New Zealand berry marketers are looking for ways to exploit international research into natural health benefits of blackcurrants.
Different lines of research - in a range of countries - have indicated that a natural extract from the fruit can improve eyesight focus, help adapt eyes to darkness, improve blood circulation limbs during cold weather, and keep people thinking sharply when making decisions under stress.
Some marketers among the New Zealand growers hope the research will be developed to the point where they can sell the fruit for use in foods for extreme athletes, marksmen, and even executives making decisions.
The accumulating research signals a tipping point for blackcurrants in terms of its potential as a functional food, said International Blackcurrant Association (IBA) president Jim Grierson, of Christchurch.
Berries were one of the fastest growing health foods in many countries, but consumers had been "seduced" by newer varieties such as blueberries, he said.
"This research is turning consumers back to our blackcurrants," he said. "The types of health and functional values being proven are simply extraordinary".
The association is working to provide product samples to potential champion sportsmen and women to demonstrate the effects of blackcurrant supplements.
Scientists at the Second International Blackcurrant Association Conference recently held at Beaune, in France, had detailed research into the effects of blackcurrants on mental acuity and their special ability to reduce plaque-type formations, and the proven effect of berry polyphenols on improving decision-making under stress.
In Japan and France researchers had focused on the ability of the blackcurrant to improve visual acuity by reducing the eyestrain from fixed-focus activity such as during computer games.
Other Japanese research had shown blackcurrant extract could improve eyesight in dawn-dusk conditions and also improve blood circulation in hands in extreme cold.
Last year, a preliminary study by Plant and Food Research in New Zealand found signs that an extract derived from New Zealand-grown blackcurrants, taken in capsule form before and after exercise, could minimise muscle damage and inflammation and boost the immune system.
Like many of the other researchers, the New Zealanders are looking closely at the flavanoids in the fruit, including anthocyanins, the compounds that give blackcurrants their black-red colour. There have been predictions that some growers will eventually switch the cultivars they grow to ones which deliver the highest levels of antioxidants and polyphenols.
Mr Grierson said climate change was a factor for blackcurrant production, because the fruit needed good chilling at key times of the growing cycle, but plant breeding scientists in Britain, Poland and New Zealand were working together to develop new 'low-chill' breeds.
"The future is looking beautifully black," said Mr Grierson.
NZPA