Lately I’ve been hearing so much about drinks made with “superfoods” like acai, goji berries and noni juice.
However, some of the best superfoods are much more familiar to us and are not OVERPRICED fruit juices.
I’m talking about plums.
Food scientist Dr. Luis Cisneros and plant breeder David Byrne judged more than 100 varieties of plums, peaches, and nectarines, and found that their antioxidant and phytonutrient content matched or exceeded blueberries.
According to Byrne, one inexpensive plum contains about the same amount of antioxidants as a handful of blueberries.
“People tend to eat just a few blueberries at a time. They’ll eat a few on their cereal or as an ingredient mixed with lots of sugar,” Cisneros said. “But people will eat a whole plum at once and get the full benefit.”
The researchers didn’t stop after measuring the antioxidant content of plums.
Plums consistently score near the top of the list of high-antioxidant foods. They also tested the effect of the phytonutrients in the fruit on breast cancer cells. They found that plums inhibited test tube breast cancer growth without adversely affecting normal cell growth.
“We suggest that consumers take seriously the recommendation to eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables or even more every day,” Byrne said, “and to make sure that plums are part of that.”
If you have any tasty ideas about how we can add plums to our diet, send them to me and I’ll pass them along!
shelli
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