Health Benefits of Brown Rice and Blueberries Together for Breakfast

Can a breakfast of brown rice with wild organic blueberries help to reduce your blood pressure? Here are some facts you might not have realized about high blood pressure, since May is high blood pressure education month.

With 90% of the older population having high blood pressure, how come restaurants still load soups and other foods with salt? And processed foods also are high in salt unless stating "no salt added," on the label. But that still doesn't mean that the food is free of salt or even low salt.

For example, cheeses, olives, and pickles can be made without salt, but have you ever seen them on the market with no added salt? You may find chips once in a while baked with no salt added, but most brands are still sprayed with a commercial oil before baking.

How many restaurants in Sacramento offer no-salt added foods, especially soups? Even vegetarian establishments may salt their soups, not realizing that up to 60 percent of the population with high blood pressure may be salt-sensitive.

Research shows that brown rice with no added salt may help to reduce blood pressure, in some cases, especially when eaten with wild blueberries for breakfast. See the article, Blueberry Research | Antioxidant Benefits, Disease Prevention.

In the Sacramento regional area, at the University of California, Davis, a study found that blueberries may reduce the build up of so called "bad" cholesterol that contributes to cardiovascular disease and stroke, according to UC Davis scientists. Antioxidants are believed to be the active component. See the UC Davis study published in the USDA Agricultural Research Service. July 2004; Food Navigator. August 2004.

Here are some facts about high blood pressure. What causes 90% of the older population to develop high blood pressure? See the May 3, 2010 Natural News article, Eat brown rice to prevent high blood pressure, lower heart attack risk.

Blueberries have the highest cellular antioxidant activity of selected fruits tested. Lead scientist Rui Hai Liu, Ph.D. used the cellular antioxidant activity (CAA) assay - a new assay developed by the Cornell University Department of Food Science - to determine antioxidant activity of antioxidants, foods, and dietary supplements. Wild Blueberries outperformed two dozen commonly consumed fruits like pomegranates, strawberries, cultivated blueberries, cranberries, apples and red grapes. Antioxidant have been linked with anti-aging, anti-cancer and heart-health benefits. Check out these studies: Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 2008; 56(18): 8418-8426 and Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 2007; 55(22): 8896-8907.

The salty foods, the sugar in their diets, or the high lead and mercury pollution in the air from living near heavy traffic zones? Or could it be the plasticizers in most people's bloodstreams from eating out of plastic containers?

The question is whether the predisposition to high blood pressure is a disease or a symptom, since as people age, in various other places on Earth, not everyone's blood pressure rises. So what contributes to it? Polluted air and water? Plasticizers? Stress? Lifestyle? Activity? Diet? Or is it all genetic? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) site, here are some facts about high blood pressure.

• Almost 90% of adults aged 45-64 years will develop high blood pressure during the remainder of their lifetime.
• About 25% of American adults aged 20 years or older have prehypertension.
• One of every three U.S. adults aged 20 years or older have hypertension.
• Nearly one of five people have hypertension and are not aware that they have it.
• In the United States, high blood pressure is more common among blacks than whites. About 44% of black women have high blood pressure.
• Mexican-Americans have the lowest level of hypertension control compared to non-Hispanic whites and blacks.

Health Impact of High Blood Pressure

• High blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart disease, stroke, congestive heart failure, and kidney disease.
• High blood pressure was a primary or contributing cause of death for 326,000 Americans in 2006.
• Nearly 45 million people visited their doctor for high blood pressure in 2006.

High Blood Pressure and Salt

• A diet high in sodium (salt) increases the risk for higher blood pressure. About 77% of the sodium Americans consume comes from processed and restaurant foods.

Preventing and Controlling High Blood Pressure

You can maintain healthy blood pressure through changing your lifestyle or by combining lifestyle changes with prescribed medications.

Key lifestyle changes include the following:

• Have your blood pressure checked regularly.
• Maintain a normal body weight (body mass index of 18.5-24.9 which is kilograms divided by height in meters squared).
• Keep up physical activity (2 hours and 30 minutes (150 minutes) of moderate-intensity aerobic activity (i.e., brisk walking) every week and muscle-strengthening activities on 2 or more days a week that work all major muscle groups (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders, and arms).
• Follow a healthy eating plan of a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and low in sodium.
• Quit smoking.
• If you drink alcoholic beverages, do so in moderation (≤ 2 drinks per day for men and ≤ 1 drinks per day for women).
• If you have high blood pressure and are prescribed medication(s), take as directed.

The most recent recommendations for detecting and treating high blood pressure are available from the Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure of the National Heart and Lung Institutes, National Institutes of Health.

Where Can You Pick Blueberries in Sacramento?

You can pay to pick your own blueberries locally, from specific farms or find berries at various farmers' markets. Folsom, in the Sacramento area, marks the location of headquarters of the US Highbush Blueberry Council, which represents around 2,000 blueberries growers in the USA representing a half-billion pounds of production each year. According to an April 15, 2010 Sacramento News Review.com article by Alastair Bland, Little, blue, different - Homegrown - Green Guide, Americans hardly eat blueberries.

There's ample opportunity in the Sacramento area and surrounding regions to go out to specific blueberry farms that invite the public to pay and pick the blueberries. For example, there's Bolster's Hilltop Ranch in Camino, an unincorporated town in El Dorado county, with a population of about 4,961, where customers must pick the fruit for themselves.

According to Alastair Bland's article, Bolster's Hilltop Ranch in Camino consists of 4 acres of fields that produce nine varieties of blueberries. See my April 13, 2010 Examiner article for blueberry or any other berry jam recipe, "How to make healthier blueberry or strawberry jam: health benefits of pectin."

If you want to learn about various species of blueberries that grow in California, there are three species in the genus Vaccinium. The farm's first variety to ripen each season is the duke blueberry, according to the article, Little, blue, different - Homegrown - Green Guide. You can see this plump berry variety in late May. It's Bolster's "favorite variety."

If you want more California blueberries, there are varieties such as the sharpblue, Georgia gem, marimba, misty, Gulf Coast, and Cape Fear blueberries. Before you start growing blueberries in Sacramento climate, find out which blueberries do best in the warm, California climate. Blueberries are native to North America. Some varieties of blueberries do better in different, colder climates.

In California, some people pay to come and pick blueberries from certain farms that invite people to pay and pick. In June, Bolster's Hilltop Ranch could be full of pay-to-pick customers. Other places you can buy local blueberries are in supermarket and various natural foods and whole foods stores in the area.

To easily make blueberry jam, add two tablespoons of grapefruit or apple pectin to a quart of dark purple grape juice or a can of grape juice concentrate thinned with a cup of water, add two tablespoons of lemon juice, and blend until the pectin is dissolved. For a sweeter, slightly more tart taste, add two tablespoons of pomegranate juice concentrate.

Then put a cup or two of washed blueberries into that liquid and pour into a large, covered jar. Keep it in your refrigerator to use as jam or jelly. If you don't want whole blueberries, put them in the blender with the rest of the liquid and liquefy. You can mix with cherries for a mixed berry sandwich spread. It goes well with almond butter on a sandwich.

Interestingly, with all the health benefits to the brain and bones that blueberries provide, not that many Americans buy a lot of blueberries. Most buy more strawberries, and then, some presumably dip the strawberries in chocolate.

Per capita consumption in America runs about 12 ounces of fresh berries per year. Compare that figure--a mere 12 ounces of blueberries averaging per person each year--not even a pound, with the 6.5 pounds of strawberries per capita annually, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But you know not every person is counted, for example, children who don't buy fruit or older adults in nursing homes. So its an average figure.

A lot of California's annual blueberry production is commercial. You have dog foods such as Taste of the Wild brand that use blueberries in dry dog food that has no grain. Then there's all those processed foods with a large jelly and jam industry. Some people even make their own wine at home from blueberries and other berries, sometimes mixing various berries with grapes.

Longevity Studies and Blueberries

See my other Examiner article on the health benefits of blueberries, "How blueberries simulate the genetic beneficial longevity effects of caloric restriction - new study." Besides being used to mimic caloric restriction, blueberries help to increase bone density.

According to the World's Healthiest Foods site, the article posted there on blueberries notes that, "In laboratory animal studies, researchers have found that blueberries help protect the brain from oxidative stress and may reduce the effects of age-related conditions such as Alzheimer's disease or dementia. Researchers found that diets rich in blueberries significantly improved both the learning capacity and motor skills of aging animals, making them mentally equivalent to much younger ones."

Should you be eating a low-acid diet for healthier bones? Scientific studies show that there's too much protein causing osteoporosis in the USA and Europe. The question is should you be eating a low-acid, higher alkaline diet for healthier bones? Scientific studies recommend eating seven to thirteen of vegetables and some fruits, but more vegetables than fruits.

Some people are born with a gene that makes vegetables taste bitter on the back of their tongue. Others don't taste any bitter qualities of vegetables. Children usually will let you know if they are tasting bitterness in vegetables. Those that don't taste bitterness in vegetables such as broccoli, usually eat more vegetables without protesting.

Bone Density and Alkaline Vegetarian Diets

The minerals in fruits and vegetables in more than 100 studies showed improved bone mineral density in 85 percent of cases studied compared to 52 percent improvement of cases studied for persons taking calcium supplements, according to the article, "The Calcium Myth - Natural Solutions Vibrant Health Balanced Living," by Michael Castleman, published in the August 2009 issue of Natural Solutions magazine.

The article notes the 16 nutrients needed for healthier bones. A largely animal-protein based diet is acidic. A largely vegetable and fruit diet is alkaline. That's the big picture--that a low acid diet helps prevent bone loss. The article emphasizes that meat and dairy contain five to 10 times more protein per serving than fruits and vegetables.

The alkaline materials from vegetables and fruits neutralize some of the acids you get from eating animal protein. When your body has too much acid from eating animal proteins, your body draws calcium from your bone and dumps it into your bloodstream. That's how bone loss occurs from eating too much animal protein.

Dairy is acidic. If you drink milk and eat animal protein, include a lot more alkalizing foods--vegetables and fruits. Otherwise your acidic, high-protein diet will draw the calcium right out of your teeth and bones, causing bone loss.

According to Dr. Christopher's Herbal Legacy site, "American women have been consuming an average of two pounds of milk per day for their entire lives, yet thirty million American women have osteoporosis. Drinking milk does not prevent bone loss. Bone loss is accelerated by ingesting too much protein, and milk has been called 'liquid meat.'"

Also see the book, Building Bone Vitality McGraw Hill Professional (May 2009) by Amy J. Lanou, Ph.D and Michael Castleman. The book's overview notes, "Calcium pills don't work. Dairy products don't strengthen bones. Drugs may be dangerous." The answer is balance.

Interestingly, eating fresh blueberries is not as good as eating frozen or cooked blueberries because the oxalates in the fresh blueberries may interfere with the absorption of calcium from your body. But frozen blueberries don't have this problem.

Bone Loss Prevention and Blueberries

Check out many medical and scientific articles at the Free Library by Farlex with more than five million articles and books. It's the anthocyanidins in the blueberries that help to recycle the rest of the vitamins in your body. Anti-inflammatory properties of blueberries work to strengthen your blood vessels.

Blackberries also are similar their effects. But they have those little seeds that are harder on your teeth. You can put blackberries in smoothies. Try a shake or smoothie in your blender using locally-grown and home-frozen organic blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, and a banana.

Use a mixture of water and pomegranate or cherry juice for the liquid part of the smoothie and toss in a handful of raw almonds. What you're really trying to do with berries is repair cell membranes and prevent bone loss.

Before you jump to the conclusion that the studies were done with rats and don't apply to humans, think again. Blueberries really are good for the human body, including the brain, eyes, and bones, in moderation, of course.

Just a quarter of a cup serving will do the job. You don't need to eat two cupfuls of blueberries daily. That's too much fruit sugar, resulting in a rush of insulin into your bloodstream. Less is more. Blueberries also make a great topping for other foods. And those small, wild blueberries contain less sugar that the larger commercial blueberries that taste so good. So choose the type of blueberries that work best for your individual needs.

Some of the blueberry studies on bone loss prevention were done on rats. To read more on the subject, see scientific and medical journal articles studying the effects of blueberries on preventing bone loss, such as the following: "Blueberry prevents bone loss in ovariectomized rat model of postmenopausal osteoporosis," Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, 19:694-99, 2008.

Also see: "Phenolic compounds and antioxidant capcity of Georgia-grown blueberries and blackberries," Journal of Agricultural Food Chemistry, 50: 2432-8, 2002. And also check out the article, "Potential role of dietary flavonoids in reducing microvascular endothelium vulnerability to oxidative and inflammatory insults," Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, 13:282-8, 2002.

Can Blueberries Help Protect Against Macular Degeneration?

Blueberries do protect against macular degeneration and bone loss. In recent studies, fruit intake has been shown to be definitely protective against the severe form of this vision-destroying disease. See Toronto Eye Blog: Blueberries may reduce macular degeneration.

The statements about blueberries being protective for your brain and bones are true, but if you look at the studies, they were done on animals with the opinion that if blueberries prevent bone loss on rats, usually blueberries also will prevent bone loss with humans.

Blueberries and blackberries not only help prevent bone loss in animals (and hopefully in humans as well) but also cleanse your guts. If you have a choice, buy locally-grown blueberries.