Aronia Berry Juice Health Benefits

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INTRODUCTION

Pucker up and prepare to experience the benefits of the tart Aronia Berry. The term "super food" gets used a lot, but when it comes to these berries and their juice health benefits, the term is well-deserved. These berries are a genuine miracle of nature. Aronia is a low-maintenance and nearly a pest-free crop. It is easy to grow the aronia plant organically because it does not need to be protected against pathogens, pest, and diseases, as a result the fruit does not contain traces of pesticides.

They are 3 times healthier than blueberries. The unique taste of the berry is one of life's unique experiences. Their high antioxidant levels, and high tannin levels make these berries tart. The berries are often made into juice mixed with other juice or made into jelly or other products. Another juice or sweetener is often added to reduce the tart taste

THIS JUICE IS AN ANTIOXIDANT LEADER

First the berry juice is a leading source of antioxidants. Antioxidants as you probably know are composed of a variety of compounds this includes vitamins, enzymes, bio-flavonoids, and peroxidases. Antioxidants break down the free radical molecule neutralizing it. Free radicals formed in your body essentially damage the cells leading to a host of negative effects, including making you age faster and rendering you less able to fight off diseases.

Drinking this juice supplies your body with free radical eliminating compounds that helps get rid of many of them. This helps you slow the process of aging and fend off disease. This claim it is backed up by solid science.

ESSENTIAL ACIDS OFFER DIFFERENT ARONIA BERRY JUICE HEALTH BENEFITS

Constituents within the berry include tannic acid, folic acid, quinic acid, phenolic acids, catechins, ascorbic acid,known as vitamin Cas well as Vitamins B6, B12, and E, minerals, resveratrol, hesperidin and rutin.

The primary organic acids in the berries are: tartaric, natural polyphenolic compounds, antioxidants, malic, and citric. This produces a low pH of 3.3-3.8 inside berries. This in turn hinders bacterial invasion and facilitates transport and storage of aronia berries.

Aronia berry juice is high in tannic acid, or tannins, which is well-known to be an anti-inflammatory agent. The tannins in the berry is what gives aronia berries their astringent taste that most people find objectionable. Aronia berry juice is reported to ease intestinal inflammation, and also inflammation of the joints, or even the skin.

Inflammation causes blood levels of certain proteins to be elevated. Inflammation causes the disruption of normal brain molecules. Inflammatory proteins are thought to possibly be connected to the development of Alzheimer's disease.

Let's talk about cancer one of the most dreaded diseases. It is well-known that anyone can get cancer, and so it only makes sense to take any precautions you can to eat and drink as much as practical of the healthy foods which do the most to give you the greatest chance of preventing the start of cancer. The juice fends off cancer in a variety of ways.

It also helps prevent cancer of the stomach and colon because it contains pectin, which is a soluble form of fiber. Aronia berry has a substantial amount of pectin. Pectin is a substance that is needed to thicken jams. It can be added to other fruits that are low in pectin when making jams. Pectin bonds to cholesterol in the stomach and intestine slowing glucose absorption by trapping carbohydrates. The consumption of pectin has been shown to reduce blood cholesterol levels.

EYE PROTECTION AND ARONIA BERRIES

Amazingly, aronia juice offers some protection for the agonizing condition of macular degeneration of the eyes. This is something for which there is no cure, and which causes blindness. A study found that those who drink high amounts of fruit juices, especially antioxidant rich juices like aronia berry and blueberry juice, have far less chance of developing macular generation as they grow older.

ARONIA BERRIES AS A MEMORY AGENT

Another one of thehealth benefits of the juice is memory improvement. Aronia berries and blueberries have been shown to not only increase brain function, but specifically memory. This is creating excitement among the scientific community because it suggests high aronia berry or blueberry/juice diets can play a role in preventing or staving off Alzheimer's disease. Dark purple berries are reported to promote health and anti-aging. The dark purple pigmentation with their high level of antioxidants called anthocyanins and have been reported to promote mental focus, protect the heart and vision, and prevent free-radical damage or oxidative stress.

GROW YOUR OWN

Why not think about adding a few aronia plants? If you want to become more self-sufficient you might want to think about planting some low maintenance Aronia shrubs. Purchase your Aronia berry plants from a reputable farm and nursery. The berries are produced on easy to grow shrubs that have low maintenance and add beauty to your landscape. Nero aronia plants grow about 3 to 4 feet tall and can make a nice hedge as well as being a source of fruit. A few plants could produce all the berries you need for the year. You can freeze those you do not use during the harvest time and have them throughout the year. You could also make juice and freeze it for use later.

SUMMARY

In my view, aronia is one of the best investments in your health. For less than the price of a cup of coffee at Dunkin' Donuts, McCafé at McDonald's or Starbucks you can have an anti-inflammatory, anti-heart disease, anti-cancer, anti-Alzheimer's, anti-diabetes, eye protection, and memory enhancing aronia berry drink that's delicious and healthful. Make some juice from your own home-grown plants and keep it in the refrigerator or freezer for daily use.

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Is Organic Really Better For The Environment? And For Your Health?

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This article explores the question of whether or not organic-certified foods are really better, in the slightly more objective senses of being better for the environment, and better for human health, than non-organic foods. In order to explore and answer this question, we delve a bit into the history of organic farming, and the history of human agriculture in general.

Organic vs. traditionally produced:

The field of organic chemistry, with its synthetic chemicals, is a modern invention. For thousands of years, humans practiced agriculture, relying solely on naturally occurring chemicals in the environment around them. People used manure and compost for fertilizers, and found natural methods of pest control, such as plant-based herbicides, the use of cover crops and buffer areas, to stop the spread of pests and provide habitat for predators that would control insect populations. People used open-pollinated crops, and saved the seeds each year, thus allowing their crops to adapt to changing conditions, including a changing backdrop of pests. None of these operations were "organic certified", yet all of them would have fit the modern definition of organic farming.

Along comes synthetic chemicals:

Synthetic chemicals allowed people to move away from traditional farming methods, which were based on ecological principles. When using synthetic pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers, produced in factors, many using petroleum inputs and energy-intensive processes, farmers were able to produce greater crop yields while temporarily ignoring the ecology of the farm.

But these chemicals come with a cost. Earlier generations of chemicals, such as DDT, posed serious risks to the environment, driving some species, such as the Bald Eagle, the symbol of the United States of America, nearly to extinction, leading many of these chemicals to be banned. A number of chemicals also pose problems to human health, contributing to cancer risk as well as other diseases such as Parkinson's disease, Leukemia, and many other sinister, chronic diseases.

Organic certification:

Organic certification sets out to solve some of these problems. The idea is simple: a farmer follows a set of rules, which involves refraining from the use of certain chemical inputs for a number of years, and then the farmer's crops will be able to bear the organic label, thus fetching a higher price in the marketplace. Shoppers can look for the label, and feel peace of mind knowing that synthetic chemicals were not used in the production of their food. Sounds good, right?

Unfortunately, it's not this simple. The organic certification process is costly and complex, and can be burdensome for farmers to comply with, because of its extensive record-keeping requirements that go far above and beyond what a farmer would normally need to do in order to run a productive farming operation. The effect of this additional burden is that organic certification is more easily accessible to large-scale factory farming than it is to a small farmer with diversified crops.

Industrialized, organic factory farming vs. small-scale traditional production:

It is possible for a factory farm to comply with the letter of the organic certification rules, while ignoring the spirit of them. A factory farm may practice widespread monoculture, the growth of the same crop over a large spatial scale. They may use pesticides and fertilizers allowed in the organic system, but apply them industrially like conventional (non-organic) agriculture would.

On the other hand, a small-scale farmer, farming by traditional methods, by definition will be farming organically. But many of these farmers may choose not to go the route of organic certification because of the prohibitive costs of certification and the associated record-keeping burden. When choosing between these two setups, there is no doubt that the small farmer with diversified crops, using traditional methods is going to have a more positive impact on the environment. Yet at the store, it is the factory-farmed food that will bear the organic label.

In summary: is organic really better?

My answer to the question "Is organic really better?" is: not necessarily. Organic certification is a good idea, and all other things being equal, it is better for health and for the environment to purchase organic products. However, the organic label is not a guarantee that food has been produced in an environmentally sound manner. Many small farmers opt to avoid organic certification because it is prohibitively costly, and large-scale farms unfortunately are better able to afford this certification. It is best to balance your choice to buy organic products with a choice to buy from small farms, farming by traditional farming methods, whenever possible.

Alex Zorach is the founder and editor-in-chief of RateTea, an online community where anyone can rate and review teas, with a searchable database of teas and herbal teas, classified by brand, style, and region. Visit RateTea to learn more about organic tea production, and browse organic teas and locate companies selling organic tea.

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Aronia Black Chokeberry Provides Health and Medical Benefits

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Introduction

The health benefits of black aronia berry have caused renewed interest in them as a commercial super health food. The antioxidant properties of these black berries have led to research into their use as foods to contribute to prevention of diseases caused by oxidative stress, such as certain cancers, cardiovascular diseases and chronic inflammations.

Aronia Berry Products

Raw black aronia berry fruits are astringent, so the fruits are generally eaten in processed form. The berries can be canned or made into juice which can be used to make drinks and jelly. The extracts can also be used as natural colorants. As a juice product, these black berries (more commonly called chokeberry) is usually blended with other juices such as apple, black currant, cranberry and grape. It has been grown commercially in Russia since the 1940s, where it is used in juice products (mixed with apple juice), wine, and other products. It has been commercially grown in Europe in 1000s of acres where the aronia berries are used to make juice, alcoholic beverages, jams and jellies, and used as a food colorant.

In response to current worldwide human health concerns, new useful foods and healthy food products are being developed. Aronia berries are among the super fruit being processed into nectars and purees for their health benefits. It has been found that the ascorbic acid and anthocyanin levels dropped considerably during processing and also during subsequent storage, but that the new products still retained a high level of the biologically active substances found in fresh berries. Pressing the berries without heating them results in higher levels of biologically active substances. Producing aronia enriched lemon juice as a new beverage with antioxidant properties is one possible drink.

Viking and Nero are the two most popular aronia plants grown for fruit production. They were developed in Europe and are starting to become popular in the United States.

Aronia Berry Qualities

Generally, black aronia berries are high in soluble solids (12 - 20%), anthocyanins (560 - 1050 milligrams/100 grams fresh weight), have a pH of 3.3 - 3.7, and amount of alkali required to neutralize the acidic components is 0.7 - 1.2%. (This is called titratable acidity).

Anthocyanins: The pigments that cause these black berries to appear black are phenolics, primarily anthocyanins. These pigments produced mainly in the skin protect the berry pulp and seeds from exposure to ultraviolet radiation. This purple pigment is the shade that filters intense sunlight. Total anthocyanin levels in black the aronia berry have been reported to be as high as 1480 mg/100 g fresh berries. This level is among the highest measured in plants grown in North America. In addition to shielding the berries from the UV from sunlight, anthocyanins contribute to the berries' astringent taste. And, anthocyanins are antioxidants and serve to combat stress in the berries during metabolic processes. There have been no reports of side effects of eating aronia berries other than providing health benefits.

Depending on growing conditions the fruit quality can vary from one year to the next, with the anthocyanin content can differ widely from a poor production year to a good year. The anthocyanin content can increase by as much as 50% with a low fertilizer application compared to medium higher fertilizer rates.

ORAC (oxygen radical absorbance capacity) is a test that measures antioxidant strength of foods. Aronia berry is a super foods-list topper. Black aronia berry produces one of the highest ORAC values recorded, 16,062 micromoles per 100 g fresh fruit, compared to values for blueberries (highbush) which have a total ORAC score of 6,552. Acai is a berry that has been in the news, but research reveals that it takes a secondary position to Aronia berry. Acai have a total ORAC score of 5,500 ORAC and gooseberry has an ORAC score of 3277 and elderberry has a score of 14,697.

Summary

The antioxidant properties of black aronia berry fruits have stimulated research into their use as foods that contribute to prevention of diseases caused by oxidative stress, such as certain cancers, cardiovascular diseases and chronic inflammations.

Purchase your pesticide free aronia and blueberries from (Blueberry Croft Farm and Nursery). We understand both the theory and practical applications of growing aronia and blueberries. The farm is a reputable source for quality aronia and blueberry plants. Over 30 varieties of blueberries are grown and sold. Viking aronia plants are available for sale. Purchase your plants and get more information from http://www.blueberrycroft.com/. Get free S/H on orders of $75+. © 2011 May be reproduced in entirety with live link

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