The Health Benefits of Chokeberries

A Brief History of the Chokeberry

Although many Americans are just starting to learn about the vast health benefits of the Chokeberry (Aroniaberry), for the first Americans these berries were an important food and health and wellness staple.  The Chokeberry was eaten raw, dried or mixed with pemmican (a paste made of dried and pounded meat mixed with melted fat and other ingredients)  The Native American Apache Tribe dried chokeberries and pressed them into cakes. They stockpiled them for winter months when game was scarce. The fresh berries could be mashed or made into a jam.  If left to ferment it was mixed with berries like cherries and made into cherry wine. The Native Americans used every single part of the plant.  Even the sticks, bark and roots were used to produce a medicinal tea.

With the industrial revolution, Chokeberries (Aroniaberries) and the nutritional importance that surrounded them were lost to the population in the United States.  The cultural shift to an industrial era and the trend toward modern agriculture sent the berry into relative obscurity on the North American continent. However, as knowledge of the Chokeberry waned in the States, the Chokeberry gained wider prominence in the Eastern Bloc countries, particularly in Poland.

Today, interest and production of chokeberries and chokeberry products are increasing in the U.S.  According to Kathy Wiederholt, Fruit Project Manager at North Dakota State University, “In the U.S., Iowa has the greatest acreage at about 1,300 acres. The numbers of growers in Nebraska, Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin is increasing as are acres in eastern states.”  Wiederholt explains, “Chokeberries (Aroniaberries) have been grown as a commercial berry crop in most Eastern European countries since the 1950s and in Russia since the 1940s. Since 2010, European chokeberry acreage has remained constant, mostly due to volatility in prices. With nearly 15,000 acres, Poland still holds 90% of world production.”

Poland is by far the largest producer of Aronia Berries in the world. Because of the high production of Aronia Berries, a number of medical institutes in Poland have been studying the potential health benefits of the berry over the years and how it affects everything from bone and joint health to cardiovascular health. The results of some of these studies have been posted on the internet or in Doctor Iwona Wawer's book, "The Power of Nature."

Health Benefits of the Chokeberry

The Chokeberry (also known as the Aroniaberry) has proven to be one of nature’s most powerful antioxidants. In simple terms, antioxidants are a chemical compound or substance such as Vitamin E and C, found in foods, which are thought to protect the body’s cells from the damaging effects of oxidation.

Here is how this superfruit, the chokeberry-aroniaberry stacks up:

• Chokeberries have higher antioxidant levels than other berries (see ORAC chart on the “Science” page). Not only are they low in sugar, but they also contain beneficial nutrients, such as quercetin, quinic, minerals, and vitamins.
  
  
• Chokeberries contain the highest levels of anthocyanins (the pigment in the berry that gives them their dark purplish-black color) and proanthocyanidins (plant-based super-antioxidants) when compared to many of the other well-known “superfruits."
  
  
• Science has shown that foods high in anthocyanins have been proven to protect cells from oxidative damage caused by free radicals. These high concentrations of anthocyanins may provide some health-promoting effects, such as:
  
  
• Reduction of inflammation and C-reactive protein (a substance produced by the liver in response to inflammation levels)
  
  
• Proanthocyanidins offer a wide variety of health benefits as well. Science has shown that foods high in proanthocyanidin content may help:
  
  
• Improve circulation by strengthening capillary walls
  
  
• Inhibit enzymes that break down collagen
  
  
• Reduce allergy production