Jonny Bowden, PhD, C.N.S. is a nationally known expert on weight loss and nutrition and natural healing. A popular and dynamic speaker who combines wit and humor with science, he’s appeared as a health and nutrition expert on MSNBC, CNN, FOX News, ABC, CBS and NBC and he has contributed material to over 50 national magazines and newspapers. Dr. Bowden is on the Editorial Advisory Board of Men’s Health, is an associate editor of Total Health Magazine and is a columnist for both Better Nutrition and Remedy Magazines. His advice on nutrition, weight loss, diet and supplements has been read by millions on iVillage.com and on America Online..

He is the author of The Most Effective Natural Cures on Earth: What Treatments Work and Why, the Amazon best-seller The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth, and his latest, The Healthiest Meals on Earth, books that have been endorsed and acclaimed by such luminaries as Mehmet Oz, MD, Christiane Northrup, MD and Mark Victor Hansen and a virtual who’s who in the field of integrative medicine and nutrition. Coming in January, 2009, 150 Most Effective Ways to Boost Your Energy. For more information about products, services and coaching as well as a free newsletter and audiocourses, please visit him at www.jonnybowden.com

Jonny Bowden--

My Favorite Superfood: The Memory Enhancer

I'm always amused by those multi-level marketing juice drinks (Xango, Mangosteen, Xocai, Mona Vie) that go for 40 bucks a bottle and promise to cure everything from hair loss to cancer. I don't believe for a moment that those juices provide any more antioxidant power or health promoting properties than a good mix of plain old berries (like blueberries) that you can get anywhere at a fraction of the price.

Consider this:

A new study published in the current issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry showed that wild blueberries outperformed 2 dozen other commonly consumed fruits like apples, bananas, red grapes and strawberries in an expanded test using the Cellular Antioxidant Activity (CAA) assay (lab test). The research shows that wild blueberries have the highest cellular antioxidant activity of the 25 fruits tested, as well as the highest total phenolic content and ORAC (oxygen radical absorbance capacity) value.

ORAC value is a "combo score" based on the ability of mixed antioxidants in a given food to perform as a team, often delivering more punch and power than you might expect from any of the individual ingredients- think "The Rolling Stones" as a band as opposed to Mick Jagger as a solo artist!

Lead scientist Rui Hai Liu, Ph.D. used the cellular antioxidant activity (CAA) assay -- a new assay developed by the Cornell University Department of Food Science to determine antioxidant activity of antioxidants, foods, and dietary supplements.

According to Dr. Liu, the CAA assay was developed to investigate how antioxidant compounds found in foods react inside real cells as opposed to test tubes, using human liver cancer cells as the testing model. The new CAA test is a more biologically relevant method as it accounts for uptake, metabolism, distribution and activity of antioxidant compounds within cells versus solely looking at antioxidant value.

The recently published study shows the cellular antioxidant activity of 25 common fruits, an expansion from earlier CAA testing done in 2007. "In expanding the test to include more fruits, we found that wild blueberries had the highest antioxidant activity, with other berries and pomegranates also showing strong performance" said Dr. Liu.

Previous research that I reported on showed that blueberry extracts fed to mice improved their memory and maze learning ability, showing the blueberries truly are a "brain' food. Blueberries are one food I eat every single day- without exception. I've written glowingly about them in The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth.

The new research is more evidence for what we've known for a while- blueberries are at the top of the heap when it comes to providing antioxidant power.

And by the way- you don't have to wait for them to be in season. Buy 'em frozen. In fact, eat them right from the freezer sprinkled with some nuts and a little raw milk or pomegranate juice. There's nothing like it for staving off the craving for an 800 calorie pint of ice cream.

More From Jonny Bowden--

Diet War Studies

Fish Oil Could Save 70,000 Lives Each Year

Oxidized Cholesterol Leads To Damage

Update on Nov 8, 2008 by At Basil & Spice

Reuters!