Sunday, February 15, 2015

Food to fight Obesity



If anyone recently watched Dateline you will know that plums grown in the granite belt of Queensland have just been released for sale in Woolworths.  These plums are known as Queen Garnet are being discussed with headlines such as"

"Plum hailed in fight against obesity after bringing fat rats 'back to normal', as scientists seek superfood status"  

So is this plum GC the superfood of the future which is grown exclusively in Australia and if as claimed above could  save the world from obesity.  Sounds to good to be true but guess who is off to the supermarket to get her daily fix.  Blueberries now have taken a back seat to these tasty colorful plums for there health benefits. 

Blue, red or dark purple coloured fruit and vegetables contain this andioxidant namely, "Anthocyanin" which is a flavanoid "They have some of the strongest physiological effects of any plant compounds, and they are also things of beauty: anthocyanis provide pigment for pansies, petunias, and plums. (Anthocyanis are a separate class of flavonoids from proanthocyanidins.)" 


"Queensland Department of Primary Industry scientist Kent Fanning worked on the plum for more than a decade.He said anthocyanin was a pigment coming under increasing attention from scientists because of its health benefits.
"The blue of blueberries, the red of strawberries, the red of raspberries - that's anthocyanin," Mr Fanning said.
"There's increasing evidence they help reduce inflammation and the structure and function of the gastrointestinal system.
"The potential benefits relate to protection against some forms of cardiovascular disease, improved liver function and improved pancreas function [and] what we call lifestyle diseases [that] are prevalent in the Western society."
The Queensland Government sold the global rights to the Queen Garnet to Nutrafruit, a syndicate of six Queensland friends with a connection to agribusiness."

I find this an interesting and intriguing story and will be watching for the results of the trials as well as getting my fix by buying some from the supermarket.  I love eating a variety of foods and those rich in colour and flavour.  We are currently picking gold passionfruit, cherry tomatoes (which were self sewn) and persimons from our garden which are all organic.  It has been too hot to plant any vegetables but the garden beds are ready for March and the cooler months of Autumn.

And something exciting happened last week.  The first flower from one of our dragon fruit set and flowered it was a beautiful site they are quite large (known as the moon flower) as they come out during the evening. It was still partly open in the early morning and we were able to self pollinate it before it closed and died as they only last the one night.  The wait is on now to see if it will set fruit.  I will keep you posted.
















Sources:
 http://www.chiro.org/nutrition/FULL/Anthocyanins.shtml
 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-14/antioxidant-rich-plum-to-fight-obesity/

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