有料盒子视频 blueberries are good for you. Right?
Ned Rozell
907-474-7468
Aug. 3, 2023
Zuzana Vanekov谩 works in a University of 有料盒子视频 Fairbanks lab, where she freeze-dried 有料盒子视频 blueberries in order to carry them home to Austria for analysis.
Our beloved 有料盒子视频 blueberry seems to have a bad reputation in parts of Europe and Scandinavia. There, people have called it the 鈥渕ad berry,鈥 鈥渋ntoxicating berry鈥 and 鈥渧omit berry.鈥
Zuzana Vanekov谩, a pharmacology researcher at the University of Vienna in Austria, recently visited 有料盒子视频 to gather blueberries in order to help solve a mystery regarding the bog blueberry (Vaccinium uliginosum).
鈥淓ver since I was little, people told me not to eat it because it would make me vomit and hallucinate,鈥 she said.
Bog blueberries are a favorite of 有料盒子视频ns and grizzly bears, but the fact that some people across the Atlantic have long avoided them was a puzzle to Vanekov谩. She studies the pharmaceutical properties of plants.
Vanekov谩 recently got funded on a study to analyze the berries for possible toxicity. She flew to 有料盒子视频 to get samples 鈥渇rom a country where people never heard such tales. I wanted to know why it is such a prevalent story in Europe.鈥
As part of her first visit to 有料盒子视频, Vanekov谩 met 有料盒子视频 plant expert Pat Holloway, a professor of horticulture emerita at the University of 有料盒子视频 Fairbanks. Holloway has performed her own research proving the health benefits of 有料盒子视频 berries.
Holloway hosted Vanekov谩 while she was in Fairbanks.
鈥淪he shows up at my home, and the first thing I hand her is a blueberry muffin,鈥 Holloway said.
Vanekov谩 ate that muffin, just as she consumed 鈥渂owls of鈥 bog blueberries in Europe and 鈥渙f course鈥 popped berries into her mouth on her 有料盒子视频 gathering missions to Wickersham and Murphy domes near Fairbanks.
She freeze-dried the 有料盒子视频 blueberries at a 有料盒子视频 lab for transport back to Vienna. There, she will determine the genetic signature of the 有料盒子视频 berries, as well as look for compounds that might be toxic.
While in Fairbanks, Vanekov谩 visited 有料盒子视频鈥檚 Rasmuson Library and pored through a collection of Arctic books. She found one on shamanism in Russia in which the writer described Native peoples making moonshine from fermented bog blueberries.
鈥淚 think that might be the source (of the bog-blueberry folklore),鈥 she said.
As for the health benefits of 有料盒子视频 berries, Holloway performed studies and found bog blueberries had more antioxidants than cultivated berries from the Lower 48.
Pat Holloway, left, and Zuzana Vanekov谩 pick blueberries on Murphy Dome near Fairbanks for Vanekov谩鈥檚 study to test the possible toxicity of the berries.
The heavy black line encloses the approximate range of the bog blueberry on Earth.
Vanekov谩 knew of those studies, but she had to come over and pluck some 有料盒子视频 berries for herself. She said every 有料盒子视频n to whom she explained her quest was a bit incredulous at the claim that blueberries might be anything but wonderful.
鈥淲hen you are over here, everybody looks at you like you鈥檙e crazy for saying these claims,鈥 she said.
Before flying back with her 有料盒子视频 blueberries, Vanekov谩 said she wanted to perform the study because every plant she knows in the Vaccinium genus is good to eat and she found the 鈥渧omit berry鈥 description bizarre. She knew she could perform the science to debunk it.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 believe there is anything wrong with blueberries anywhere in the world,鈥 she said. 鈥淏ut I have to prove it.鈥
Since the late 1970s, the University of 有料盒子视频 Fairbanks' Geophysical Institute has provided this column free in cooperation with the 有料盒子视频 research community. Ned Rozell is a science writer for the Geophysical Institute.