Blueberry
The average North American consumer likes things to be available whenever they want it, at the lowest price. The average producer wants to meet these demands, and so industrializes the process of making these product.
A great food example of this and it’s impact is blueberries.
There is research dating back to the early 2000s about the high antioxidant content in wild blueberries (key word: wild) and its many positive benefits. As we approached 2010, the wild part was dropped, blueberries were labeled as a “superfood” and there was a flood of articles about how everyone should consume a lot of blueberries, “because they are now available fresh, all year round”. Blueberry season in North American is only late summer.
This came to be, by instead of selling and researching wild blueberries, the focus shifted to farmed blueberries. This allowed for control and implementation of methods to make more, bigger, juicer, blueberries, and extended harvesting season to as early as April. The rest of the year, farmed blueberries are imported from South America.
What does research say today?
Researchers have recently discovered that wild blueberries have twice to four times as much antioxidants. I would argue that it is more accurate to state that farmed blueberries have half the amount of antioxidants. Not the other way around.
Research is now asking why. Part of wild blueberries high antioxidant content is attributed to its exposure to stress in the wild. Example: weather. This forces the plant to become more hearty, and a way the plant combats stress is the production of more antioxidants.
Wild blueberries from the North West Territories, subjected to the harshest environments, have the highest (4x) antioxidants.
This concept can be extrapolated to other wild foods, and also to humans on many levels. Exposure to stress can be positive.
Newfoundland has so many wild blueberries. Before breakfast I foraged a bucketful that I was able to use indulgently. Gin infusions, scones, pies, by the fist-full.
Dr. Cristina Allen ND