Copyright 2001, Environmental News Network
September 18, 2001

The red berries on a shrub planted across the United States for erosion control, windbreak and mine reclamation may also protect against heart disease and cancers.

A horticulturist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's research service decided to make jam out of them when she discovered the berries of the autumn olive are edible. In the process, Ingrid Fordham noticed that the berries' red pigment settled to the bottom of her juicer, and she wondered if it might be one of the carotenoids -- a group of compounds that includes beta-carotene.

Beverly Clevidence, an Agricultural Research Service nutritionist, analyzed the berries for carotenoids, especially lycopene -- the pigment that colors tomatoes red. "We were astounded at what we found," says Fordham. "Ounce for ounce, the typical autumn olive berry is up to 17 times higher in lycopene than the typical raw tomato."

Lycopene has been identified as a deterrent to heart disease and cancers, says Clevidence, who heads ARS' Phytonutrients Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland. Lycopene is also found in watermelon, pink grapefruit, and guava. Americans get 80 to 90 percent of their lycopene from tomatoes and tomato products.

Lycopene is one of a family of pigments called carotenoids, which occur naturally in fruits and vegetables. Other carotenoids include alpha and beta-carotene and lutein. Numerous studies suggest that lycopene levels in the blood may be associated with reduced incidence of prostate, digestive tract, breast, lung and cervical cancer as well as cardiovascular disease and age-related macular degeneration -- the most common form of blindness for elderly people.

Fordham says the tart, pea sized berries taste good if they're ripe. If future studies planned by Clevidence show that people readily absorb lycopene from the berries, they could become an ingredient in processed foods. "Not everybody likes tomatoes," she says, "and autumn olive could become an alternative source of a potentially important nutrient."

Autumn olive, Elaeagnus umbellata, is covered with silvery-green leaves and a wealth of red berries in late September and October. Introduced from Asia in 1830, it tolerates harsh conditions and fixes nitrogen, making it a low-maintenance, productive perennial. It has become a popular erosion control shrub along highways, and it has been used for mine reclamation in the eastern United States. It has been successfully planted in shelterbelts throughout the Prairie states to prevent wind erosion and for wildlife habitat.

The fruits remain on the plant until late winter. They are browsed by deer, songbirds, and gamebirds. The foliage provides warmth and nesting cover for birds and small mammals, especially when planted as windbreaks. Some nurseries sell cultivated varieties of autumn olive as a food source to attract wildlife.

"Birds love the beautiful red berries," says Fordham.

She collected berries from five cultivated varieties and six naturalized plants for analysis in Clevidence's lab. The berries contained the same carotenoids as tomato-lycopene, beta-carotene, and lutein, says Clevidence.

But some land managers see the autumn olive as a pest. The Nature Conservancy says the species "is just beginning to be recognized as a potentially serious problem exotic," and it has the potential of becoming "one of the most troublesome adventive shrubs in the central and eastern United States." It is seen as a danger to native species because it exhibits "prolific fruiting, rapid growth, is widely disseminated by birds, and can easily adapt to many sites."

The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation calls the autumn olive "a very troublesome invasive species in Virginia." The Missouri state conservation department is working to stop distribution of the seeds for wildlife plantings because of concerns about its takeover of native species. If conservation officers have a taste of Ingrid Fordham's jam, they could change their minds. Error: Unable to read footer file.