Blueberries Protect Against Heart Disease

An article published online in the Journal of Nutrition describes the outcome of a trial of obese men and women with metabolic syndrome which found a protective effect for blueberries against several cardiovascular disease risk factors.*

Researchers at Oklahoma State University randomized 4 men and 44 women to receive a beverage containing 50 grams freeze-dried blueberries or an equivalent amount of water daily for 8 weeks. At the treatment period’s conclusion, those who received blueberries had greater decreases in systolic and diastolic blood pressure compared to the controls. This group also experienced significantly greater reductions in plasma oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) and markers of oxidative stress.

“Our study findings suggest a cardioprotective role of dietary achievable doses of blueberries in men and women with metabolic syndrome, which includes a significant decrease in systolic and diastolic blood pressures and plasma ox-LDL and lipid peroxidation,” the authors write.

Editor’s note: A convenient year-round option is an encapsulated blueberry extract supplement.

—D. Dye

Reference

* Available at: http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/abstract/140/9/1582. Accessed August 23, 2010.