If you pick up a health and beauty magazine and read an article written about the health benefits of a specific food, you will likely see a specific term – “superfood”. This is a term coined by health professionals over the past five years to describe all the raw foods on the market that have major substantial health benefits. Vitamin-rich, antioxidant and omega-3 foods are commonly referred to as superfoods. This isn’t a scientific term, but it’s extremely true when you consider that all foods that have been given the label can be of immense benefit to your health. The blueberry is one of the foods given the label, but is that really an accurate perception of the little berry?
Many health professionals unaffiliated with health magazines dispute that such superfoods exist, claiming that the term is commercialized and has no factual basis. They argue that it was intended for food to indicate potentially unhealthy craze or fad. However, you only have to look at the actual health benefits of blueberries to see that their argument doesn’t hold up. The term is definitely used to identify health craze, but that doesn’t mean that tarred foods are just short-lived fads. The blueberry is as far from a super fad as it could get given its illustrious history.
Native to the United States, the blueberry has been used for centuries by Native Americans as a source of medicine and food. They swore by the blueberry’s properties for curing coughs and colds, but its uses were seemingly limitless. Bilberry tonics were used to relax expectant mothers during childbirth and many natives believed it had the ability to purify the blood and maintain good health beyond their expected years of life. They consumed blueberries every day and recognized their nutritional and medicinal value. As a result, the blueberry has been a staple of their diet for both medicinal and nutritional reasons.
Blueberries didn’t suddenly become popular overnight. They can be traced back at least four hundred years and were popular in society during that time. The only difference between the way we perceive the blueberry today and the way the Native Americans perceived it is that we actually have laboratory research to back up the blueberry’s health benefits. It’s packed with antioxidants known to help prevent disease, improve memory and boost the immune system, among other things, and also includes 30% of our recommended daily allowance of vitamin C in each serving. As a low-fat, low-calorie, and high-fiber food, the blueberry ticks all the boxes and should get the praise it fully deserves.
Blueberries are definitely more superfood than superfashion. Fads don’t have the longevity that the blueberry has enjoyed. The superfood label only served to make people aware of the blueberry’s health benefits and to highlight the fact that we don’t eat enough of it in our daily diet. That can only be good for the future. Why not make the most of its wholesome goodness and see how it can enhance your inner and outer beauty?
Thanks to Sam Serio
