If like me, you indulged more on high fat goodies over the holidays, you will be pleased to know that wild blueberries appear to offer up a host of “damage control” benefits. In a lab study that sought to evaluate the effects of a high fat diet enhanced with wild berries over a three-month period, rats consuming the daily dose of berries benefited in several ways, relative to the rats fed a high fat diet without the berries. Two worthy of mention were significantly lower levels of inflammatory compounds in the bloodstream and lower blood pressure.

Blueberries, particularly wild blueberries, are notably high in a special class of blue/red plant pigments called anthocynanins. Due to their sensational antioxidant and anti-inflammatory prowess, anthocyanins are thought to be the “active ingredients” behind berries’ widely acclaimed health benefits. You can find frozen wild, organic blueberries at many grocery outlets, and I encourage you to eat them regularly. I buy mine from our local Costco. (PloS ONE, 2014;9(12)) Click here to see the list of the other foods highest in anthocyanins.