If you thought blueberries were good for your health, wait until you see the boost they’re giving the US economy! The enthusiastic endorsements blueberries have received from nutritionists have caused a demand explosion!
Blueberries have been getting mega-recomendations from nutritionists and other healthy eating advocates lately. They’re among the healthiest things you can eat! And Americans literally can’t get enough of them…
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Blueberries on healthy, whole-
grain breakfast cereal: The serving
suggestion that literally launched
a billion breakfasts!
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Net importer
The US is, in fact, a net importer of blue-berries, now. Every day, year-round, US berry lovers buy enough of them to inject more than $25 million into the US economy.
In fact, the annual Grab a Boost of Blue Report, commissioned by the US Highbush Blueberry Council, confirms that the crop contributes nearly $9.1 billion per year to the US economy.
Not the cheapest
Blueberries are not the least-expensive fresh produce item Americans can get, even when they’re in high season at the end of summer in Georgia, Washington, California, Michigan and 4 other states that produce more of the fruit than they, themselves, can absorb. In spite of tariffs and other econo-mic and environmental factors, Canada, Mexico, Peru and Chile remain the leading exporters of blueberries to the US, keeping the fruit available year ’round.
Regardless of price, Americans know a good thing when the see it, and demand blueberries year ’round as ‘part of their healthy breakfasts’. Billions of handfuls of blueberries are estimated to find their way on to bowls of hundreds of brands of ‘healthy’ breakfast cereals every morning. That’s largely thanks to the ongoing success of national blueberry marketing programs which have made that ‘serving suggestion’ famous for decades.
Nutrition powerhouse
According to Blueberry.org, “A one-cup serving (about 148 grams) contains roughly 84 Calories, 1 gram of protein, less than 1 gram of fat, and 22 grams of carbohydrates, including 4 grams of fiber and 15 grams of sugar.”
On the other hand, that same serving of blueberries delivers:
- 0.5 g total fats
- 0 g cholesterol
- 0 mg sodium
- 0 g added sugars
My take
No matter how you look at it, the humble blueberry is nothing less than one of the world’s most amazing superfoods! And we in North merican ar rlucky enough to be able to get them fresh or frozen, year ’round…
To paraphrase Winston Churchill: “Never have so many owed so much to [just one item of fresh produce].”
This from the fellow who loved to claimed that, in spite of the fact he both smoked and drank, he was 200 percent fit!
You can be, too. Just commit to ‘investing’ whatever it costs to add that handful of blueberries a day to your diet. And while you’re at it, cut at least the same amount of something correspondingly un-healthy – say, gummies or doughnuts or sugary beverages – from the roster!
~ Maggie J.