Elderberry Health Benefits - Mu cafnr

NINE YEARS AGO, MISSOURI FARMER TERRY DURHAM STARTED GROWING ELDERBERRIES ON JUST A FEW ACRES OF LAND. NOW, HE IS ONE OF THE COUNTRY�S LEADING ELDERBERRY FARMERS. DURHAM PRODUCES AND MARKETS JUICE, JELLY, AND OTHER PRODUCTS FROM THE ELDERBERRY PLANT. �You want to cook your berries up. Make them into some jelly, cook them into a pie and then they�re really good.� THE ELDERBERRY PLANT PRODUCES A WHITE FLOWER EARLY IN THE SPRING AND LATER BEARS SMALL PURPLE BERRIES. DURHAM SAYS THE MISSOURI NATIVE PLANT DOESN�T GET THE ATTENTION IT DESERVES.. �Almost every farm in the state has a few elderberries growing in a fencerow or over by the creek somewhere, and they hardly get noticed.� THERE�S BEEN MORE INTEREST IN GROWING ELDERBERRY BECAUSE OF ITS HEALTH BENEFITS. �It�s called the medicine chest of ancient people.� ANDY THOMAS IS A UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI RESEARCHER IN THE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE FOOD AND NATURAL RESOURCES. MU RECENTLY HELD ITS FIRST INTERNATIONAL ELDERBERRY SYMPOSIUM THAT BROUGHT SCIENTISTS ALL OVER THE WORLD. We hope the outcome from this symposium; by bringing all of this different types of science together will raise this to the next level. We need the biochemistry research, we need the human health research, we need agriculture research, so we all can grow this together.� Mu researchers say the berries are high in antioxidants. The juice can reduce cholesterol and boost the immune system. Scientists are finding the elderberry may prevent and treat prostate cancer, and Alzheimer�s disease. �We don�t have Extension guide sheets to say here�s how you treat this disease so these people are kind of pioneers, they�re ahead of the research�� CURRENTLY, THE U-S IMPORTS MOST OF ITS ELDERBERRIES FROM EUROPE, BUT MU RESEARCHERS ARE WORKING WITH MISSOURI FARMERS TO RAMP UP ELDERBERRY PRODUCTION HERE IN THE SHOW-ME STATE. FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI, I�M LATISHA HICKEM REPORTING