Wild Blueberry Research Summit

PORTLAND, Maine—At the recent Wild Blueberry Health Research Summit in Bar Harbor, Maine, a group of scientists from the U.S. and Canada, called the Bar Harbor Group shared current findings about the health benefits of wild blueberries.

Summit participants, including James Joseph, Ph.D. and Barbara Shukitt-Hale, Ph.D., from the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University; and Don Ingram, Ph.D., from Louisiana State University’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center and formerly with the National Institute on Aging, recently collaborated on an important study in the area of cardiovascular health demonstrating that a blueberry-enriched diet protects the heart muscle from damage in animal models.

Others are involved in research related to metabolic syndrome, a combination of medical disorders including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, abdominal obesity and impaired glucose tolerance responsible for increased risk for cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Working with Wild Blueberry fruit compounds known as anthocyanins, Mary Ann Lila, Ph.D., from North Carolina State University, Plants for Human Health Institute, led a team of researchers that demonstrated blueberry phytochemicals helped alleviate hyperglycemia in rodent models, a condition associated with diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

According to Susan Davis, MS, RD, Wild Blueberry Health Research Summit facilitator and Nutrition Advisor to the Wild Blueberry Association of North America, excitement is building around clinical trials. “We have seen success in pilot studies exploring the effects of Wild Blueberry consumption on vision, cardiovascular health and cognitive impairment,” said Davis. “Researchers want to build on pilot study results that are showing a positive effect in study subjects, while simultaneously advancing in vitro and in vivo work examining the actual bioactive compounds in the berries.”