Givin’ Some ‘Cred’ to the Cran

Far be it from me to criticize strawberries, raspberries and blueberries – three of the most commonly consumed berries – but enough of these berries already.  They’re great for you and they’re all superfoods, yes, but it’s about time we give proper credit to the cranberry.

We seldom hear about the cranberry.  It’s only real claim to fame comes at Thanksgiving, where millions of Americans adorn their tabletops with dishes of (hopefully) fresh cranberries for their dinner guests and relatives to eat and enjoy.

But other than that, cranberries aren’t heard from much – outside of the occasional cranberry juice commercial, most of which pack more sugar than juice into their boxes and bottles – despite packing 50 percent more antioxidants than its more popular berry buddy, the blueberry.

But the nutritional bennies of this berry don’t stop there.  Because according to a rare report of the cranberry and its nutritional prowess, cranberries may be the ideal food for diabetics.

This may come as somewhat of a surprise, given the fact that most commercially-produced and packaged cranberries are pre-sweetened, thus adversely affecting blood-sugar levels.

But this study involved cranberries with a reduced sugar profile, and the researchers compared how the insulin levels of13 people with type II diabetes reacted when eating either white bread, sweetened cranberries (dried), reduced sugar cranberries (dried) or raw cranberries.

As you might expect, those who consumed the white bread fared worst, as insulin levels spiked.  But believe it or not, despite being sweetened with sugar (granted, at a reduced level), the insulin level response was a positive one for the 13 people with type II diabetes.  Only those that consumed the raw cranberries elicited a more beneficial insulin response from the four food options.

The researchers – from Winona State University in Minnesota – credit both the reduced sugar profile and the increased fiber content of the cranberry concoction for its low glycemic effect on diabetics.

Their study is published in the FASEB Journal (Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology) and is set to be published in a peer-reviewed journal some time soon.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, this study was conducted by Ocean Spray, a company whose juice products contain more sugar than juice, and their diet products use Splenda to compensate for the reduced sugar (one of the worst nutritional foods you could ever eat, as has been documented here in the past).

Despite all that, the cranberries still elicited a positive insulin response.  So you can imagine how good cranberries are for you raw or lightly sweetened through your own juicing.

That’s what I’m advocating here:  prepare them from home.

As with virtually all fruits and vegetables, they’re best raw.  But since cranberries are very tart and not the sweetest of berries, lightly sweetening the cranberries won’t hurt its nutrition profile and won’t spike blood sugar levels – even among diabetics.

Not every fruit can say that.

Source
nutraingredients.com