The health benefits of colorful foods like Wild Blueberries are explored in The Color Code, available in bookstores now!

The Color Code

Colorful fruits and vegetables like Wild Blueberries are the stars of The Color Code, a new book exploring the powerful connection between the color of foods and optimum health. The new book is a collaboration between James A. Joseph, Ph.D., Chief of the Neuroscience Laboratory at the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, diabetes specialist Daniel Nadeau, M.D. and science writer Anne Underwood.

Pigment Power

The Color Code examines the potential health-promoting power of phytochemicals — the natural compounds that make Wild Blueberries blue, tomatoes red and spinach green. According to Dr. Joseph, phytochemicals are exciting the health and nutrition world because of recent discoveries in the areas of antioxidant and anti-aging research. For example, the blue in Wild Blueberries comes from anthocyanin, a powerful antioxidant linked to protection against brain aging.

"Incorporating colorful fruits and vegetables into a daily eating plan may be the best defensive strategy for fending off many diseases of aging such as cancer, heart disease and dementia," said Joseph.

"My experience in the area of aging research and more specifically my most recent work with blueberries has made me a believer in the powerful health potential of pigmented food."

A Daily Dose of Blue

To help readers gain the potential health benefits of Wild Blueberries and other fruits and vegetables, The Color Code offers a variety of recipes that make it easy to eat right every day. Just 1/2-cup of Wild Blueberries satisfies one of the 5 A Day recommended servings of fruits and vegetables — and it’s a 1/2-cup packed with beneficial phytochemicals. In fact, the USDA ranks blueberries #1 in antioxidant activity, when compared with 40 other fruits and vegetables.

(Source: Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 44:701-705; 3426-3431, 1996; 46:2686-2693, 1998.)

Antioxidants are known to help fight cancer, heart disease and aging — a great reason to strive for a Daily Dose of Blue with delicious Wild Blueberries.

Wild Blueberries are available year-round in supermarkets across the U.S. and Canada for convenient at-home use. Recently the FDA claimed that the nutritional value of frozen produce is as good as, if not better than, fresh — making frozen Wild Blueberries a smart choice for on-the-go, health-conscious people."

For more information on the health benefits of Wild Blueberries and the Power of Blue, click here.