Healing properties found in fruit of roadside shrub
- Subject: Healing properties found in fruit of roadside shrub
- From: t*@molalla.net
- Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2001 11:46:29 -0700
Interesting article ....
Healing properties found in fruit of roadside shrub
http://
enn.com/news/ennstories/2001/09/09182001/shrub_44993.asp
Tuesday, September 18, 2001
By Environmental News Network
The red berries on a shrub planted across the United States for
erosion control, windbreak and mine reclamation may also protect
against heart disease and cancers.
A horticulturist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's
research service decided to make jam out of them when she
discovered the berries of the autumn olive are edible. In the
process, Ingrid Fordham noticed that the berries' red pigment
settled to the bottom of her juicer, and she wondered if it might be
one of the carotenoids -- a group of compounds that includes beta-
carotene.
Beverly Clevidence, an Agricultural Research Service nutritionist,
analyzed the berries for carotenoids, especially lycopene -- the
pigment that colors tomatoes red. "We were astounded at what
we found," says Fordham. "Ounce for ounce, the typical autumn
olive berry is up to 17 times higher in lycopene than the typical
raw tomato."
Lycopene has been identified as a deterrent to heart disease and
cancers, says Clevidence, who heads ARS' Phytonutrients
Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland. Lycopene is also found in
watermelon, pink grapefruit, and guava. Americans get 80 to 90
percent of their lycopene from tomatoes and tomato products.
Lycopene is one of a family of pigments called carotenoids, which
occur naturally in fruits and vegetables. Other carotenoids include
alpha and beta-carotene and lutein. Numerous studies suggest that
lycopene levels in the blood may be associated with reduced
incidence of prostate, digestive tract, breast, lung and cervical
cancer as well as cardiovascular disease and age-related macular
degeneration -- the most common form of blindness for elderly
people.
Fordham says the tart, pea sized berries taste good if they're ripe.
If future studies planned by Clevidence show that people readily
absorb lycopene from the berries, they could become an
ingredient in processed foods. "Not everybody likes tomatoes,"
she says, "and autumn olive could become an alternative source of
a potentially important nutrient."
Autumn olive, Elaeagnus umbellata, is covered with silvery-green
leaves and a wealth of red berries in late September and October.
Introduced from Asia in 1830, it tolerates harsh conditions and
fixes nitrogen, making it a low-maintenance, productive perennial.
It has become a popular erosion control shrub along highways,
and it has been used for mine reclamation in the eastern United
States. It has been successfully planted in shelterbelts throughout
the Prairie states to prevent wind erosion and for wildlife habitat.
The fruits remain on the plant until late winter. They are browsed
by deer, songbirds, and gamebirds. The foliage provides warmth
and nesting cover for birds and small mammals, especially when
planted as windbreaks. Some nurseries sell cultivated varieties of
autumn olive as a food source to attract wildlife.
"Birds love the beautiful red berries," says Fordham.
She collected berries from five cultivated varieties and six
naturalized plants for analysis in Clevidence's lab. The berries
contained the same carotenoids as tomato-lycopene, beta-
carotene, and lutein, says Clevidence.
But some land managers see the autumn olive as a pest. The
Nature Conservancy says the species "is just beginning to be
recognized as a potentially serious problem exotic," and it has the
potential of becoming "one of the most troublesome adventive
shrubs in the central and eastern United States." It is seen as a
danger to native species because it exhibits "prolific fruiting, rapid
growth, is widely disseminated by birds, and can easily adapt to
many sites."
The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation calls
the autumn olive "a very troublesome invasive species in Virginia."
The Missouri state conservation department is working to stop
distribution of the seeds for wildlife plantings because of concerns
about its takeover of native species. If conservation officers have
a taste of Ingrid Fordham's jam, they could change their minds.
Copyright 2001, Environmental News Network
All Rights Reserved
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