Sally, 34, brought in her little boy Johnny, complaining about attention and behavioural problems. In my on going efforts to have children of all ages take cod liver oil for the health and development of their brains among other things, I will often recommend that it be combined with a new remedy “Verry Berry”. I will slip out of the room and head to my dispensary to make up a cocktail that I then give to the children to see if they will take it. The Verry Berry gets comments like “this can’t be good for you it tastes delicious!” or “can I put this on ice cream?” When I also want children to take a liquid B complex or calcium magnesium supplement the Verry Berry can just be the trick. Once you get the deficiencies of children corrected their taste buds start to return to normal and their diet is much more manageable.

I decided to bring in the Verry Berry because of its compliance factor as well as its numerous health benefits. Dr. Nita Bishop grows the berries, pomegranates, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and cranberries, in this mixture on an organic farm in the Amazon. The result is a beautifully tasting syrup that does not contain vitamins but a concentrated amount of bioflavonoids, that are gaining popularity in the research to be very effective anti-oxidant compounds. They are purported to work by affecting cell signalling and the consequent change in DNA expression. In English this means that they are emerging to be important in preventing cancers. Certain flavonoids have an affinity for certain tissues: milk thistle for the liver, gingko for the brain, hawthorne for the heart and bilberry for the eyes. They generally have an affinity for the microcirculation and capillary mesh ie as found the respiratory tract.

More than 4000 different types of flavonoids have been described to date and divided into six main categories:

Flavonols:  found in onions, kale and broccoli (quercitin is an example)

Flavones: found in greens including thyme and parsley

Flavonones: found in citrus fruits

Isoflavones: found in legumes, genestein found in soy being the most popular example

Anthocyanidins/proanthocyanicins (PCOs)/ gallic acid phenols: give rise to the dark purple blue colour found in grapes, cherries, blueberries, plums and other coloured fruits. Common herbs include hawthorne and bilberry.

Dr. Bill Mitchell N.D. is another naturopathic physician who has taught, over the last 20 years, the health benefits of bioflavonoids, explaining that they are in the skin of berries to protect them from the UV radiation effects of the sun and scavenge reactive oxygen species or free radicals. The emphasis on anti-oxidant activity goes to vitamin C, E, beta carotene, selenium and zinc, the anti-oxidant activity of flavonoids generally is more potent and effective against a broader range of oxidants than these traditional antioxidant nutrients. Flavonoids also act synergistically with Vitamins such as C and E making them more bioavailable.

Flavonoids are also involved with healthy clotting, liver function, enzyme activity, collagen, phospholipid, cholesterol and histamine metabolism.

Promising research in Quebec on delphinidins (flavonoids found in black current seeds) published in the New England Journal of Medicine November 2005, discussed 49 patients with recurrent malignant gliomas (a type of brain cancer), 9 had tumour shrinkage of at least 25 percent, which is promising in this type of cancer which is usually fatal 100% of the time. Ellagic acid (polyphenols found in raspberries and strawberries) inhibits the promotion and progression of chemically induced esophageal cancer.

Johnny had no trouble taking Verry Berry. In the summer his mother made delicious Popsicles out of it as it freezes well preserving the PCO content. There are many such products on the market I explained to Sally, just make sure they are organic and compare their antioxidant HPLC measurements. Berries should be one of those recommended five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables per day to prevent the common diseases of aging. Add them to your “health insurance” program today!