In the spotlight - Blueberries

Now that we are into July, the seasonal fruit and veg basket is starting to fill up nicely, though it isn't quite bursting at the seams yet - that's for August and September. A seasonal addition in July is the blueberry. When I was growing up, I never remember there being blueberries in the shops, but then we were never told to eat superfoods back then either; the two seem to go together now. But what exactly is a superfood and should we be concentrating our efforts into eating blueberries and the like?

While there is no official definition of a superfood, these foods have been identified as potentially particularly beneficial for health in terms of their nutrient profile. In the case of blueberries it is their antioxidant content - thought to be important to protect against heart disease and cancer - some of which, known as anthocyanins, are responsible for their blue colour. They certainly sound that they could do you a lot of good by eating them, but they aren't a "magic bullet". The thing to remember is that if your diet isn't balanced already and you aren't getting the right range of nutrients for health, eating some berries or another supposed superfood, even if daily, is unlikely to provide the benefits you might be hoping to achieve. The key is to eat a balanced varied diet to maximise your intake of nutrients rather than focusing on a few superfoods, which can be expensive into the bargain.

That said, there's no reason why you shouldn't enjoy blueberries as part of your fruit intake. They are popular added to cereal, muesli and porridge or to smoothies, yoghurt or even a red jelly. Don't feel that they have to be fresh, those frozen are just as nutritious. You can also get dried blueberries, but beware, as they can have a lot of added sugar. Blueberries also make an appearance in baking, but bear in mind you would have to eat an awful lot of muffins to count as a portion of fruit. However, everything in moderation, so you can enjoy some blueberry infused baking as a treat - if that appeals, you might like to look at the following website for recipe ideas http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/search.do?keywords=Blueberry&searchType=recipes&pager.offset=20.