ASIDE from being delicious, turns our there’s another reason to gorge on strawberries.
The nation’s best loved fruit has been found to decrease blood pressure, a risk factor for deadly heart disease and strokes.
GettyTransparent plastic boxes with fresh organic strawberries in display at a street food market[/caption]
Berries have long been regarded as ‘superfoods’ and touted for their numerous health benefits, such as reducing inflammation and oxidative stress – both triggers for certain diseases.
New research from San Diego State University has zeroed in on strawberries, finding that eating the fruit daily can lower blood pressure.
High blood pressure – also known as hypertension – can increase your risk of a number of serious health conditions, including heart disease, heart attacks, strokes and heart failure.
The British summer staple was also found to improve cognitive function and boost antioxidant capacity.
Antioxidants can counteract unstable molecules called free radicals that damage DNA and cell membranes and contribute to the development of illnesses, according to Harvard Health.
The study was recently presented at NUTRITION 2023, the annual meeting of the American Society of Nutrition.
Thirty five healthy men aged 66 to 78 participated in it.
They were either given 26 grams of freeze-dried strawberry powder – amounting to two servings of fresh strawberries – or a control powder daily for an eight week period.
After eight weeks, researchers found that those who ate the strawberries increased their cognitive processing speed by 5.2 per cent, lowered their systolic blood pressure by 3.6 per cent, and increased their antioxidant capacity by 10.2 per cent when compared to those who took the control powder.
Commenting on the findings, Shirin Hooshmand, principal investigator of the study, said they expected to see improvement in antioxidant capacity as strawberries are a good source of vitamin C.
They also expected to see some improvement in cognitive processing speed based on their hypothesis.
She told Medical News Today: “Previously published research has already shown some of the acute and long-term cardiovascular health benefits of strawberries in different populations, so this is great to confirm some of those findings.
“This study demonstrates that consuming strawberries may promote cognitive function and improve cardiovascular risk factors like hypertension,” she said.
“We’re encouraged that a simple dietary change, like adding strawberries to the daily diet, may improve these outcomes in older adults,” Dr Hooshmand added.
Previous research has found that regular consumption of strawberries can also protect the brain from dementia by reducing inflammation.