Purple fruit health claims are premature

Stuart SchlossmanNutrition

Eating purple-coloured fruit such as blueberries “could help ward off Alzheimer’s, Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson’s”,The Daily Telegraph has reported. The newspaper says the foods act by soaking up harmful iron compounds.

This theory is based on a scientific paper that looked at the chemical and biological actions of iron and chemicals that bind to it. The author summarises a body of evidence that suggests that a form of iron may play a role in many different diseases, also providing a number of simple predictions of how this might occur.

Crucially, this paper only presents a theory, and we do not yet know if the theory is true. Foods that might react with iron, such as blueberries, are also only mentioned in passing in this paper. Stronger evidence is needed to see whether iron plays a role in the development of diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. If it does, this could be followed by studies looking at how food might intervene in the actions of iron.


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