Move over blueberries wild B.C. shrub produces contender for world's healthiest berry

Move over, blueberries.

A new University of Victoria study suggeststhe tiny fruit of a wild shrub that grows abundantly in B.C. is a contender for the healthiest berry on the planet.

UVicbiologist Peter Constabel'sresearch found that berries of thesalalplantbeat blueberries hands-down for twokeycompounds associated with health benefits.

The study is published this month in theinternational journal of plant chemistry, biochemistry, and molecular biology, Phytochemistry.

"It was a bit of a coincidence," Constabelsaid.

He had alreadycompleted a study of blueberry compounds, and he was familiar with the salalplant (Latin name Gaultheriashallon).

But until someone gave him a bottle of dessert wine containing salalextract, he said,"I wasn't even aware that you could eat the berries."

Constabellater learnedsalalberriesare a traditional food of Indigenous peoples on the West Coast.

"I thought, well,salalis known to have a lot of tannins in the leaves and so I thought the fruit would have high levels of antioxidants and tannins based on what I had read," Constabel said.

"We did some experiments and sure enough they had really, really high levels."

Higher antioxidant, tannin levels

The salalberries containhigh levels of tannins, a compound inmany fruits and whole foodslinked to betterhealth.

"They're about five times higher than blueberry, which is considered one of the prime healthful berries," he said.

"A diet high in tannins is linked to reduced risk in cardiovascular disease, heart disease, strokes;to reduced risk ofneurodegenerativedisease, and also to a reduced risk of what's called metabolic syndrome (such as) type 2 diabetes, those kinds of issues,"

Extracts made from salal berries also showed levels of antioxidantsthree to four times higher than blueberries.

"Both of those things together made me realize that hey, these are very interesting berries," he said.

Flavour between blueberry and red currant

"I would have to say they're not quite as tasty as blueberries but they're close," he said.

"You get a good patch. they're juicy, they're sweet, they taste a little bit like a cross between a blueberry and ared currant. but a bit mealier, a bit more texture."

With files from CBC Radio One's On the Island with Gregor Craigie.