The digestive tract is truly an amazing system, and as Hippocrates claimed, and we naturopaths espouse, “All disease begins in the gut.” I remember my herbal medicine lecturer’s wise words ringing in my ears, ”If there is a complex case in front of you and many issues need to be addressed, when in doubt, always start by treating the gut.”
And it seems that berries may have a role to play when addressing the gut. In a paper presented at the recent Berry Health Benefits Symposium in the US, Jess D Reed from the University of Wisconsin- Madison suggests that berries exert some of their therapeutic action in the digestive tract. In her paper she claimed that consumption of berries is associated with a decreased risk of disease, and that it appears that it is in the gut that berry tannins exert their beneficial effects. Interestingly, tannins are poorly absorbed, so this positive effect occurs even though most of the tannins ingested are eventually excreted from the body.
As Reed explains, Gut Associated Lymphoid Tissue (GALT) is the largest immune tissue in our body. Tannins are thought to exert an impact on GALT due to the way that they bind with proteins from food in our digestive tracts, and change the way that the proteins act in our gut. Proteins can either have a pro-inflammatory or anti-inflammatory influence on GALT, for example, and tannins are thought to play a health-promoting role in the digestive tract by reducing inflammation. Evidence suggests that tannins may also reduce the chance of unhealthy microbes binding to the walls of our intestines and causing illness, as well as having an antioxidant effect.
Although this research is still preliminary (it has been observed so far only in a test tube or cell culture environment), it does suggest that berries may play a role in maintaining health and wellbeing not only for our digestive tract but through their actions in the digestive tract. Reed suggests that the antioxidant action of berry tannins may prevent the oxidation of fats in the gut leading to a reduction of oxidized fats in the blood, providing a benefit for our heart health that starts in the gut.
All up, what a great impetus for keeping your digestive tract healthy by tucking into some tasty berries! Try this recipe on for size:
Healthy Berry Treat (great for dessert!)
Put in a bowl:
1 cup of good quality natural yoghurt
1 handful of berries (preferably fresh – your choice of blueberries, blackberries, raspberries or strawberries)
approx. 10 almonds or pecan halves
1 teaspoon of slightly warmed honey drizzled on top
a small sprinkle of cinnamon and/or nutmeg
Sit down, enjoy the flavours, and know that you are probably doing something really good for your health!
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