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Berries Good for the Heart
Eating moderate
amounts of berries every day may lower blood
pressure and raise good cholesterol, study shows.
By Elizabeth Bergman
WebMD Medical News
Eating berries may boost heart health.
So
says a study backing up berries' status as a super
food. The small Finnish study suggests that eating a
moderate amount of berries may increase HDL (good)
cholesterol and reduce blood pressure.
For
the study, researchers recruited 72 middle-aged men
and women with some risk factors for heart disease
-- including mild hypertension (high blood
pressure), elevated LDL (bad) cholesterol levels,
and low HDL cholesterol.
Half
of the volunteers ate two portions, totaling about
150 grams, of berries every day for eight weeks. The
volunteers ate an assortment of berries either
whole, pureed, or in juice form, including
bilberries, lingonberries, black currants,
strawberries, chokeberries, and raspberries.
After eight weeks, HDL cholesterol levels of the
berry eaters increased an average of 5.2%. Systolic
blood pressure (the top number on a blood pressure
reading) decreased by an average of 1.5 points, but
the greatest decrease was seen in those with the
highest blood pressures initially. There was no
change in diastolic blood pressure (the bottom
number). It did not affect body weight.
Berries: Packed With Polyphenols
Fruits and vegetables are high in antioxidants, but
berries contain particularly high levels of
antioxidants known as polyphenols.
The
researchers estimate that the berry eaters in the
study consumed about three times the amount of
polyphenols as the nonberry eaters and had higher
levels of polyphenols in their blood.
Other polyphenol-rich foods include chocolate, tea,
and red wine, which also have been linked to lower
heart disease risk.
The
findings appear in the February issue of the
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
©
WebMD. All rights reserved.
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Fruits and vegetables are high in antioxidants,
but berries contain particularly high levels of
antioxidants known as polyphenols.
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