Health from berries
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Fenolic Compounds in Berries

Fenolic compounds are formed in plants and in the flora there are many thousand kinds of them. Fenolic compounds may affect our vital functions, wellbeing and health.

Flavonoids, a group of fenolic compounds, are products of plant metabolisms which act as a part of the defence system of the plants. In the human system, they are effective antioxidants. As other antioxidants (such as vitamin C and E), flavoinoids can protect the body from the harmful effects of oxygen and against the illnesses connected to them. It has also been seen that flavonoides have several other effects affecting the health of the body and its functions.

The most usual sources of flavoinoides are vegetables, fruit, berries, tea and red wine. The flavonoid contents vary yearly due to, for instance, the environmental conditions. The most important flavonoids in berries as regards the amount are antocyans. They are particularly numerous in berries with strong colour, such as bilberry, crowberry, chokeberry and blackcurrant.

Antocyans provide the berries with their red or bluish-black colour. According to studies, berries are the best sources of antocyans in the Finnish diet.

The proantocyans are a group of fenolic compounds. Due to their fenolic structure, proantocyans act as antioxidants, like the other fenolic compounds. According to preliminary studies, lingonberry seems to contain the rare short-chained proantocyans, which according to some research are responsible for the protective effect against urinary tract infection of the bush cranberry.

Sources:

Mattila, Pirjo (2005) Bioaktiiviset fenoliyhdisteet ruokavaliossamme, final report. Maa- ja elintarviketalouden tutkimuskeskus.

Peusa, Jussi (ed.)– Piilo, Tiina (toim.) (2006) Tietoa marjojen, hedelmien ja vihannesten ravitsemuksellisesta koostumuksesta ja teknologisista ominaisuuksista – kirjallisuus ja tutkimuskatsaus 2006.

Riihinen, Kaisu - Raatikainen, Olavi (2005) ESR-project: ETTK terveystietoa ja biotekniikkaa hyödyntävän elintarvikesektorin kehittäjänä. University of Kuopio 18.11.2005.