Blackcurrant nutrients fight hospital superbug

London: British blackcurrants are known to help prevent Alzheimer’s disease, fight cancer, UTI infections and heart disease. Now new scientific research into this small but mighty superfood has been found to effectively prevent the dreaded MRSA bacteria that lurks in most hospitals.

We are exposed to bacteria on a daily basis and more often than not they cause us no harm. Most infections can be treated with general antibiotics such as methicillin, however over use of such antibiotics has led to a dramatic increase in bacteria which are antibiotic resistant.

Staphylococcs aureus, more commonly known as MRSA, is normally harmless but due to its durability it can be fatal if picked up by those already weak or ill, especially in hospitals. Scientific studies have found that the best way to ward off damaging bacteria may reside in our food. Recent research has found that special compounds found in British Blackcurrants are particularly effective at inhibiting MRSA growth and at the same time successfully stopped the development of many other bad bacteria including Salmonella and Listeria.

Derek Stewart, from the Scottish Crop Research Institute says: “It is clear from the increasing numbers of scientific studies that the natural compounds found routinely in blackcurrants show a diverse range of anti microbial activities which may help reduce the incidence of or help alleviate the symptoms of infection by the life threatening ones known as MRSA.”

Eating blackcurrants or drinking blackcurrant juice as part of a healthy diet, is an easy, natural way to improve your antioxidant intake and maintain a healthy lifestyle, ward off infections and a fine way to load the body with the wonder compounds found in blackcurrants. British blackcurrants are extremely high in health promoting compounds called proanthocyanidins, anthocyanins and ellagitannins (1-3). It is these proanthocyanidins that have been successfully shown to interfere with the bad bacteria and their proliferation.

The Blackcurrant Foundation

The Blackcurrant Foundation has been established by British growers and has close links with partners from all over Britain and Ireland, to raise awareness of the numerous health benefits of blackcurrants from the British Isles. Blackcurrant Foundation members grow 2,000 hectares of blackcurrants across the British Isles which produces a crop of approximately 14,000 tonnes of fruit every year during the harvest season in July and August. At present there are 50 blackcurrant growers in Great Britain compared to440 in 1973. For more information on British blackcurrants or the Blackcurrant Foundation, visit