Digestion changes everything!
Once anthocyanins enter the acid and enzyme environment of the stomach, their shape, chemical structure and potential bioactivity change completely, making in vitro definition of their antioxidant properties totally irrelevant to human physiology.
Characteristics of the broken-down structures called derivatives:
-
shortened segments of the parent anthocyanin studied in vitro
-
there are more of them
-
they are smaller
-
their fate in vivo is very different from what the parent molecule would have
-
their effects in the human body are almost impossible to study and define with current laboratory methods
Most importantly, there is no evidence whatsoever
that the anthocyanin derivatives are antioxidants
in the human body.
Accordingly, claims by superfruit manufacturers
that their products containing anthocyanins
translate to antioxidant health benefits
are completely false!
Concord grapes (Vitis vinifera cvr.) are among the
richest sources of fruit anthocyanins
There are new research-based theories about what anthocyanins may be doing in the human body after digestion. Here are a few
- alter on-off switches for genes
- alter receptor sensitivity
- alter cell-to-cell signaling
- alter rates of apoptosis ("eh-poh-toe-sis")
- modify proteins, enzymes and DNA
- affect inflammatory mediators, serving as anti-inflammatories,
not as antioxidants
Read a summary article about potential physiological
roles of anthocyanins in the human body -- click!
mechanisms pertaining to cardiovascular disease
and cancer are discussed
(anthocyanins are a subfamily of the plant chemicals called flavonoids)
Previous Berry Doctor coverage of anthocyanins,
an 8-part series (2007), click!
Anthocyanins account for the colors of
these three different berry species --
blackberries, red raspberries, blueberries.
Check out the
new Archives just for superfruit essays, click!
Twitter for Superfruits News
We're starting a new online update feature using Twitter, a free micro-blogging service where we can periodically broadcast news updates on berries and superfruits.
Twitter is simply a "short message service" (SMS), just 140 characters for quickly broadcasting a message to our educational network of subscribers for the Berry Doctor's Journal. SMS is the same technology as cell phone texting, short messages being used by over 2 billion people. It's the fastest growing network service on the internet.
And you can reply using Twitter to stimulate a conversation or follow-up question.
To give Twitter a try and receive these news capsules -- even on your cell phone! -- go to Twitter.com and sign up with your own name or handle.
Then visit twitter.com/superfruitsbook where you need to click on "Follow" to be linked into Berry Doctor "tweets" on superfruit news.
