy balance of the bacteria in your intestine, with more “good” bacteria in favor of the “bad.” Without this balance, you may experience a variety of symptoms, including gut, skin, energy, and brain issues. Though they may not be the most potent microbiome-booster, they’re still worth adding to your diet for this reason.
And because we know that our microbiome directly influences our mental health due to the gut-brain axis, it’s no surprise that blueberries may also have a positive impact on your mental health [6].
Blood Sugar
One of my favorite benefits of blueberries is the effect on blood sugar and insulin. Those anthocyanins we talked about earlier? They can actually cut back glucose and insulin spikes [6], which means better blood sugar regulation.
More than 1 in 3 adults in America have prediabetes, with those numbers on the rise. The cure for this starts with a better diet and a more active lifestyle, but adding blueberries to your diet only helps the cause.
A cool little trick I learned is to eat my blueberries after a high-carb meal, which may help mitigate that blood sugar spike. Combine that with a light 10-minute post-meal walk and you’re in business.
Blueberries On a Budget
Food these days is expensive. And if you want to eat healthier, it seems that the price only goes up. Blueberries fall into the pricey category. Want to go organic? Add a couple of bucks on top of that original price.
Don’t get me wrong, I sometimes buy a couple of pints so that I can grab a handful of fresh berries from the fridge when I’m craving a snack. But I also know that if I’m not careful, I’ll go back for handful after handful until I’ve eaten $12 worth of berries in a span of 3 minutes.
My way of staying budget-friendly while eating blueberries every day is to head down the freezer aisle in the grocery store and pick up a bag of frozen wild blueberries. Cheaper, less bingeable, and funny enough, more nutritious.
Research gathered by Wild Blueberries of North America shows that wild (or low-bush) blueberries have 2x more antioxidants, and over 30% more brain-boosting anthocyanins versus traditional blueberries. And since the organic options don’t seem to jump too high in price, this is an overall better bang for your buck.
Eat ‘Em Up
If you’re not already a blueberry eater, consult your doctor before adding them to your diet. But if you get the green light, you’ll be missing out if you don’t hop on the train. You’ll be reaping benefits across the board with only a small handful of this low-calorie food.
And the sugar content? I wouldn’t worry about it. First of all, an entire cup of these berries only contains 14 grams. A can of Coke has about 40. Besides, blueberries contain fructose (not to be confused with high fructose corn syrup), which is vastly different from table sugar, or any of the other sugar derivatives you see in processed foods. Fructose, in general, is less likely to induce a high insulin response, not to mention the direct insulin management effects that blueberries have, which we went over earlier.
So, give ‘em a try—and not just by incorporating them into your muffins and scones. It would be a berry good (sorry, I couldn’t resist) addition to your diet. Eat a handful when you’re craving something sweet, add them into a smoothie, and know you’re doing your entire body a favor.
Pass this along to a blueberry lover, or even a hopeful convert. I’m also always open to new recipes involving blueberries, so if you’ve got something good, give me a shout!
