5 reasons why you'll want to eat blueberries
The berries have long been thought to boost health. Now scientists have nailed down some of their benefits
It’s well-known as a “superfruit” for its health-boosting and disease-fighting powers – and blueberries could also be a weapon in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease, a new study has found. Here are five reasons why you should add the fruit to your diet.
The latest study on blueberries suggests that they could help prevent the devastating effects of Alzheimer’s, an increasingly common form of dementia. The fruit’s beneficial effects on memory and cognition could be due to flavonoids called anthocyanins, say the researchers from the University of Cincinnati Academic Health Centre.
They conducted two human studies in elderly people, to follow up on earlier trials in animals. One study involved 47 adults aged 68 and older who had mild cognitive impairment, a risk condition for Alzheimer’s disease. The researchers gave them either freeze-dried blueberry powder, which is equivalent to a cup of berries, or a placebo powder once a day for 16 weeks.
There was improvement in cognitive performance and brain function in those who had blueberry powder compared with those who took the placebo. Scans also showed increased brain activity in those who had blueberry powder.
Daily consumption of one cup of blueberries for eight weeks resulted in significant reductions of both systolic and diastolic blood pressure in postmenopausal women with pre- and stage 1 hypertension, according to a 2015 study in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The researchers from Florida State University say the berries improved blood pressure and arterial stiffness potentially through enhanced nitric oxide-mediated blood vessel dilation, which leads to lower blood pressure.