I love blueberries. Not only are they sweet and delicious, but they’re SO good for you! So of course I wasn’t surprised when I read about a recent study that found yet another reason to stock up on these potent little superfruits.
Scientists in Sweden recently looked at the effects of different types of fiber on people with intestinal inflammation, and interestingly enough one of the fibers they studied was blueberry fiber. What’d they find?
Blueberry fiber actually performed better than other fiber sources—including both rye bran and oat bran—especially when all three were tested in combination with probiotics. When blueberries and probiotics were combined, the number of inflammation-inducing bacteria in the intestines decreased, and the number of good bacteria (like Lactobacilli) actually increased. Wow!
So how does it work? Blueberries have a high polyphenol content, and those polyphenols (natural plant compounds) have powerful antibiotic and anti-oxidative properties which could explain the decrease in bad bacteria in the intestinal tract. Pretty cool, right?
I even recommend blueberries for folks on a yeast/candida diet, since they have a lower sugar content than most other fruits (and we all know that sugar feeds harmful yeast organisms in the gut). Plus they taste great with just about everything—so be sure to eat your blueberries!