BLACK CURRANT:

THE NUTRITIOUS FORBIDDEN FRUIT

Bioactive Compounds

Kelsea Hopkins, Katherine Dinkel, Courtney Jones, Leigh Osborne, Marissa Potente

Abstract
Black currants are widely accepted and used throughout the world.
The United States had banned the growth and harvest because they
were a vector for white pine fungus that was threatening the timber
industry. Recently, many states lifted the black currant ban. Though
the US has had access to black currants, their availability has only recently increased. With the increase in availability, there is an increase
in research related to their health qualities including anthocyanin content.

Potential Health Benefits

Black currants contain bioactive compounds called Anthocyanins,
which are a type of polyphenol. These substances have some effect
on living tissues and there are many potential benefits. It is important
to note that studies are done within people, animals, and tubes. Another factor to consider is the type and method of delivery, which varies
from study to study, berry to berry, and person to person. With all of
these different study methods and factors, actual results may vary.
Potential benefits include: Eye health, cardiovascular health, diet and
exercise recovery, increased immune responses, gut health, kidney
health, Alzheimer prevention, reduction in rheumatoid arthritis symptoms, anticancer, antiviral, antimicrobial, and antifungal effects (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8).

Potential Health Risks

Anthocyanins from black currants have had contradictory effects and
some potential risks include: Cardiovascular health and slow blood
clotting (9,10).It is also important to note that there is not enough evidence to suggest dosing relationships, drug-nutrient interactions, or
other potential risks.

Chart 1: Anthocyanin Content of Black Currants, phenolexploer.com

Bioavailability
The Anthocyanins in black
currants do not have a high
bioavailability. There is rapid

but low absorption with maximum concentrations peaking

at 1.5 hours after ingestion
(11).

In This Issue

Health Benefits

Health Risks

Bioavailability

Growing Conditions

Processing, Cooking,
and Storage

Marketplace Availability

Flavor Combinations

Recipe

Growing Conditions
Blackcurrants are hardy and can be
grown in extreme conditions, but
are mostly grown in the temperate
zones of Europe, Russia, northern
Asia, New Zealand, and to a lesser
extent the United States. (12). In
these temperate zones, black currant grown at higher latitudes have
higher contents of citric acid and
sugars compared with those grown
at lower latitudes which have higher
contents of malic acid, ascorbic acid, total Flavonols, total Anthocyanins, and total phenolic compounds.
(12). Temperature and radiation
have been shown to have a positive
correlation with the anthocyanin
content and it is thought that precipitation, soil nutrients, and humidity
may also have an influence, but
there are not studies to back up
these hypotheses. (13). Genetics
can influence the anthocyanin content of berries, and those with
smaller berries and thicker skin
have the highest concentration.
(12). Anthocyanin content increases
beginning at the start of veraison
(ripening), peaks at 80% veraison,
and slightly decreases after. (14).

Image 1: growing conditions of black currants shown in orange on the map

Processing, Cooking, Storage

The stability of Anthocyanins in black currants are affected primarily by
pH, metal ions, light, temperature, oxygen, and enzymatic activities
(14).Degradation of Anthocyanins in black currants is primarily due to
processing or storage at elevated temperatures (15). The mechanism
by which anthocyanins are degraded is thought to be caused by hydrolysis of the sugar-aglycone bond (15).When black currants were heated
at 80, 100, and 120 degrees Celsius, the anthocyanin content decreased as temperature increased. However, less than 15% of the anthocyanin content was lost after 90 minutes at 80 degrees Celsius,
which is not very much (15).
Preservation of Anthocyanins: A pH <3 prevents anthocyanin degradation during cooking. In general, the higher the pH, the less Anthocyanins present (14). Anthocyanins can be preserved by freezing, although
some cultivars showed a slight decrease (15). A 2011 study found that
anthocyanin content remained stable during whole-fruit juice processing, which included milling of the whole berry, pectin hydrolysis,
addition of sodium bisulphite, pasteurization, decantation, filtration, and
concentration (16).

Availability in the Marketplace

Primarily found in juice and other beverages, in jams, jellies, purees,
teas, dried like raisins and occasionally consumed fresh. (12)

Flavor
Combinations
Blackcurrants have a passion-fruit and
gooseberry flavor with hints of raspberry
and aromatic notes of roses and carnations.

Forbidden Fruit Oat Balls

Ingredients
1 cup old fashion oats
2/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
cup peanut butter
cup ground flax seed

Blackcurrants pare well with mint. Make a

blackcurrant mojito at your next get together or try making a mint and blackcurrant sorbet for dessert.
These sweet berries also pair well with
other tropical fruits like pineapples and
mangos to make a nice fruit salad.
Replace raisins in recipes with blackcurrants to add some variation or try making
a blackcurrant pie, but baking the currants might make impact the bioavlability
of Anthocyanins.

cup cacao nibs

1/3 cup maple syrup

1 tablespoon
1 teaspoon vanilla
cup dried black currants
Directions
Stir all ingredients together in a medium size
bowl until thoroughly mixed. Cover and
let chill in the refrigerator for a half hour.
Once chilled, roll into balls. Store in an air
tight container for 1 week in the refrigerator.

References
1.

Wu D, Meydani M, Leka L, et al. Effect of dietary supplementation with black currant seed oil on the immune response of
healthy elderly subjects. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 1999;40(4):536-543.

2.

Suzutani T, Ogasawara M, Yoshida I, Azuma M, Knox Y. Anti-herpesvirus activity of an extract ofRibes nigrum
L. Phytotherapy Research. 2003;17(6):609-613. doi:10.1002/ptr.1207.

3.

Matsumoto H, Nakamura Y, Tachibanaki S, Kawamura S, Hirayama M. Stimulatory Effect of Cyanidin 3-Glycosides on the
Regeneration of Rhodopsin. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 2003;51(12):3560-3563. doi:10.1021/jf034132y.

4.

Jin Y, Alimbetov D, George T, Gordon M, Lovegrove J. A randomized trial to investigate the effects of acute consumption of a
blackcurrant juice drink on markers of vascular reactivity and bioavailability of anthocyanins in human subjects. European
Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2011;59(16):8616-8624.

5.

Edirisinghe I, Banaszewski K, Cappozzo J, McCarthy D, Burton-Freeman B. Effect of Black Currant Anthocyanins on the Activation of Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase (eNOS) in Vitro in Human Endothelial Cells. Journal of Agricultural and Food
Chemistry. 2011;59(16):8616-8624. doi:10.1021/jf201116y.

6.

Nyanhanda T, Gould E, McGhie T, Shaw O, Harper J, Hurst R. Blackcurrant cultivar polyphenolic extracts suppress CCL26
secretion from alveolar epithelial cells. Food Funct. 2014;5(4):671. doi:10.1039/c3fo60568j.

7.

Lee S, Kim B, Yang Y et al. Berry anthocyanins suppress the expression and secretion of proinflammatory mediators in macrophages by inhibiting nuclear translocation of NF-B independent of NRF2-mediated mechanism. The Journal of Nutritional
Biochemistry. 2014;25(4):404-411. doi:10.1016/j.jnutbio.2013.12.001.

8.

Hutchison A, Flieller E, Dillon K, Leverett B. Black Currant Nectar Reduces Muscle Damage and Inflammation Following a
Bout of High-Intensity Eccentric Contractions. J Dietary Suppl. 2014:140825104348005. doi:10.3109/19390211.2014.952864.

9.

Nielsen I, Haren G, Magnussen E, Dragstead L, Rasmussen S. Quantification of anthocyanins in commercial black currant juices by simple high-performance liquid chromatography. Investigation of their pH stability and antioxidative
potency. Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry. 2003;51:5861-5866.

10. Gopalan A, Reuben S, Ahmed S, Darvesh A, Hohmann J, Bishayee A. The health benefits of blackcurrants. Food Funct.
2012;3(8):795. doi:10.1039/c2fo30058c.