Blueberry, the Perfect Food for Baby Boomers
Dear Friends, In last week’s email I took you on travels into Southeast Asia and North Africa. This week we will start a virtual journey into our brain! Do you remember the one supplemental product that is a must to take as we travel this summer? The answer was the magnificent broad spectrum natural antimicrobial, freeze-dried organic garlic. I’ll add one more must have product to travel with, the Supernatant Synbiotic Formula, which contains seven probiotic organisms that have proven success against traveler’s diarrhea and the like. Let’s continue with our virtual travel theme and their companion supplemental products. The journey of aging brings to mind our brain, and its aging process. Certainly the Baby Boomer Generation can relate to this. Many of your patients are of the boomer generation. It is a great demographic to have your medical skills honed for. So, like last week I’ll ask you this question. As you approach your mid 60s what is the one whole food supplement that should be regularly on board? Our answer is…Blueberry! Why? In 2004 Dohrea and I founded BioImmersion Inc. to produce the Therapeutic Foods Line. The first product we produced was the Organic Freeze -Dried Garlic. The second was the Wild Blueberry Extract. And, the third was a probiotic, our Original Synbiotic Formula which would be great to take on your travels as well, even though it is in a powder form, (the Supernatant is in a capsule form), since it also has fiber and we all know how important it is for our daily constitution, let alone when we travel. Hence, both are excellent. The Supernatant for travel ease and the Original for our constitution. At any rate, why blueberry and aging? Another question: what’s one body organ that you want to protect more that any other? Our vote would be the brain. As our brain goes so does our life. Keeping ones brain sharp in old age and fully functioning is enhanced greatly by the consumption of the blueberry. It does much more than that, relative to diseases associated with aging, but we’ll focus on the cognitive function for a moment. In 2002 James Joseph PhD along with Daniel Nadeau MD and Anne Underwood authored the book, The Color Code: A Revolutionary Eating Plan for Optimum Health. In a very readable way, Dr. Joseph discussed his research, as Chief Neural Scientist for the USDA’s Anti-Aging Center at Tufts University, looking at the health benefits of fresh fruits and vegetables. Their research became the backbone for the USDA’s 5 to 9 A Day fresh fruits and vegetables program for America. When Dr. Joseph came to the section in his book dealing with blue to purple pigmented fruits and vegetables, the blueberry clearly stood out for its ability to protect the brain, and to even reverse cognitive dysfunction. Their research on the restoration of memory and cognitive flexibility in senile aging rats, restoring their cognitive ability to that of a much younger animals, plus his work on reversing Alzheimer’s induced syndrome to normal brain functioning, trilled us. I called Dr. Joseph, asking him how much blueberry extract a Human being would need to take to get results, and he surmised around 150mg a day over a period of four to six months. After much additional consultation with our worldwide team of scientists and food manufacturing experts, we produced our Wild Blueberry Extract, Daily, and now the famous Phyto Power. All have at least 100-150mg of the blueberry and extract (the purple pigment from the skin). We considered the Phyto Power to be our total prevention product as it has other red and purple berries plus four species of dandelion. We also created what we thought would be a stronger therapeutic version by filling a 500mg capsule with purely the extract. This requires the use of 1 1/4 cups of blueberry per capsule. The ORAC score per capsule is 4000. ORAC stands for Oxygen Radical Adsorbent Capacity. Back in 2006 I asked Dr. Joseph what was the molecule or molecules that could cross the blood-brain barrier and cause a healing of the brain, manifesting as improved cognitive functioning. He said he had some candidates but needed to do more research. At the time we talked about chlorogenic acid from the blueberry being able to cross over and then once in the brain changing to caffeic acid which has extremely high antioxidant ability. Which would then aggressively reduce the oxidation of the brain. He characterized the brains of senile old animals (including us humans) as being hotbeds of free radical activity. Well time marches on, and we’ve had wonderful feedback from you regarding these products, the Wild Blueberry and Phyto Power. I want to continue our discussion next week on the specific phytochemicals within the blueberry that are responsible for brain health and the overall support our bodies need for protection from the collective diseases of ageing . Next week I’ll share with you a couple of new products that we will be bringing to market in July. Products that will add to your arsenal of top line supplements for my generation. Seann Bardell Clinical Note: Most recently we brought in a new blueberry product that also contains rosehip and dandelion. We call it Phyto Power. These two berries and herb come from the wilds of Alaska (wildcrafted) and are busting with phyto-nutrient power. The blueberry for the brain, the rosehip for the heart and immune system with its antimicrobial power (ellagic acid), and the dandelion for the liver, kidneys, Gi tract, and vision support. Perfect for the baby boomers! Take two capsules daily. The Last Quiz Answer: Talking about going to far off places, the Lesser Sunda Islands fill the bill. Home to the Komodo dragons. These dragons were unknown to us until about 100 years ago. Ten feet in length, weighing more than 300 pounds, they are the top predator on a handful of indonesian islands in the neighborhood of Bali. Their diet: carrion, deer, pigs, smaller dragons, and even large water buffalo and humans. They are really quite fightening creatures! They are not only big, strong and fast, but if they just break the skin of their prey with a small bite and the potential victim gets away, it’s not for long. The 50+ toxic bacteria in the dragon’s mouth will cause septicemia in their prey, and it will eventually die of blood poisening. The Komodo will simply wait around patiently following the prey through their excellent sence of smell, eventually in a day or two will get their meal. Komodos in the wild usually live to a ripe old age of 30. There is a stable population of about 3000 to 5000 dragons on the islands of Komodo, GilaMotang, Rinca and Flores. I would love to go there though, wouldn’t you?
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