If you’re a summer fruit lover, right now is peak delight time for you. But, according to the CDC, only 12.3 % of US adults meet their recommended daily fruit intake. What is the recommended fruit intake for an adult in the US? For women 60 and over, 1.5 – 2 cups per day, and for men over 60, 2 cups a day. Click here to read further and to see what constitutes a cup of fruit. For a list of the 13 healthiest fruits you can add to your plate, pick up your spoon and click here.

With several weeks of summer still ahead, and farmer’s markets all around, it’s probably easy to grab summer fruits, especially the fresh berries that so many of us love as desserts, breakfasts, salads, or condiments. Berries, whether blueberries, blackberries, cranberries, or raspberries and strawberries (which are technically aggregate fruits rather than berries, but let’s not get technical), are chock full of healthy aging benefits, including nutrients like magnesium and potassium, prebiotics for gut health, and all sorts of other antioxidants that make them excellent for heart health and supportive of cognitive functioning. Many of the health benefits from berries come from anthocyanins, a chemical full of nutrients that give berries their red and purple colors. In fact, berries are considered a “superfood” (natural foods that are nutrient-dense) meeting several of your daily nutritional requirements. Strawberries are described as “vitamin bombs,” rich in folic acid, and a handful have as much vitamin C as an orange.  New research out of San Diego State University and presented at this year’s American Society of Nutrition’s Annual Conference, reported that eating 2 servings of strawberries daily can help improve cognitive function, lower blood pressure and increase antioxidant capacity in older adults.  Blueberries can reduce your risk of heart attacks and boost your immune system. Raspberries also contain significant vitamin C along with fiber, and cranberries are rich in antioxidants and known to have protective benefits when it comes to urinary tract infections. For some great recipes utilizing summer berries and fruits, get the jars ready for canning, and click here.

Berries also contain flavanols, a nutrient we’ve previously identified as helping to boost memory function in older adults. Do you know what else contains flavanols? That fall fruit that so many embrace as soon as the weather cools down- apples. While apples lack some of the nutrients found in the berry superfood family, they are considered a “functional food,” meaning they contain bioactive components that can be critical to healthy aging, including fiber, pectin, and polyphenols. To find out more about the healthy aging benefits of apples, grab a bushel (without peeling) and read here.