PORTLAND, Maine (August 31, 2005) — Researchers studying Wild Blueberries, Nature’s #1 Antioxidant Fruit™, for their potential to prevent disease will expand their investigation into two new areas — childhood obesity and longevity. A preview of initial directional work was recently presented at the eighth annual Wild Blueberry Health Research Summit held in Bar Harbor, Maine. The Summit gathered renowned scientists in the fields of neuroscience, aging, cardiovascular disease, cancer research and eye health for discussion of current findings as well as new research directions for Wild Blueberries and other fruit and vegetable phytochemicals.

“Research interest in Wild Blueberries is at an all-time high,” said Susan Davis, MS, RD, Nutrition Advisor to the Wild Blueberry Association of North America. According to Davis, investigation of the fruit’s antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effect continues while interest develops in new areas such as childhood obesity and the impact of children’s diets in the prevention of disease as well as longevity. “Healthy eating throughout life greatly decreases the risk for all the diseases of aging including cardiovascular disease, cancer, macular degeneration and cataracts, Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. It’s this preventive effect that Wild Blueberry researchers want to explore further.”

Childhood Obesity
Ron Prior, Ph.D., of the USDA’s Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Research Center will lead an investigation into the role of berries on the development and long-term health of children with a particular focus on childhood obesity. “Our hypothesis is what you eat early will affect health outcomes later in life,” said Dr. Prior. “Using an animal model, we plan to look at a number of berries, including Wild Blueberries, to see what potential effect they may have on preventing childhood obesity and if there’s an effect, what’s the mechanism at work in the body.”

Dr. Prior is well known worldwide for his antioxidant research measuring fruit and vegetable antioxidant capacity. His recent findings using the Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) measure ranked Wild Blueberries highest in antioxidant capacity per serving compared with more than 20 other fruits. The study showed that a one-cup serving of Wild Blueberries had more antioxidant capacity than a serving of cranberries, strawberries, raspberries, apples and even cultivated blueberries. (Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 52:4026-4037, 2004.)

Antioxidants are important for their ability to protect against oxidative cell damage that can lead to conditions like Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, eye and heart disease — conditions also linked with chronic inflammation. The antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of blue-purple foods like Wild Blueberries may have the potential to help prevent these diseases.

Longevity
Mark Wilson, M.S., Cathy Wolkow, Ph.D, and Donald Ingram, Ph.D., from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) are working with an invertebrate model of microscopic-sized worms called nematodes in their investigation of the effect of a Wild Blueberry diet on longevity and stress resistance. “Our preliminary work shows that Wild Blueberries are as effective as any pharmaceutical tested on the worms,” said Wilson. Further research is needed to confirm results.

“We’ve done a lot of investigative work with caloric restriction in animal models, including these worms, to determine its impact on longevity. After years of extensive research, only caloric restriction has been shown to impact longevity in a robust manner,” said Dr. Ingram. “This new, invertebrate research appears to be an exciting area of work for us. Our early findings show that food choices may be equally as important as caloric restriction.”

WBANA
WBANA is a trade association of growers and processors of Wild Blueberries from Maine, dedicated to bringing the Wild Blueberry health story and unique Wild Advantages to consumers worldwide.

SOURCE: Wild Blueberry Association of North America

CONTACTS: John Sauvé, Wild Blueberry Association of North America, (207) 967-5024 or Susan Till, SWARDLICK MARKETING GROUP, (207) 775-4100.

WEB SITE: www.wildblueberries.com