Strawberries are fragrantly sweet, juiciness, deep red cone-shaped fruit with a seed-studded surface and the small, regal, green leafy cap with stem that adorn its crown. It is no surprise that they are the most popular fruit in the world. Each strawberry is an aggregate fruit comprised of approximately 100 single seeded fruit. The red fleshy part we eat is the swollen central part of the flower or the peduncle to which the seeds are attached.
Strawberries, like other berries, are famous in the phytonutrient world as a rich surce of phenols. These phenols are led by the anthocyanins and by the ellagitannins. The anthocyanins in strawberry not only provide its flush red color, they also serve as potent antioxidants that have repeatedly been shown to help protect cell structures in the body and to prevent oxygen damage in all of the body’s organ systems.
Strawberries’ unique phenol content makes them a heart-protective fruit, an anti-cancer fruit, and an anti-inflammatory fruit – all just in one fruit. The anti-inflammatory properties of strawberry include the ability of phenols in this fruit to lessen activity of the enzyme cyclo-oxygenase, or COX. Non-steriodal anti-inflammatory drugs like aspirin or ibuprofen block pain by blocking this enzyme, whose overactivity has been shown to contribute to unwanted inflammation, such as that which is involved in rheumatoid and osteoarthritis, asthma, atherosclerosis, and cancer. Unlike drugs that are COX-inhibitors, however, strawberries do not cause intestinal bleeding.
Strawberries are an excellent source of vitamin C and manganese. They are also a very good source of dietary fiber and iodine and a good source of potassium, folate, vitamin B2, vitamin B5, vitamin B6, omega-3 fatty acids, magnesium, copper, and vitamin K.
Strawberries also contain an array of beneficial phytonutrients, including flavonoids, anthocyanidins and ellagic acid.