[follow the Wikipedia links]

First, a brief review of Parts 1, 2 and 3 (click for complete files)

A Plant's Only Purpose Is to Regenerate and Propagate the Species

How's that for a proposal?

Given this as a premise, we can focus on how a plant uses its pigments to protect its seeds which store the genetic material for regeneration and propagation.

Why is this of interest to consumers like us?

Here are some simple relationships drawing all this together --

read them from top to bottom :

• pigments are colors

• to consumers, colors represent freshness and familiar tastes and flavors of favored plant foods like berries and other colorful fruits

• colors can be used a guide during shopping in the "5 a day" plan for healthier diets

• pigments and colors are also a subjective index for choosing plant foods specifically for antioxidant or ORAC strength because...

• a general rule in science: "pigment-richness" is proportional to intensity of color ... which is proportional to phenolic-richness ... which is proportional to ORAC (antioxidant strength)

• therefore, if your 5 a day plan includes achieving optimal antioxidant richness in your diet, choose those with bright colors!

• this is why berries are such a convenient food group for gaining antioxidant value

Pigment Power:

Why All Berries Are Not Created Equal

Click here for a ranking of the top 10 berries having high ORAC and why this list is a reasonable guide to pigment power. The research comparing these 10 berries is not sufficient to be precise for how anthocyanin concentration may vary from one berry specie to another. Many factors of environment, genetics, soil and cultivation quality, etc. would affect pigment strength among berry species.

The plain fact is that they are very different in pigment amounts and types, and there is a general proportionality of pigmentation to antioxidant strength.

But, as a berry that grows high on palm tress in regions close to the equator, açaí -- at the top of the antioxidant rankings for all fruits -- is likely exposed to greater amounts of sun and ultraviolet stress than other berries, perhaps explaining its exceptional ORAC.

This is the subject of Part 3 in this series:

Under stress from its environment, would a berry manufacture more

antioxidant chemicals to improve its defenses?

Açaí palms, Euterpe oleracea

the berries grow near the top of the leaf canopy on panicles exposed constantly to the sun,

possibly an explanation for the stress producing exceptional amounts of pigmentation to "protect" the seeds 

Pigments as Friends & Foes

[follow the Wikipedia links]

When we eat colorful foods like berries, we provide our bodies with pigments that serve several potential roles in guarding health (an active area of research, although none of these roles below has been proven yet in human clinical trials).

Despite our respect for the drawn-out process of medical research, why wait for the results to confirm that we should have antioxidant pigments from colorful plant foods in our diets? We enjoy their tastes, colors, freshness and versatility, and we know research is pointing the way toward healthful benefits, so let's include them now in our diets!

Here are some ways that plant food pigments serve

effectively as " friends of health"

• scavenge oversupply of reactive oxygen species ("ROS")
• fragrance, taste, color attractant
• acidic guard ("astringent" properties) against viruses, fungi, bacteria, predatory insects, non-seed dispersers

From medical research, possibly applicable to human health --

Antioxidant pigments:

• stimulate apoptosis (natural rate of cell death) to help cell turnover
• induce defense genes
• induce growth factors
• stimulate cell signal sensitivity
• enhance ion transport across cell membranes and nerve transmission
• stimulate wound repair
• reduce blood platelet adhesion and clotting mechanisms
• stimulate immune system to attack pathogens
• inhibit proliferation of rapidly-growing cells (cancer)
• protect one another from ROS damage

British Columbia cranberries (Vaccinium macrocarpon)

Courtesy of Bremner Foods

Roles as Foes

• there has been some evidence that dietary antioxidants may interfere with the beneficial roles of ROS during therapy against diseases, such as cancer chemotherapy, although this remains controversial -- -- see this article, The Antioxidant Conundrum in Cancer (click!)
• salicylic acid, related to aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid), is present in some colorful plant foods and may inhibit blood clotting. People already taking a blood thinner for cardiovascular disorders would need to be cautious
• likewise, some colorful plant foods contain vitamin K which inhibits blood clotting, leading possibly to more active blood thinning for patients already on such drugs
• and... recently, there was this news headline -- Scientists Question Benefits of Polphenols (Pigments) (click to read)

Simple message: While science continues to unravel the health secrets of

berry pigments, include colorful foods in your diet

the way it has been for generations over thousands of years !

Reading

* The antioxidant conundrum in cancer

* A review of the interaction among dietary antioxidants and reactive oxygen species

* Joseph JA, Nadeau DA, Underwood A. The Color Code, 2002, Hyperion Press, New York.

* Simon PW. Plant Pigments for Color and Nutrition, US Department of Agriculture and University of Wisconsin

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Dr. Paul
The Berry Doctor