8 Health Benefits of Blackberries

Blackberries are a delicious little "aggregate fruit" that grow wild on thorny bushes and are cultivated on every temperate continent, including Africa and Asia. Composed of many individual drupelets, each like a small berry with one seed, each drupelet contributes extra skin, seeds and pectin with dietary fiber value to the nutritional content of blackberries, making them among the highest fiber content plants in the world.Blackberries can be eaten fresh, frozen and canned and are popularly made into jams, juices, desserts and even wine. Rich in vitamins, minerals and fiber, blackberries are highly nutritious and rich in antioxidants. They are also low in calories, carbohydrates, and fat, making them one of the best fruits out there for a balanced diet.
Cancer Prevention
Anthocyanins, which give blackberries their dark color, are an antioxidant shown to reduce inflammation. As an antioxidant, they destroy free radicals in the body that harm cells and lead to cancer. Research has also shown that the ellagic acid in blackberries may have anti-cancer properties. One cup of blackberries contains half of the daily recommendation of the antioxidant vitamin C, which protects the immune system and may lower the risk of developing certain types of cancer.
Researchers have found that blackberries may reduce esophageal cancer by relieving the oxidative stress caused by Barrett's esophagus, a precancerous condition usually brought about by gastroesophageal reflux disease. Perhaps the greatest benefit from eating blackberries is their high level of phenolic acids which, besides having many other potential health benefits, are antioxidant compounds known as powerful anti-carcinogenic agents. Because of these compounds, blackberries have been given an ORAC value (oxygen radical absorbance capacity) of about 5350 per 100 grams, placing them near the top of ORAC fruits.
Cardiovascular Benefits
The anthocyanins that give blackberries their dark color are antioxidants shown to reduce inflammation by helping combat free radicals in the body that destroy cells and lead to heart disease. Vitamin C in blackberries acts as an antioxidant, and one cup of this delicious berry contains half of the daily recommendation of vitamin C. The immune system uses vitamin C to fight illness adequate vitamin C intake may lower the risk of developing heart disease. One cup of blackberries contains over thirty percent of the daily recommended amount of fiber, promoting healthy digestion and reducing the risk of heart disease.
Skin Health

As are all berries, blackberries are a great source of ellagic acid, an antioxidant shown to protect the skin from damage from ultraviolet light. Studies have also shown that ellagic acid may also repair skin damaged by the sun. Vitamin C helps heal wounds, and studies also show vitamin C may even lessen the appearance of wrinkles. Studies of cyanidin-3-glucoside, a compound found in blackberries showed it prevents skin cancer by inhibiting tumors from growing and spreading.
Eye Health
Vitamin C functions as an antioxidant in blackberries and one cup contains half of the daily recommendation of vitamin C. The body uses vitamin C for protection from immune system deficiencies, and may reduce the chances of macular degeneration, a condition in which fine vision deteriorates, resulting in central vision loss and is the leading cause of blindness in people over 50.
Women's Health
Phytoestrogens are naturally occurring plant estrogens found in blackberries that may help relieve the common symptoms of PMS like bloating, food cravings, and even menopausal symptoms including hot flashes.
Digestive Tract Health
Just one cup of blackberries contains over thirty percent of the daily recommended amount of fiber, which promotes healthy digestion and aids in maintaining bowel regularity by bulking up the feces and reducing the time it takes matter to pass all the way through the intestines. Bowel regularity is commonly associated with a decreased risk for colon cancer.
Diabetes
Thirty percent of the daily recommended amount of fiber is to be found in just one cup of blackberries. The steady movement of fiber through the digestive system allows for a measured breakdown of food into its component parts. This even breakdown of food helps to curtail extremes regarding simple sugar uptake from the digestive tract. An excess of simple sugar uptake all at once can produce an unwanted blood sugar spike. A lack of simple sugar uptake may produce a rapid blood sugar drop. Either extreme can upset blood sugar balance. The quantity of fiber in blackberries helps avoid both extremes.
Bone Health
Blackberries are a good source of vitamin K, offering 36% of the daily recommended amount of this nutrient used by the body for the clotting of blood and to aid the absorption of calcium.

Zambroza is a unique and powerful blend of juices that are naturally rich in vitamin C - a powerful antioxidant.  Not only will you feel revitalised but these antioxidants have a powerful effect on the health of the skin helping you to look great too. This is Nature’s Sunshine’s top selling product worldwide – a great tasting, synergistic blend that helps to increase vital energy and replenish the body.

BENEFITS OF ZAMBROZA

• Supply powerful nutrients that give the body energy and vitality
• Maintain a healthy immune system
• Neutralise free radicals throughout the body
  COMBATING FREE RADICALS
  • Antioxidants are natural substances that stabilise highly reactive molecules known as ‘free radicals’. 
  • Free radicals occur naturally in the body.  Pollution, chemical additives, stress, exercise, sunlight and other factors can increase free radical production.
  • Excess free radicals can have a damaging effect on the body’s cells.  A great deal of attention has been directed at the antioxidant vitamins A, C and E because of their function in protecting the cells from damage caused by natural body processes, lifestyles, and environmental and chemical pollutants.
  • These vitamins, along with the trace mineral selenium, help to prevent important molecules and structures within the cell from reacting with oxygen, which often injures the cell structure. This process is called oxidation.
  
  RICH IN POLYPHENOLS AND FLAVONOIDS
• Nature’s Sunshine has harvested the most healthful fruits and natural extracts from around the world and combined them into this unique delicious, nutritious juice that has been specially formulated to neutralise excess free radicals. 
• This unique juice blend not only tastes great but gives your body what it needs to enjoy maximum health and long lasting vitality - not only will you feel revitalised but these antioxidants have a powerful effect on the health of the skin helping you to look great too.
• Potency of antioxidants is measured by their ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorption Capacity), which indicates their ability to neutralise and scavenge free radicals.  When tested by Brunswick Laboratories the results were astounding with Zambroza’s scoring more than twice that of the nearest competitor, demonstrating its superior protective properties.
• Rich in Polyphenols and Flavonoids Zambroza is proven to give unparalleled antioxidant protection.

Muscle Isn’t Everything: Other Protein Benefits

I lifted the below from an article by John Berardi, PhD CSCS, on how much protein you should eat at every meal....

"Beyond this very narrow view of protein intake (muscle protein synthesis vs. breakdown), there’s a much more important question at stake: why else do we eat protein?

You see, there are other benefits to eating protein beyond muscle building. There’s satiety, the thermogenic effects, the impact on the immune system, and more (see below). Plus, there are probably a few benefits science can’t measure yet. I say the last part because there’s so much experiential evidence suggesting that when you’re training hard and you up your protein intake, you do better. So maybe we just haven’t looked in the right places to notice the real benefits.

Other Protein Benefits

We shouldn’t look at the world through a straw (i.e. see one protein study on one isolated topic and make broad generalizations). So, to help us remember that, let’s review a list of benefits we get from eating extra protein.

Increased thermic effect of feeding – While all macronutrients require metabolic processing for digestion, absorption, and storage or oxidation, the thermic effect of protein is roughly double that of carbohydrates and fat. Therefore, eating protein is actually thermogenic and can lead to a higher metabolic rate. This means greater fat loss when dieting and less fat gain during overfeeding/muscle building.

Increased glucagon – Protein consumption increases plasma concentrations of the hormone glucagon. Glucagon is responsible for antagonizing the effects of insulin in adipose tissue, leading to greater fat mobilization. In addition, glucagon also decreases the amounts and activities of the enzymes responsible for making and storing fat in adipose and liver cells. Again, this leads to greater fat loss during dieting and less fat gain during overfeeding.

Metabolic pathway adjustment –When a higher protein (20-50% of intake) is followed, a host of metabolic adjustments occur. These include: a down-regulation of glycolysis, a reduction in fatty acid synthesis enzymes, and an increase in gluconeogenesis - a carbohydrate “draining” effect where carbons necessary for ridding the body of amino nitrogen is drawn from glucose.

Increased IGF-1 – Protein and amino-acid supplementation has been shown to increase the IGF-1 response to both exercise and feeding. Since IGF-1 is an anabolic hormone that’s related to muscle growth, another advantage associated with consuming more protein is more muscle growth when overfeeding and/or muscle sparing when dieting.

Reduction in cardiovascular risk – Several studies have shown that increasing the percentage of protein in the diet (from 11% to 23%) while decreasing the percentage of carbohydrate (from 63% to 48%) lowers LDL cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations with concomitant increases in HDL cholesterol concentrations.

Improved weight loss profile – Research by Layman and colleagues has demonstrated that reducing the carbohydrate ratio from 3.5 – 1 to 1.4 – 1 increases body fat loss, spares muscle mass, reduces triglyceride concentrations, improves satiety, and improves blood glucose management

Increased protein turnover — All tissues of the body, including muscle, go through a regular program of turnover. Since the balance between protein breakdown and protein synthesis governs muscle protein turnover, you need to increase your protein turnover rates in order to best improve your muscle quality. A high protein diet does just this. By increasing both protein synthesis and protein breakdown, a high protein diet helps you get rid of the old muscle more quickly and build up new, more functional muscle to take its place.

Increased nitrogen status — A positive nitrogen status means that more protein is entering the body than is leaving the body. High protein diets cause a strong positive protein status and when this increased protein availability is coupled with an exercise program that increases the body’s anabolic efficiency, the growth process may be accelerated.

Increased provision of auxiliary nutrients — Although the benefits mentioned above have related specifically to protein and amino acids, it’s important to recognize that we don’t just eat protein and amino acids — we eat food. Therefore, high protein diets often provide auxiliary nutrients that could enhance performance and/or muscle growth. These nutrients include creatine, branched chain amino acids, conjugated linoleic acids, and/or additional nutrients that are important but remain to be discovered. And don’t forget the vitamins and minerals we get from protein rich foods.

(And lest anyone think I’m a shill for the protein powder industry, this last point clearly illustrates the need to get most of your protein from food, rather than supplements.)

Looking over this list of benefits, it’s hard to ignore the fact that we don’t just eat protein for its muscle synthetic effect. We eat protein for a bunch of other reasons too. Since a higher protein diet can lead to a better health profile, an increased metabolism, improved body composition, and an improved training response, why would anyone ever try to limit their protein intake to the bare minimum?

Take-home Message

It seems to me that whether someone’s on a hypoenergetic diet (low calorie) or a hyperenergetic diet (high calorie), the one macronutrient they would want to be sure to “overeat” (relatively speaking) would be protein.

But that’s not what people do, is it?

Instead, they look for the bare minimum of protein (whether it’s 20-30g/meal or 0.8g/kg/day), and then overeat carbohydrates and fats instead. That could prove to be a performance – and body composition – mistake.

So here’s my recommendation for men and women interested in losing fat, gaining lean muscle, and improving their health and performance:

Women – Eat 1 palm-sized portion of lean, complete protein (about 20-30g) with each meal, every few hours. If you eat less frequently, eat a bit more protein with each meal. If you eat more frequently, eat a bit less protein with each meal.

Men – Eat 2 palm-sized portions of lean, complete protein (about 40-60g) with each meal, every few hours. If you eat less frequently, eat a bit more protein with each meal. If you eat more frequently, eat a bit less protein with each meal.

This pattern of intake will make sure you’re getting enough protein to reap all the benefits that this amazing macronutrient has to offer.

Dr. John Berardi is the co-founder of Precision Nutrition and the co-creator of the Precision Nutrition Certification program."