Feel good on the inside, look good on the outside with this super berry

Strawberries are not only tasty, they can keep the body beautiful and brain active, says Fiann Ó Nualláin.

Strawberries are not a complicated plant and can be grown in a wide range of soils including light sand and even heavy clay, but better than that they can be grown in a wide range of containers from fancy ceramic, to upcycled chic (pallets to you and me); in raised beds; hanging baskets and even in the ground.

All they ask is not to be waterlogged or left bone dry for too long. The best location in which to grow them is in full sun and out of strong wind and all will flower and fruit the next year and some in the same year you plant.

They will continue to produce fruit for five or six years before needing to be divided or replenished with new plants, but they also produce runners (new plants on a creeping stem that are easy to peg down and propagate).

To avoid pest and diseases I spray mine with garlic extract when not in fruit, I use horticultural grit to keep slugs and snails off, and pick off any dodgy leaves immediately.

What I like about strawberries apart from their taste is their amazing health benefits. For starters, strawberries can combat seasonal allergies — they are rich in natural antihistamines and packed with a potent antioxidant flavonoid called quercetin— itself a strong antihistamine.

Quercetin is also great at keeping skin replenished and hair shining. The quercetin in strawberries also helps slow the aging process and it’s amazing at mopping up free radical damage within our system.

Local, fresh and tasty strawberries (be that home grown or off the local grocer’s shelf), provide a brilliant source of vitamin C — a cup or 100g will provide 58.8 mg or about 98% of our RDA. That’s more than enough to boost the immune system but vitamin C is also essential to staying active, to replenishing skin vitality and brain power.

Strawberries are also bursting with the B-complex group of vitamins that act as co-factors in helping the body to metabolise carbohydrate, proteins and fats — so boosting the nutrition we derive from other foods.

The fiber and fruit sugars within strawberries can help improve the body’s regulation of blood sugar and decrease the risk and complications of type 2 diabetes.

For me I love the science behind things and certainly plant pigments are the latest craze in food science — often called anthocyanins — they are packed with health agents. The ones that make strawberries such a delicious shade of red can help protect us from sunburn.

Eating them boosts our inherent spf and the juice works to repair skin of UV damage. Strawberries are also full of flavonoid phyto-chemicals— they’re the molecules that nutritionally help fight inflammatory conditions.

One, known as ellagic acid is under scientific study for use against cancer and neurological-type diseases.

Strawberries supply energy and nutrition and the delicious, easy-to-eat fruit has nutrients that improve blood flow to the brain, they also provide a source of resveratrol, that agent found to support heart, circulation and brain activity.

Strawberries can support a healthy libido (and that does beg the question “do you wear it or rub it in”— the world is your oyster), and it’s not often celebrated that strawberries also contain omega-3 fatty acids or that strawberries by their support in the decreased oxidation of fats, will benefit total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol.

I am blown away by the amount of health in these delicious bites — they even lower the activity of angiotensin I — converting the enzyme (ACE) which can contribute to high blood pressure — so are a great cardiovascular support. If ever ‘food be thy medicine’ rang true — then this fruit proves it even more.

Whether you grow or simply pick up a punnet today in the shops, strawberries are a true super food that you will enjoy eating but these sweet treats will give you a another reason to smile — they also whiten teeth.

* Fiann O’Nualláin is the author of the newly published The Holistic Gardener: Beauty treatments from the garden and published by Mercier Press at €12.99