Wild blueberries could help tackle the adverse effects of a high-fat diet, study finds

Published: 18-Dec-2014

The fruit have been shown to have beneficial effects on both blood pressure and inflammation


Eating wild blueberries and bilberries of the Vaccinium myrtillus species could reduce the ill effects of a high-fat diet, according to a recent study by researchers at the University of Eastern Finland.

For the first time, the fruits have been shown to have beneficial effects on both blood pressure and inflammation, which are often associated with obesity-related diseases.

The study, published in the journal Plos One, focused on the health effects of bilberries on mice that were fed a high-fat diet for a period of three months.

Some of the mice were fed either 5% or 10% of freeze-dried bilberries. The researchers assessed the effects of the diets by looking at inflammatory cell and cytokine levels, systolic blood pressure, glucose tolerance, insulin sensitivity and weight gain.

Mice on the high-fat diet gained a significant amount of weight and had adverse changes in glucose and lipid metabolism, inflammation and blood pressure.

By contrast, wild blueberries reduced the pro-inflammatory effects of the high-fat diet in the mice, indicated by an altered cytokine profile and a reduced relative prevalence of inflammation supporting T-cells. The fruit also prevented the elevated blood pressure caused by the high-fat diet.

The beneficial effects are thought to be explained by polyphenols, especially anthocyanins, the levels of which are significantly higher in bilberries than in commercially cultivated blueberries.

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