A fruity drink to good health

The next time you’re out for a drink, instead of going for your usual drink on the rocks or rum with coke, you might want to add a little fruity flavour to your drink.

In fact, you must. Leaving aside the tingling taste of a fruity cocktail, if researchers are to be believed, coloured fruits mixed with a little alcohol make for great antioxidants.

A study published in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture points out that among coloured fruits, the favoured one is strawberry, known for compounds that can protect against cancer, heart diseases and arthritis.

The addition of alcohol only boosts its antioxidant properties. The ideal drink would be a strawberry daiquiri. Now, we aren’t propagating the intake of alcohol, but some studies claim that alcohol, if taken in very moderate amounts, may actually be beneficial for one’s health.

Researchers from the Kasetsart University in Thailand and the US State Department of Agriculture Research Service stumbled upon this discovery while actually searching for effective ways of keeping fruits fresh during storage.

They found that treating strawberries with ethanol, a compound found in rum, vodka, tequila and other spirits, enhanced the fruit’s antioxidant capacity by a third, boosting its power to neutralise destructive molecules in the body called free radicals.

Incidentally, alcohol is also thought to be beneficial in reducing the risk of heart disease but only if intake is restricted to no more than one drink, consumed every second day.

However, some also argue that one’s drinking pattern is as important as total consumption of alcohol. But relying on alcohol to save you from cardiovascular disease might be a huge gamble.

Berries, both blackberries and strawberries, on the other hand contain compounds known as polyphenols and anthocyanins and people who eat more of these fruits are proven to have greater immunity to cancer, heart disease and even some neurological diseases.

Now who wouldn’t like to pop open that bottle of bubbly and sip a bit of the blackberry-crowned champagne cocktail, with lots of crushed ice please?