Strawberries have the distinction of being the world’s most popular berry. They’ve long ranked high in my family as it was the only food besides warm milk with honey, that my brother would eat when he was a toddler.As children, my sister and I fought over them. In fact I once broke a wooden cutting board on her head because she had gobbled up our baby brother’s portion. Of course I am much better behaved now and, thanks to having a husband that grows them, I no longer have to treat each one like sacred manna. In season now, local strawberries are not only especially sweet, they are nutritious. They are available from most farmers.StrawberriesGrown: in BermudaVitamin content: an excellent source of vitamin C and a good source of folate (B9), riboflavin (B2), pantothenic acid (B5), pyridoxine (B6) and vitamin K.Mineral content: an excellent source of manganese and a very good source of iodine. A good source of potassium, magnesium and copper.Dietary fibre: a very good source of fibre with about 3.31 grams in one cup of strawberries.Omega 3 fatty acids: there are about .11 grams of omega 3s in one cup of strawberries.Omega 6 fatty acids: there are about 130 milligrams in one cup of whole strawberries.Protein: there is one gram in one cup.Good for:Instead of having that 8oz glass of orange juice to get your morning vitamin C, you could eat eight medium-sized strawberries and get even more.According to the University of California Cooperative Extension, eight medium strawberries contain 50 calories, two grams of fibre and a whopping 160 percent of the US recommended daily allowance of vitamin C.Vitamin C is a powerful anti-oxidant which studies have shown helps protect the body against macular degeneration. Macular degeneration is one of the leading causes of vision loss in adults.A 2004 study showed that people who ate at least three servings of fresh fruit a day were less likely to develop the eye condition than those who had one-and-a-half servings or less, a day.Strawberries contain phytonutrients (plant nutrients) that have anti- inflammatory properties.One of these nutrients, phenol, acts in much the same way as aspirin and ibuprofen in this regard.Phenols have been shown to lessen the activity of an enzyme which, when overactive, can cause unwanted inflammation involved in conditions like rheumatoid and osteoarthritis, asthma, atherosclerosis and cancer.The advantage of strawberries over aspirin and ibuprofen is that they do not cause intestinal bleeding.The phenols in strawberries also help protect the heart.Two other phytonutient groups anthocyanins and ellagitannins act as antioxidants protecting cells in the body from the damage that can be caused by oxygen.These nutrients also give strawberries their characteristic deep red colour. But perhaps the biggest advantage to eating strawberries is that the ellagitannins in them decreases the rate of cancer cell growth.