Is Blackcurrant a Natural Treatment for Asthma?
The dark purple berries from the blackcurrant shrub look like blueberries, but they have a flavorful, more astringent taste. Once popular in the United States, these berries fell out of favor in past decades, but have recently experienced renewed interest as a flavoring ingredient for candies, jellies, and tea. As it turns out this berry may do more than make food taste better. They could be a natural remedy for asthma. Can Blackcurrant Stop an Asthma Attack? In a recent study published in Molecular Nutrition and Food Research, researchers looked at the effect of blackcurrant extract on lung tissue in the laboratory. Blackcurrant extract seemed to block the activity of certain chemicals that cause lung inflammation – which is a good thing when it comes to asthma. When the airways of a person with asthma become inflamed, they clamp down – leading to the shortness of breath, cough, and other unpleasant symptoms that asthma sufferers experience. Blackcurrant extract could stop an asthma a
