Blueberries alone or in association with probiotics counteracts Ulcerative Colitis.

New research shows blueberries can alleviate and protect against intestinal inflammations, such as ulcerative colitis. The protective effect is even better if the blueberries are eaten together with probiotics.

"The probiotics proved to have a protective effect on the liver, an organ that is often negatively impacted by intestinal inflammations," explains Åsa Håkansson.

Blueberries are rich in polyphenols, which have an antimicrobial and antioxidative effect. The combination of blueberries and probiotics reduced inflammation-inducing bacteria in the intestine at the same time as the number of health-promoting lactobacilla increased.

Åsa Håkansson and Camilla Bränning also noted that if blueberries are eaten together with probiotics, the content of butyric acid and propionic acid increased in the blood, two substances that are formed when fibre are broken down and that have previously been known to be important energy sources for intestinal cells. In recent years they have also been shown to favourably impact the immune defence. It seems as if the absorption of these components is facilitated by the presence of probiotics.

"What surprised us was that such a large share of the butyric acid not only was taken up by the intestinal cells but was also transported onward to the blood. Previously it was thought that the intestinal cells used all of the butyric acid, but this is not at all the case," says Camilla Bränning, who recently defended her dissertation on the subject.

"A further explanation for the extremely positive effect of blueberries may be that the blueberry fibre are not degraded to such a high degree in the large intestine. This means that inflammation-inducing substances do not come into contact with the mucous lining of the intestine but are embedded in the fibre instead. Then these substances are transported out of body together with the faeces," explains Camilla Bränning.

The researchers also found that rye bran was broken down in the large intestine, in the same place that ulcerative colitis and large-intestine cancer often occur, and that the rye bran provided a rich supply of butyric acid and propionic acid. On the other hand, the fibre in oat bran were degraded earlier in the large intestine. The most striking result, however, was that blueberries themselves had such a favourable effect compared with both rye bran and oat bran.

Blueberry Husks and Probiotics Attenuate Colorectal Inflammation and Oncogenesis, and Liver Injuries - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3311639/

Great. This is exactly what I do but I am worried about the pesticides, if any, on the blueberries that I use. I buy in bulk from Costco.
Correction - I use blueberries and not blueberry husks. Don't know where to find it.

I am not too sure but I suspect that the B. infantis strain that they are talking about is proprietary strain of one of the Swedish dairies.

Yesterday I basically chased my VSL with blueberries. I ended up having 4 more BM than usual at night. May have been other food though that caused that.

I have always loved blueberries but they caused big problems for me when flaring so could not tolerate them (I just saw madcats msg, been there). Why didn't they prevent UC for meeeee?

Yummy. Bluberries, oatmeal and VSl3 every morning is very good.

My 2c..

I've been fighting an annoying flare the last couple months. I'd gotten it down to almost gone, and was just trying to get the last little bit.

At the local farmers market I came across some really fresh local yogurt and blueberries, which I started eating in the morning with some muesli on top (which is really just some oats, sunflower seeds and some seasoning).

I'd say within a few days I was starting to feel noticably better...no blood, cramps nearly gone, mostly solid BM, no mucus. The only real symptoms left are the gas and some slight discomfort.

Now this could be attributed to me increasing my colifoam dosing at about the same time, but given the know properties of various berries and properly made yogurt i wouldn't put it out of the realm of possibility that it helps.

To everyone (Madcat, aguywithuc...etc) who ate blueberries and got worse: same here!!! i always buy mine organic and still they always made me worse. More BMs and worse rectal pain.

Some things only work in rats and lab tests but not on humans!!!