Garden of the Heart Ministries - Temple Talk - Blueberries and Urinary Tract Infection

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Stress Relief Savor the Sun! Rev it Up Wisdom about Heart Health Blueberries and Urinary Tract Infections Know Before Saying No! Curb the Crave	Blueberries and Urinary Tract Infections By Renée Lubinski April 2005 Blueberries are a wonderful fruit, created by our awesome God. Genesis 1:11 says, And He said, "Let the earth burst forth with every sort of grass and seed-bearing plant, and fruit trees with seeds inside the fruit …” And so it was, and God was pleased. (TLB) Fruit is one of life’s many pleasures! I especially love blueberries. Most of us know them well for their antioxidant qualities as they rate the highest in antioxidants among over 40 fruits and vegetables! They are also known to reduce inflammatory processes in your cell tissues and protect the body against damage from oxidative stress. Blueberries also relieve tired eyes and contain ellagic acid, which helps prevent urinary tract infections (UTIs). It has recently come to my attention that blueberries have compounds similar to those of cranberries and can be used to treat UTIs. Optimal health benefits come when you eat fruit or vegetables in their freshest form, which is the uncooked, raw state. Now, which would you rather toss into your mouth, a handful of fresh blueberries or a handful of fresh cranberries?!? UTIs are common among women as more than half of all women experience at least one UTI in their lifetime. And while there is no truly definitive reason why some women get UTIs and why the recurrence of the infection accumulates in the same women, researchers sought out to determine tools in which UTIs could be prevented. Now, prevention is my kind of talk! Typically bacteria in the stool trigger UTIs. Fortunately simple dietary changes have the ability to have profound influences on the bacterial flora in your intestine and thus radically influence your risk of future UTIs. In order to conclude whether or not dietary factors play a protective role against UTIs, researchers conducted a study in women to evaluate certain dietary factors. The study focused particularly on the intake of fruit and berries and milk products. In the study, nearly 140 women with a diagnosis of an acute UTI were compared with 185 age-matched women who did not experience any UTI occurrences within the past five years. Participants were asked to complete a questionnaire based on dietary and other lifestyle habits during the past month, such as estimating: The amounts of milk products consumed (milk, yogurt, cheese, etc.) The amounts of fruits and berries consumed (both fresh and prepared) The frequency of consumption for both milk and fruit and berry products Findings: The data from the study revealed that eating more fresh fruit and drinking more berry juice was linked to a lower risk of UTI recurrence. This is because most berries are rich in flavonols (a helpful and potent inhibitor which fights off bad bacteria to human cells). The flavonol content in berries is high, which may explain why they help reduce recurrence of infections. For a free, full text article about blueberries and UTIs, link on to: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition In general, blueberries are one of the richest sources of antioxidants of all fresh fruits and vegetables and the components in them have many health benefits. It seems reasonable to add blueberries to your diet if you suffer from frequent UTIs. This is not the season for blueberries so if you are interested in using them for the purpose of treating a UTI, you can either purchase frozen organic blueberries in your local health food store or check out the produce section as some grocers carry them year round. See this month’s recipe Breakfast Berry Cobbler for a delightful, easy-to-make breakfast treat that contains blueberries! And, don’t miss this month’s Temple Teaching where you’ll find a wonderfully helpful, brief Scripture study on the body. Do you have feedback or a recipe you’d like to share? I would enjoy hearing from you. * * * * * Feedback is welcomed. Please feel free to email your comments, questions or suggestions!