Blueberry Powder – Organic Freeze Dried – (Wild)

Wild blueberries are chuck full of a wide range of potent compounds known to nourish the body extraordinarily. Some of those compounds include.

Polyphenols

Polyphenols are a term used to describe a general category of compounds found in a broad spectrum of fruits, vegetables, and tea that work as “reducing agents” along with other compounds known as antioxidants to support a healthy inflammation response and the body’s ability to protect and repair damaged tissue caused by oxidative stress. While over 8000 polyphenols have been identified, some of the most common are flavonoids, flavonols, and anthocyanins. The importance of discussing these various compounds allows you to more clearly understand the wide range and complexity of nourishment you are getting from these powerful foods.

Flavonoids are a group of water-soluble polyphenolic secondary metabolites found in plants thought to provide health benefits through cell signaling (The process when a cell responds to a substance outside the cell through signaling molecules found on the surface of that cell) and antioxidant effects. Secondary metabolites are substances manufactured by plants that make them compete in their environment, exerting a wide range of effects on the plant itself and the surrounding living organisms, including flowing, fruit setting, signal deciduous behavior, and acting as antimicrobials.

Over 50,000 secondary metabolites have been discovered, and many modern medicines rely on them for their mechanism of action. There are six major subclasses of flavonoids;  Anthocyanidins, flavan-3-ols, flavonols, flavanones, flavones, and isoflavones. These account for around 60% of all polyphenols.

Flavonols are polyphenols belonging to the flavonoid family with a ketone group studied for their wide range of biological activities (antioxidant, antimicrobial, hepatoprotective, modulating inflammation, and vasodilation). They primarily accumulate in the outer tissues (skin and leaves) of fruits and vegetables, are the building blocks of proanthocyanins (compounds that are attributed to the colors of fruits and vegetables), and are most widespread in the human diet.

Anthocyanins

Anthocyanins (flavonoid water-soluble pigments that give fruits and vegetables their color) account for about 60% of the total polyphenols in blueberries, yielding approximately 500 mg/100 grams, ranking them at #16 (behind some pretty impressive contenders) for the food’s richest in polyphenols. Other predominant bioactive components found in blueberries are pterostilbene, resveratrol, and the flavonols kaempferol, quercetin, and myricetin. They represent the pigments that exhibit the bright red, purple, and blue colors found in fruits and vegetables. The six most common are Cyanidins, Delphinidins, Malvidins, Peonidins, Petunidins, and Pelargonidins.

Nature’s Brain Food Tonic

Also known as brain berries, blueberries have an impressive body of preliminary and human studies showing the broad spectrum of nourishing benefits on the brain and nervous system. It seems that one of blueberries’ primary mechanisms of action is their direct effect on improving vascular and cerebral blood flow. In simple terms, cerebral blood flow is a measure of the blood delivery rate in the arteries to a capillary bed in the brain tissue. While researchers found that up to six cups of blueberries daily improved memory in just 12 weeks, this was determined to be an unrealistic dose for most people to stay consistent with. Therefore, it was then determined that just one cup a day of blueberries for older adults showed some improvement in long-term memory.

A study in neural regeneration research conducted on young and old participants showed that consuming blueberries daily increased blood flow to key brain areas and improvements in memory and attention.

A survey of the antioxidant capacity and phenolic composition of blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries concluded that blueberries have exceptionally high levels of anthocyanidins and proanthocyanins.

Another study examining blueberry supplementation’s acute impact on children’s cognitive function showed the following. The blueberry group showed significant improvement over the placebo group in memory in as little as 90 minutes. It was also revealed that the higher dose produced consistently better results. Therefore, this study demonstrated blueberry’s fast-acting nature on brain tissue and its ability to improve brain performance

Finally, a noteworthy preliminary study discussing the effects of feeding mice a combination of omega-three fatty acids, blueberries, and phosphatidyl serine showed that the group fed this mixture showed fewer amyloid plaques and an increased amount of acetylcholine. Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter that begins impulse transmission between neurons. A deficiency of acetylcholine is linked to the development of Alzheimer’s disease.

Blueberries: A Traditional Chinese Medicine Perspective

According to TCM, blueberries are cool in temperature, have a sweet and sour flavor, enter through the lung, stomach, and spleen channels, and are specifically used to clear heat and dampness. According to TCM, dampness creates a sluggish internal environment and obstructs the flow of QI. In TCM, the liver represents springtime. Because blueberries are a late spring through mid-summer fruit, in TCM, they are also known to eliminate toxins and nourish the liver, Yin, and blood.

Why is freeze-drying a superior method for blueberries?

While there are many natural ways to dry foods and preserve their nutritional qualities, including low temperature, shade, air, sun, and freeze-drying, the quality of the raw materials predominantly determines the final product. Ultimately, preserving the incredibly nourishing qualities found in blueberries is obtained best through the method of freeze-drying. Because berries perish quicker than most foods, this method preserves their structure and integrity and significantly extends their shelf life.

There are five primary advantages to using a freeze-drying method:

• Freeze drying creates the closest end product when presenting a whole food complex.
• Freeze drying a food presents closest to the smell, taste, and texture of the fresh version of a food.
• Freeze-dried foods allow you to customize your needs when creating a product. Freeze-dried berries can be left whole, chopped into pieces, or milled into a powder. All of which will still offer the nutritional value that comes from the fresh version.
• Freeze drying allows for greater versatility of the end product due to easier storage options, blending capability, and supports the natural flavor profile of the fresh food version.
• The shelf life of any food or product is directly linked to its moisture content. A freeze-dried product has an average of only 3% or less moisture content. While the type of packaging used and how it is stored plays a significant role, the shelf life of freeze-dried food can be pretty substantial when done correctly.

Z Natural Foods hand-picks specific ingredients for our customers based on three concepts to provide the best quality product possible to support optimal well-being. 

• Versatility
• History of safe and effective usage
• Strong evidence of positive research outcomes in humans

Summary of Important Information

Some fun facts about wild blueberries

• While cultivated blueberries take planning and planting to yield the best come, wild blueberries grow naturally. Therefore, they are generally a hands-off low-maintenance crop. Wild blueberries have a two-year crop cycle.
• Cultivated blueberries are relatively uniform in size, color, and taste. Wild blueberries vary in color from blue to black, are much smaller, and have a unique flavor profile of slightly sweet, tart, and floral. These differences are primarily due to genetic diversity. Because there is no genetic engineering, they produce a very diverse crop.
• There are four varieties of cultivated blueberries(highbush, hybrid half-high, and rabbiteye. The primarily cultivated blueberries are called the high bush because they tower over people. The wild blueberry bush is referred to as the low bush because it spreads low and wide, covering fields in a random manner. Because of their height and how they cover the areas arbitrarily, wild blueberries can’t be harvested by traditional machinery and are hand-harvested using rakes.
• It s generally accepted that wild blueberries have twice the amount of antioxidants and approximately 33% more anthocyanins than cultivated varieties. It is believed that this occurs because, much like adaptogenic herbs, wild blueberries have to adapt to much colder weather (as they are primarily grown in Maine and Canada). This adaption phase stresses the blueberries out, producing higher antioxidant levels.

Wild blueberries are chuck full of a wide range of potent compounds known to nourish the body extraordinarily. Some of those compounds include.

Polyphenols

• Polyphenols are a term used to describe a general category of compounds found in a broad spectrum of fruits, vegetables, and tea.
• They work as “reducing agents” along with other compounds known as antioxidants to support a healthy inflammation response and the body’s ability to protect and repair damaged tissue caused by oxidative stress.
• While over 8000 polyphenols have been identified, some of the most common are flavonoids, flavonols, and anthocyanins.

Flavonoids

• A group of water-soluble polyphenolic secondary metabolites found in plants thought to provide health benefits through cell signaling.
• Cell signaling is the process when a cell responds to a substance outside the cell through signaling molecules found on the surface of that cell) and antioxidant effects. Secondary metabolites are substances manufactured by plants that make them compete in their environment, exerting a wide range of effects on the plant itself and the surrounding living organisms, including flowing, fruit setting, signal deciduous behavior, and acting as antimicrobials.
• Over 50,000 secondary metabolites have been discovered, and many modern medicines rely on them for their mechanism of action.
• There are six major subclasses of flavonoids;  Anthocyanidins, flavan-3-ols, flavonols, flavanones, flavones, and isoflavones. These account for around 60% of all polyphenols.

Flavonols

• Polyphenols belonging to the flavonoid family with a ketone group are studied for their wide range of biological activities(antioxidant, antimicrobial, hepatoprotective, modulating inflammation, and vasodilation).
• They primarily accumulate in the outer tissues(skin and leaves) of fruits and vegetables, are the building blocks of proanthocyanins(compounds that attribute to the colors of fruits and vegetables), and are most widespread in the human diet.

Anthocyanins

• Anthocyanins are flavonoid water-soluble pigments that give fruits and vegetables their color.
• They account for about 60% of the total polyphenols in blueberries, yielding approximately 500 mg/100 grams, ranking them at #16 (behind some pretty impressive contenders) for the food’s richest in polyphenols.
• Other predominate bioactive components found in blue berries are pterostilbene, resveratrol and the flavonols kaempferol, quercetin, and myricetin.
• They represent the pigments that exhibit the bright red, purple, and blue colors found in fruits and vegetables.
• The six most common are Cyanidins, Delphinidins, Malvidins, Peonidins, Petunidins, and Pelargonidins.

Nature’s Brain Food Tonic

• Also known as brain berries, blueberries have an impressive body of preliminary and human studies showing the broad spectrum of nourishing benefits on the brain and nervous system.
• It seems that one of blueberries’ primary mechanisms of action is their direct effect on improving vascular and cerebral blood flow.
• In simple terms, cerebral blood flow is a measure of the blood delivery rate in the arteries to a capillary bed in the brain tissue.
• While researchers found that up to six cups of blueberries daily improved memory in just 12 weeks, this was determined to be an unrealistic dose. It was then determined that just one cup a day of blueberries for older adults showed some improvement in long-term memory.

Blueberries: A Traditional Chinese Medicine Perspective

• According to TCM, blueberries are cool in temperature, have a sweet and sour flavor, enter through the lung, stomach, and spleen channels, and are specifically used to clear heat and dampness.
• In TCM, the liver represents springtime. Because blueberries are a late spring through mid-summer fruit, in TCM, they are also known to eliminate toxins and nourish the liver, Yin, and blood.

 

Why use the freeze-drying method for blueberries?

• While there are many natural ways to dry foods and preserve their nutritional qualities, including low temperature, shade, air, sun, and freeze-drying, the quality of the raw materials predominantly determines the final product.
• Ultimately, preserving the incredibly nourishing qualities found in blueberries is obtained best through the method of freeze-drying.
• Because berries perish quicker than most foods, this method preserves their structure and integrity and significantly extends their shelf life.

There are five primary advantages to using a freeze-drying method.

• Freeze drying creates the closest end product when presenting a whole food complex.
• Freeze drying a food presents closest to the smell, taste, and texture of the fresh version of a food.
• Freeze-dried foods allow you to customize your needs when creating a product. Freeze-dried berries can be left whole, chopped into pieces, or milled into a powder. All of which will still offer the nutritional value that comes from the fresh version.
• Freeze drying allows for greater versatility of the end product due to easier storage options, blending capability, and supports the natural flavor profile of the fresh food version.
• The shelf life of any food or product is directly linked to its moisture content. A freeze-dried product has an average of only 3% or less moisture content. While the type of packaging used and how it is stored plays a significant role, the shelf life of freeze-dried food can be pretty substantial when done correctly.

 

Some research suggests that Blueberries may contain the following constituents:

• Minerals: Magnesium, Phosphorus, Zinc, Copper, Manganese, Selenium
• Vitamins: Vitamin C, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, Vitamin B-6, Folate, Choline, Betaine, Vitamin A (RAE), Beta carotene, Vitamin A (IU), Lutein & Zeaxanthin, Vitamin E, Beta Tocopherol, Gamma Tocopherol, Delta Tocopherol, Vitamin K
• Amino Acids: Tryptophan, Threonine, Isoleucine, Leucine, Lysine, Methionine, Cystine, Phenylalanine, Tyrosine, Valine, Arginine, Histidine, Alanine, Aspartic Acid, Glutamic Acid, Proline, Serine
• Anthocyanidins: Petunidin, Delphinidin, Malvidin, Peonidin, Cyanidin
• Flavan-3-ols: Catechin, Epigallocatechin, Epicatechin, Gallocatechin
• Flavones: Luteolin
• Flavonols: Kaempferol, Myricetin, Quercetin
• Proanthocyanidins: Proanthocyanidin Monomers, Proanthocyanidin Dimers, Proanthocyanidin Trimers, Proanthocyanidin 4-6mers, Proanthocyanidin 7-10mers, Proanthocyanidin (>10mers)

This product is 100% natural and minimally processed. Taste, smell, texture, and color vary from batch to batch. Due to its nature, this powder tends to clump. If clumping occurs, lay the bag on a flat surface and place a towel over the bag. Then pound on the bag until the clumps break up. The towel will help protect the bag from damage.

Suggested Use: Mix one tablespoon with juice and yogurt, or add to your favorite smoothie or recipes.

Mixing suggestion: To increase flavor and nutritional profile, combine coconut oil and walnuts in a smoothie.

Botanical Name: Vaccinium Angustifolium.
Other Names: Lowbush Blueberry.
Ingredients: Wild Organic Blueberry.
Origin: Wildcrafted and freeze-dried in the USA. It was packaged with care in Florida, USA.

Certifications: USDA Certified Organic.