Kiddies Get a Boost with Blueberries TOO!

Reaction time increases with flavonoids

The list of blueberry benefits is long.  In adults, they’ve been linked to increased bone mass, decreased blood pressure and reducing the symptoms of PTSD.  Now, there’s evidence that the little blueberry is good for our little ones too! 

The study, published in Food & Function, dove into the cognitive benefits of blueberries in a double blind cross-over study.  Twenty one, 7-10 year olds were recruited to consume either 30g freeze dried wild blueberry powder or placebo before being tested (three hours later) via computerized Modified Attention Network Task (MANT).  In other words, children took a series of tests that were disguised as a game that got progressively harder as they continued to play.  They found that task completion was 9% faster after consuming the blueberry powder. 

Investigators attributed the boost to the flavonoid content of the blueberries which is a type of antioxidant that is also found in tea, coffee and dark chocolate.  Research continues to build showing the cognitive benefits of flavonoids in both adults and children.  

Blueberries are available frozen, dried and of course fresh making it easy to include them into daily meals and snacks.  Start the day off right with our Banana and Blue Breakfast Smoothie. 

Published December 1, 2017