Mary Ann Lila has four large upright freezers filled with berries - floor-to-ceiling bags of blueberries, red cranberries, black currants and purple muscadines. But these berries aren't for making pies or jam.
A world-renowned berry expert, Lila studies the health benefits of blueberries and other berries as the head of N.C. State's Plants for Human Health Institute in Kannapolis, where what was once a textile mill is now a state-of-the-art research facility.
After her daily breakfast routine of blueberries and oatmeal, Lila heads to her research lab. There, high-tech chromatography machines hum and whir, and flasks of berry juice line the lab bench.
Berries provide big benefits in a small package, Lila said.
Although some say "superfruit" claims are overhyped, Lila says modern science backs them up, especially for berries. Studies suggest berries may help prevent disease, slow aging, enhance endurance and fight infection. With funding from the National Institutes of Health, Lila is trying to identify the specific compounds behind their medicinal powers and understand how they work.
"I might sound like a fanatic, but I think berries like blueberries and cranberries are just the ultimate food," Lila said. "They're small, but they're jam-packed with a diversity of chemicals that combat so many human chronic diseases."
Modern medicine woman
Lila's 25-year research career has taken her far beyond the berry fields of North Carolina or the University of Illinois, where she worked before being lured to N.C. State. From the cloud forests of Ecuador to the southern African savanna to the heights of the Himalayas, Lila has traveled the world in search of wild berries rarely grown in the U.S. but known by traditional healers to protect and enhance human health.
"We ask the shamans and the medicine men in the countries where we work: What plants do you use as medicines? Then we back up traditional knowledge with science," Lila said.
Every summer since 2008, Lila's research team has traveled to the coast of Alaska, near the Arctic Circle. There, local villagers show her where to pick wild Alaskan blueberries, black crowberries, peach-colored cloudberries and delicate red salmonberries - most of which are unknown in the lower 48 states but are common in the spongy, mossy tundra.
More than just favorite fruits for jams and jellies, her native guides explained, these berries are also valued for medicinal properties.
Because these plants grow in the wild, Lila said, they contain extra high doses of stress-fighting chemicals to deal with harsh conditions not found on farms. That makes them ideal for pinpointing which chemical or combination of chemicals explain their healthful effects.
"The cultivated berries you buy in the supermarket are good for you too, but studying wild berries helps us zero in on what compounds are important," Lila said.
Lila points to a bowl of plump, purple blueberries. Hidden within the purple pigment lies part of the secret behind their health-enhancing properties - a group of molecules called anthocyanins.
More than 100 anthocyanin researchers from around the world will converge on Kannapolis in September to attend the International Workshop on Anthocyanins, the first time the conference has been held in North America.
The plant pigments that make raspberries red and blueberries blue, anthocyanins are also powerful antioxidants and anti-inflammatory agents, Lila said. Antioxidant-rich foods are thought to slow the natural breakdown of our tissues that comes with illness or advancing age, she explained.
In the field, in the lab
In Alaska and in other parts of the globe, Lila is helping to train local scientists and students to test plants for antioxidant activity and other properties. The researchers crush bits of fruit, bark or leaves to prepare plant extracts in the field; then they analyze them using portable screening equipment.
When field assays identify promising plants, the researchers do follow-up studies in the lab. There, Lila and her colleagues are using chromatography and magnetic imaging to analyze the berries on a molecular level.
"Once you know which plant compounds have effects on our cells, then you can pinpoint: If you freeze them or cook them, do you lose their bioactivity?" Lila said.
In some cases, Lila is discovering bioactive compounds that scientists didn't know berries had. She's also finding a lot of truth in traditional wisdom.
Native Americans in the Great Plains of the Dakotas, for example, have eaten wild berries such as buffaloberries and juneberries for centuries, Lila said. Today, with traditional diets falling out of favor, diseases such as obesity and diabetes are on the rise.
"We're verifying the anti-diabetic properties of these berries and finding that the elders were correct. It really validates their native diet," Lila said.
Working with the complex chemical cocktail in blueberries and other berries, Lila is particularly interested in their ability to counteract a condition known as metabolic syndrome - the expanding waistline, insulin resistance and high blood pressure that are precursors to heart disease, diabetes and stroke.
Berry extracts have been shown to slow the growth of fat cells and lower blood sugar in laboratory tests with mice. "Berry extracts actually drop blood glucose levels after eating as rapidly as a popular anti-diabetic drug," Lila said.
Berries are good for brain health, too. Just down the hall lies the lab's cell culture facility, where Lila and her team are studying the ability of berries to protect against neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's.
"Your grandmother probably told you to eat your fruits and vegetables," Lila said. "There's a good reason for that. Plants offer multiple health benefits that drugs and dietary supplements just can't."
The Galapagos Islands
Lila's next big trip will take her to South America, where she'll work with scientists to test native plants in the Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador.
When she returns to North Carolina, her team will be busy harvesting berries found much closer to home - including the rabbiteye blueberry, a species native to the Southeastern United States.
That's good news for berry lovers. It means you won't have to travel far to find berries, whether baked, or frozen, or eaten straight off the bush.
