Medical Benefits Of Cranberries

Discussion in 'Health & Wellness' started by John Brunner, Sep 14, 2022.

  1. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    I expect that lingonberries (Vaccinium vitis-idaea) would have some of the same beneficial effects as cranberries (Vaccinium oxycoccos, Vaccinium macrocarpon). They're closely related, although lingonberries are a little more palatable as they come off the plant. However, I don't think you'll find lingonberry juice anywhere. Then again, cranberries are rarely (if ever) the main ingredient in cranberry juice, much of which is loaded with sugar.
     
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  2. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    I guess the juice is OK. It's the capsules that seem to be from different berries. Now that I am aware of this, I'm trying to take both berries to cover the spectrum. There's no rational reason for me to do this. Had I not grabbed Bottle #4 instead of Bottle #1, #2 or #3, I would have no idea that such a variety even existed.

    This is a self-dug rabbit hole. Although you have me wondering which berry my juice is extracted from. Probably Vaccinium whazonsale.
     
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  3. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    Just grow your own...or try lingonberries as Ken suggested.:)
     
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  4. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    When I try to deduce the % of cranberry juice from the label's list of ingredients (in order of predominance), the best I can rationalize is 25%, and I think that is an inflated number. It's impossible to do when the list starts with water, and then all the juices are reconstituted [with water] from concentrate. Cranberry juice is always sweetened with either sucrose (sugar), fructose (pear/apple/grape juice), or an artificial sweetener (sucralose). I'll deal with the effects of too much sugar (in whatever form) before I'll do the diet stuff. Besides, I'm only having a half glass a day to wash down the capsules I'm taking. It's really just Red Drank with a feel-good name.

    I just looked on the NIH website and found a ton of articles on the potential benefits of lingonberries, from being anti-carcinogenic to inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 to remediating fatty liver disease. Link

    This is why we eat brightly colored fruits & veggies and don't remove their peels, huh? Polyphenols and bioflavonoids are our friends.
     
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  5. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    I was just looking at that tangled mess of a garden I've tried to launch twice, wishing I had already put in berries. It's over 2,600 ft². I've got a long list of stuff where I've climbed to the crest of the hill and rolled back down.
     
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  6. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    Berries of all kinds are the easiest, most productive, and least labor intensive way to garden. "Spreaders" like raspberries and blackberries need to be someplace where you can control the spread or you don't care if they spread, but serviceberries, blueberries, honeyberries/haskaps, and other berries are trouble-free except for birds. Strawberries are good, but require more work to keep them going. I don't know if you are cold enough in winter for lingonberries but perhaps cranberries could be grown on a small scale.

    Preppers who are not too ambitious always grow berries.;)
     
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  7. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    I just read that lingonberries need 800 "chill hours" to produce berries. The article said USDA Zones 2-6. The mountainous northwest part of Virginia barely qualifies...and that's probably dependent on what each winter was like.

    My ambitions don't lay in planting, they lay in finding a way to critter-proof stuff. Six foot tall electric fences are insufficient. That's one particular hill I rolled back down.

    [​IMG]
     
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  8. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    Try the fence-training stuff I mentioned before. Do deer bother raspberries and blackberries? Moose don't bother our raspberries until winter, when they prune them down to 5 feet or so.
     
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  9. Silvia Benoit

    Silvia Benoit Veteran Member
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    John Brunner,

    How about making your own juice? Sure, berries as natural sugars but I think it will be better than the pills. J/s
     
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  10. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    I was wondering about that.

    There are recipes (you cook the cranberries in water, strain them, add sugar & lemon juice & orange juice), but it only keeps for 3 days. You gotta freeze it in batches. I guess I could freeze it in ice cube trays and defrost a little at a time.
     
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  11. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    I have noticed that neither the birds or the squirrels mess with my lingonberries.
     
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  12. Silvia Benoit

    Silvia Benoit Veteran Member
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    John Brunner,

    Boil more pounds. IBTW, add stevia instead of sugar .
     
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