Strawberry daiquiris -- the extra-healthy cocktail?
Strawberries are good for you, but serving them in daiquiri form may
make them even healthier, scientists show.

While exploring ways to help keep strawberries fresh during storage,
researchers from Thailand and the US discovered that treating the
berries with alcohol led to an increase in antioxidant capacity and
free radical scavenging activity within the fruit. While such a boost
helped the berries resist decay, the same compounds would also be
expected to make the strawberries healthier to eat.

Dr Korakot Chanjirakul and colleagues at Kasetsart University in
Thailand, in collaboration with scientists at the United States
Department of Agriculture, tested the berries with ethanol and found
that the treatment improved the physiology of the fruit as measured by
several different laboratory tests for antioxidant activity (SCI’s
Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, doi
10.1002/jsfa.2841).

Coloured berry fruits like strawberries contain compounds known as
polyphenols and anthocyanins. Consumption of these compounds has been
linked to the prevention of diseases ranging from cancer to
neurodegenerative disorders. They work by helping to mop up damaging
free radicals produced naturally during a person’s normal metabolism.

Those who aren’t keen on strawberry daiquiris might be relieved to
know that the scientists found similar results with blackberries,
meaning that a blackberry-crowned champagne cocktail might achieve the
same effect.

Excerpted from

Strawberry daiquiris -- the extra-healthy cocktail?
<http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-04/soci-sd041607.php>

The original study is

Natural volatile treatments increase free-radical scavenging capacity
of strawberries and blackberries (p n/a)
Korakot Chanjirakul, Shiow Y Wang, Chien Y Wang, Jingtair Siriphanich
Published Online: 19 Apr 2007
DOI: 10.1002/jsfa.2841
<http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/114178326/HTMLSTART>
(full text)