| Product: |
Cranberry |
| Date: |
10.05.08 (68 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Healthy, and can be tasty
Disadvantages: Very sour
When my husband first started having prostate problems, the first thing people told him was to start eating cranberries in any way, shape or form he could find them. This surprised me, so I began to research what effect cranberries has on the body, and lo and behold, this strange "fruit" is actually very good for you!
The first site I found was www.all-creatures.org which encouraged people to have cranberry sauce with their tofu turkey on Thanksgiving. While that's a very nice idea (even with the real bird), this site is mostly concerned with prostate cancer and its prevention. This site notes that there is an anti-tumor effect in cranberry extract. What was really interesting was that one study actually found that putting cranberry extract on certain cancer cells (in this case, the deadly prostate) and they saw that their growth slowed down. That's pretty amazing to hear, isn't it? And what's more, they couldn't figure out how to isolate the thing in cranberries which does this. The good thing about that is, you can just continue to get the benefits of cranberries without having to buy some fancy, expensive drug.
Another article I found at healing.about.com talks about how pigs with clogged hearts were given cranberry powder and they found fewer blockages afterwards. They have a whole list of healthy benefits there, and also note that cranberry juice can increase your good cholesterol levels, with the highest anti-oxidant level of any commonly eaten fruit today. That's good news for alcoholics who can't have red wine, and diabetics who should stay away from even dark chocolate.
Americans should be proud that this unusual item is one of the few food items uniquely indigenous to their country (which makes me wonder why they don't say "As American as Cranberry Sauce" instead of Apple Pie). According to the Ocean Spray site (www.oceanspray.com), Native American medicine men used to use cranberries extensively to do all sorts of healing, like applying it to arrow wounds. Cranberries also contain vitamin C which was used hundreds of years ago to prevent scurvy in sailors. But while scurvy isn't one of our worries today, you might think about using it today on dry land to help prevent the common cold.
Of course, I'm still not convinced that this is a fruit. The cranberry is actually grown in sandy marshes and bogs and sprouts on long vines. Today, these bogs are harvested by flooding them and then scooping the floating berries out of the water. That's nothing like any other fruit I've ever seen. What's more, cranberries are a very sour by nature and when I hear the word "fruit" I immediately think "sweet" (and only remember later how much I love grapefruit).
In any case, cranberries are a very special food item indeed. Their unusual flavor is something that can compliment main courses (like your Thanksgiving dinner), breakfasts (cranberry muffins, or dried cranberries in your cereal), desserts or even a cup of herbal tea (Celestial Seasonings makes a lovely Cranberry Apple Zinger). So, try something with cranberries today - you just might find yourself falling in love with something that's healthy!
Summary: The Cranberry is a fruit that's good for you!
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