Hello and welcome to the official relaunch of Cooking with Fey! I hope you all saw my intro post last week that explained the concept of this series, my goals to help you with nutrition and making healthier lifestyle choices.

In today’s entry I’ll be discussing America’s favorite summer food, strawberries, and it’s nutritional value to your lifestyle. At the bottom of this post you can find recipes to start using this tasty ingredient in your kitchen.

So let’s dive right into the amazing nutritional value of incorporating strawberries into your diet.

Strawberries are an excellent source of vitamin C, manganese, folate and potassium. Strawberries are also powerhouses of antioxidants that fight free radicals inside the body.

Why should you care about things potassium, folate or manganese? Well, potassium helps the body maintain a normal blood pressure, and manganese helps the body maintain its healthy bone structure, absorb calcium more efficiently and balance hormones in the body. While folate, which is one of the B-vitamins, is important for tissue growth and normal cell function. Further, folate is especially important for pregnant women and our active aging populations.

Oh, and those antioxidants that I mentioned earlier? Not only do they fight free radicals in the body, but they also have been shown in studies to delay cognitive issues like memory less, fight cancer and decrease your chances of developing heart disease or diabetes. Now that’s a lot of awesome benefits for one little berry!

For those of us with Atrial Fibrillation, the anthocyanins found in berries (like strawberries) have been linked to improved cardiovascular health and function (2008, Favorable effects of berry consumption on platelet function, blood pressure, and HDL cholesterol).

So what’s not to love about this spectacular little red berry? Nothing! So put on your apron and let’s get cooking!

Recipes

Until next time!

Cheers,

Fey

Studies on strawberries have been conducted at:

• Harvard’s Brigham and Woman’s Hospital
• Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center
• David Handley, small fruit specialist at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension
• Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (Pharmacokinetics of anthocyanins and antioxidant effects after the consumption of anthocyanin-rich acai juice and pulp (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) in human healthy volunteers.)  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18693743

 

If you’d like to learn more about how amazing strawberries are for you, here are some articles I found helpful when researching this topic:

• Alvarez-Suarez JM, Giampieri F, Tulipani S, et al. One-month strawberry-rich anthocyanin supplementation ameliorates cardiovascular risk, oxidative stress markers and platelet activation in humans. The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, Volume 25, Issue 3, March 2014, Pages 289-294.
• Basu A, Fu DX, Wilkinson M et al. Strawberries decrease atherosclerotic markers in subjects with metabolic syndrome. Nutr Res. 2010 Jul;30(7):462-9. 2010.
• Basu A, Wilkinson M, Penugonda K et al. Freeze-dried strawberry powder improves lipid profile and lipid peroxidation in women with metabolic syndrome: baseline and post intervention effects. Nutr J. 2009; 8: 43. Published online 2009 September 28. doi: 10.1186/1475-2891-8-43. 2009.
• Bialasiewicz P, Prymont-Przyminska A, Zwolinska A, et al. Addition of strawberries to the usual diet decreases resting chemiluminescence of fasting blood in healthy subjects-possible health-promoting effect of these fruits consumption. J Am Coll Nutr. 2014;33(4):274-87.
• Burton-Freeman B, Linares A, Hyson D et al. . Strawberry Modulates LDL Oxidation and Postprandial Lipemia in Response to High-Fat Meal in Overweight Hyperlipidemic Men and Women. J. Am. Coll. Nutr., Feb 2010; 29: 46 – 54. 2010.
• Cassidy A, Rogers G, Peterson JJ, et al. Higher dietary anthocyanin and flavonol intakes are associated with anti-inflammatory effects in a population of US adults. Am J Clin Nutr. 2015 Jul;102(1):172-81.
• Ellis CL, Edirisinghe I, Kappagoda T et al. Attenuation of Meal-Induced Inflammatory and Thrombotic Responses in Overweight Men and Women After 6-Week Daily Strawberry (Fragaria) Intake: a Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial. J Atheroscler Thromb. 2011 Jan 13. [Epub ahead of print]. 2011.
• Fernandes VC, Domingues VF, Mateus N et al. Organochlorine Pesticide Residues in Strawberries from Integrated Pest Management and Organic Farming. J Agric Food Chem. 2011 Jan 10. [Epub ahead of print]. 2011.
• Gasperotti M, Masuero D, Guella G, et al. Evolution of ellagitannin content and profile during fruit ripening in Fragaria spp. J Agric Food Chem. 2013 Sep 11;61(36):8597-607.
• Gasperotti M, Masuero D, Mattivi F, et al. Overall dietary polyphenol intake in a bowl of strawberries: The influence of Fragaria spp. in nutritional studies. Journal of Functional Foods, Volume 18, Part B, October 2015, Pages 1057-1069.
• Giampieri F, Alvarez-Suarez JM, Gasparrini M, et al. Strawberry consumption alleviates doxorubicin-induced toxicity by suppressing oxidative stress. Food and Chemical Toxicology, Volume 94, August 2016, Pages 128-137.
• Giampieri F, Forbes-Hernandez TY, Gasparrini M, et al. Strawberry as a health promoter: an evidence based review. Food Funct. 2015 May;6(5):1386-98.
• Giampieri F, Tulipani S, Alvarez-Suarez JM, et al. The strawberry: Composition, nutritional quality, and impact on human health. Nutrition, Volume 28, Issue 1, January 2012, Pages 9-19.
• Huang Y, Park E, Edirisinghe I, et al. Maximizing the health effects of strawberry anthocyanins: understanding the influence of the consumption timing variable. Food Funct. 2016 Dec 7;7(12):4745-4752.
• Jenkins DJA, Nguyen TH, Kendall CWC. et al. The effect of strawberries in a cholesterol-lowering dietary portfolio. Metabolism, Volume 57, Issue 12, December 2008, Pages 1636-1644.
• Negri AS, Allegra D, Simoni L, et al. Comparative analysis of fruit aroma patterns in the domesticated wild strawberries “Profumata di Tortona” (F. moschata) and “Regina delle Valli” (F. vesca). Frontiers in Plant Science. 2015;6:56. doi:10.3389/fpls.2015.00056.
• Pinto Mda S, de Carvalho JE, Lajolo FM, et al. Evaluation of antiproliferative, anti-type 2 diabetes, and antihypertension potentials of ellagitannins from strawberries (Fragaria — ananassa Duch.) using in vitro models. J Med Food. 2010 Oct;13(5):1027-35. 2010.
• Prymont-Przyminska A, Bialasiewicz P, Zwolinska A, et al. Addition of strawberries to the usual diet increases postprandial but not fasting non-urate plasma antioxidant activity in healthy subjects. Clin Biochem Nutr. 2016 Nov;59(3):191-198.
• Reber JD, Eggett DL and Parker TL. Antioxidant capacity interactions and a chemical/structural model of phenolic compounds found in strawberries. Int J Food Sci Nutr. 2011 Mar 8. [Epub ahead of print]. 2011.
• Rengarajanm T and Yaacob NS. The flavonoid fisetin as an anticancer agent targeting the growth signaling pathways. European Journal of Pharmacology, Volume 789, 15 October 2016, Pages 8-16.
• Sandulachi E, Tatarov P, and Croitor D. The Estimation of Dependency of Fresh Berries Physico-Chemical Properties on Storage and Processing Conditions. Annals : Food Science and Technology Year: 2010 Vol: 11 Issue: 1 Pages/record No.: 13-15. 2010.
• Shukitt-Hale B, Bielinski DF, Lau FC, et al. The beneficial effects of berries on cognition, motor behaviour and neuronal function in ageing. Br J Nutr. 2015 Nov 28;114(10):1542-9.
• Tomas-Barberan FA, Garcia-Villalba R, Gonzalez-Sarrias A, et al. Ellagic acid metabolism by human gut microbiota: consistent observation of three urolithin phenotypes in intervention trials, independent of food source, age, and health status. J Agric Food Chem. 2014 Jul 16;62(28):6535-8.
• Tulipani S, Armeni T, Giampieri F, et al. Strawberry intake increases blood fluid, erythrocyte and mononuclear cell defenses against oxidative challenge. Food Chemistry, Volume 156, 1 August 2014, Pages 87-93.
• Zasowska-Nowak A, Nowak PJ, Bialasiewicz P, et al. Strawberries Added to the Usual Diet Suppress Fasting Plasma Paraoxonase Activity and Have a Weak Transient Decreasing Effect on Cholesterol Levels in Healthy Nonobese Subjects. Am Coll Nutr. 2016 Jul;35(5):422-35.