I was interested to learn that blackcurrants and, in particular, British blackcurrants, may help prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s Disease. The significance of this, to me, was that my father had Alzheimer’s disease. Not only that but, during the war, he was taken prisoner and sent to a prison camp known as Stalag XIB, near Hanover in Germany. From there, some of the prisoners were used as forced labour in the Bad Grund lead mine, in the Hartz mountains. During this time, he was starving, and craved blackcurrant jam. The memory of this craving stayed with him throughout life. He thought it was funny that he should be craving, of all things, blackcurrant jam. I do believe our systems are designed in such a way that our cravings tell us what our body needs.

Another interesting aspect of this craving is the fact that he was working in a lead mine. Contact with lead, either by skin or ingestion, can allow it access to your system, and it never leaves unless, perhaps, chelation therapy is applied. It has also been suggested that there are links between heavy metal toxicity and Alzheimer’s Disease.

When you have finished reading this blog, please click on Blackcurrant Jam, on the lefthand side of this website, for a story I wrote some years ago about my father, blackcurrant jam, and Alzheimer’s Disease.

So, as I have said, I was interested to read the recent findings about blackcurrants and, as I could well carry the gene for Alzheimer’s perhaps I should start stocking up on blackcurrants. Alzheimer’s Disease is the most common form of dementia and currently affects over 13 million people worldwide.What I learned recently is that there are compounds in blackcurrants that have a potent protective effect against the types of stress caused by dopamine and amyloid-b, a peptide associated with Alzheimer’s Disease. It was already well known that there are antioxidants in the berries, but a role in neuroprotection had not been demonstrated until now.

The British blackcurrants are the best, as they have been cultivated be darker in colour, which means they have more anthocyanins. They are therefore likely to be more potent. Anthocyanins also protect against cancer and heart disease. Blackcurrants contain polyphenolics. Polyphenolics are in plants and plant products ranging from the deep red and blue pigments in berry fruits to the white flavedo in citrus fruits, and believed to possess anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiviral, antiallergenic, antithrombotic, anticarcinogenic and antioxidant properties.

These berries are not grown in the USA because blackcurrants and gooseberries are known to be hosts for white pine blister rust. This does not affect the blackcurrants and gooseberries, but it is serious for the white pine tree. Most of the blackcurrants grown in the U.K. are grown for the production of Ribena, a concentrated blackcurrant drink produced by GlaxoSmithKline. http://www.ribena.co.uk/index_flash.html

As a child in England , I drank it to prevent colds and flu. Adults drank it with rum. I’ve seen blackcurrant jam on the shelves in the supermarkets here in Canada , and I’ve seen Ribena, but I have never seen blackcurrants for sale. They are supposed to be much more potent than blueberries, which we have plenty of. I guess I’ll start drinking Ribena again.