They are one of the most delicious of fruits but it seems there’s more to strawberries and blueberries than simply a great dessert. Research shows that eating these two berries every week can prevent heart attacks in women.
The flavonoid plant compounds that are specific to strawberries and blueberries have been revealed to unblock arteries by an enormous US healthy study involving 93,600 women. They were involved in the Nurses’ Health Study II, which monitored their health over 18 years.
The analysis of the results of the study was led by the Harvard School of Public Health and revealed that women who reported eating the most strawberries and blueberries were 32% less likely to have a heart attack than women who only ate the berries occasionally. Other fruits and vegetables did not offer the same kind of protection seen from strawberries and blueberries.
The flavonoids seen in the berries are anthocyanins and these are thought to open up blocked arteries and stop fatty deposits building up on the walls of blood vessels. Other foods that contain the flavonoid may have a similar effect. The study included strawberries and blueberries as they are the most popular berries eaten in the US.
The findings of the research, published in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation, concluded that eating red and purple berries every week could become an important preventative measure in the fight against heart disease in women.
The analysis of the study took risk factors such as family medical history, age, high blood pressure, weight, smoking and alcohol consumption into account when reaching its findings.
The next stage of any research will be into exactly how berries improve heart health. In the mean time, the researchers suggest that women – and indeed everyone – include berries in their 5 a day.