Themed collection Berry Health Benefits Symposium

Guest Editors Navindra Seeram and Britt Burton-Freeman introduce the themed issue on work presented at the Seventh Biennial Berry Health Benefits Symposium, held in California, US.

Arthritis is a global health concern affecting a significant proportion of the population and associated with reduced quality of life.

The potential of fruit proanthocyanidins to modulate airway inflammation through interactions with immune cells and the microbiome.

Berries are rich in bioactive compounds like anthocyanins and show promise for mitigating the effects of high fat diet on the brain and behavior.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is an age-associated degenerative disease of the midbrain that results from the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra.

Objective: Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is increasingly prevalent in obese people, who often have high cardio-metabolic risk factors. We examined effects of strawberries on knee OA.

Intake of berries was assessed relative to other fruit and fruit juices and total fruit intake in the U.S. population age 2 years and older using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2007–2012.

Characterization of red raspberry (poly)phenols in fruit, their metabolism, and presence in human biological samples after acute and chronic intake.

Strawberry (poly)phenols produce an array of metabolites, some that persist in plasma while others are acutely enhanced when eaten chronically.

Healthy foods like polyphenol-rich berries and high quality edible proteins are in demand in today's functional food marketplace, but it can be difficult to formulate convenient food products with physiologically-relevant amounts of these ingredients and still maintain product quality.

Daily consumption of 1/2 to 2 cups of red raspberry led to enhanced motor performance, particularly in animals that were poor performers at baseline.

Flavonoid-based metabolites arising from Blueberry anthocyanins are well retained in vivo.

Strawberries may improve health of hypertensive postmenopausal women.

Previously, cognitive benefits of acute flavonoid interventions with children have primarily been found in memory function. The findings here indicate that flavonoid benefits can be extended to executive function. This is particularly evident where the task is more cognitively demanding.

The exosomal formulation of berry Anthos elicits potent therapeutic activity against both the drug-sensitive and drug-resistant human ovarian cancer cells in vitro and in vivo.

Strawberries are a dietary source of anthocyanins, particularly pelargonidin glycosides.

Blueberry supplementation for six weeks significantly attenuated oxidative stress in the monocytes in patients with MetS.

Intake of one daily serving of raspberry ameliorates the symptoms of metabolic syndrome in a high fat diet fed C57BL/6J mouse model.

The consumption of a blueberry portion (300 g) temporarily reversed the impairment in arterial function in smokers and non-smokers.

Blackberry anthocyanins provide attractive color and antioxidant activity.

The composition of potentially bioactive triterpenoids differs between different tissues and varieties of raspberries, but are readily available from juices and purees.

A combination of guar, blueberry and lactobacilli may represent a novel strategy to preserve pharyngeal health.

In this work we characterize the interaction of cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) proanthocyanidins (PAC) with bovine serum albumin (BSA) and hen egg-white lysozyme (HEL) and determine the effects of these complexes on macrophage activation and antigen presentation.

The postprandial response to ingested carbohydrate is recognised as a marker of metabolic health, and is altered favourably by the consumption of anthocyanin-rich wild blueberry.

An overview of the role of dried cranberries in reducing postprandial hyperglycemia and inflammation in type 2 diabetes and the subsequent risks of vascular complications.