Cost benefit analysis
Bone-protecting benefits of blueberries may make them worth the high price tag.
Our last trip to the supermarket sent both my husband and I into sticker shock. As my husband (oh-so-eloquently) put it, “No wonder people eat like *@%#! You can get 10 boxes of macaroni and cheese for $5, or a pint of blueberries for the same price — and you certainly can’t feed a family on a pint of blueberries.” That’s true. But, what you CAN do with those blueberries makes them well worth the cost: A recent study published in The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry found that eating blueberries may reduce the risk of osteoporosis.
Researchers from Florida State University and Oklahoma State University tested the effects of blueberries on bone health in female mice who had had their ovaries removed (to correspond to human menopause). One group of mice was fed a control diet, and another group was fed the same diet with the addition of blueberries.
After 100 days, the researchers found that the mice that ate the control diet had a 6 percent decrease in bone density. The blueberry-fed mice, on the other hand, showed no bone loss.
Granted, the berries didn’t increase bone density in the mice, but preventing bone loss is a great step in the right direction. And while the researchers aren’t yet sure if the results will translate to humans, adding blueberries to the other natural bone-building strategies Dr. Wright recommends in the March 2001 issue of Nutrition & Healing certainly won’t hurt (except for the slight sting to your wallet, of course).
Source:
“Blueberries may cut osteoporosis link, for rats at least,” NutraIngredients (www.nutraingredients.com), 3/12/08
