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It is delicious, juicy, with a wonderful color and a unique smell. And while we didn’t need more reasons to add it to our diet, Japanese scientists add another important factor for cardiovascular health
Maybe just one fruit to drastically and quickly reduce fat deposits on arteries, reducing the risk of heart attack and stroke? Yes, Japanese scientists now answer, according to which a bowl of fresh strawberries it is able to “dissolve” the excessive accumulation of fat in the arteries, protecting against heart diseases. The new scientific conclusions are published in the Journal of Nutritional Science.
A large percentage of people around the world present high cholesterol, a not at all “innocent” condition, which dramatically increases the risk of heart disease. In particular, high cholesterol and especially LDL “bad” cholesterol translates into high fatty deposits in the arteries. These lipid concentrations are likely to block the arteries, causing narrowing and occlusion of the blood vessels. The clots that then form can potentially cause a heart attack or stroke. According to researchers from Setsunan University in Osaka, Japan, strawberries, a fruit rich in vitamin C, can prevent the build-up of fat thereby protecting against the risk of serious cardiovascular events.
After they found the benefits of strawberry in cardiovascular healththe Japanese researchers wanted to investigate how directly these beneficial properties of the fruit have an impact on the human body.
For this reason, they examined a group of volunteers, consisting of 23 healthy, young women. The volunteers were divided into two groups. One group was given a 500 gram strawberry puree, while the other a sugary drink. Half an hour after the participants consumed the given product, the researchers collected blood samples. The same process of drinking and drawing blood was repeated every 30 minutes for 4 more hours.
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The results of the measurements revealed that the group that had consumed the strawberry puree had significantly lower concentrations of low-density lipoprotein, or “bad” LDL cholesterol, than the group that consumed the sugary drink. In fact, this effect became apparent already one hour after eating the strawberry for the first time, while it lasted for at least 4 hours after the test was completed.
Commenting on the findings, the research team said: “Strawberries are an important source of nutrients and studies show that high consumption of such fruits is associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease.”