Today at Nutrition 2023, a yearly nutrition event, a study showed that eating strawberries daily can improve brain function, lower blood pressure, and increase the body’s ability to fight disease.
This study was done at San Diego State University and it adds to other studies showing the benefits of strawberries for our heart, metabolism, and brain.
The Study Details
The study was carried out with 35 healthy men and women between 66 and 78 years old.
In the study, which kept the participants and researchers in the dark about who was getting what, the participants either had a strawberry powder equal to two servings of strawberries or a control powder every day for eight weeks.
After eating strawberries, the participants could think faster by 5.2%, their top blood pressure reading dropped by 3.6%, and their bodies were better at fighting disease by 10.2%.
Their waist size shrunk by 1.1% no matter whether they had strawberries or the control powder. But when they had the control powder, the participants had more fats in their blood.
Strawberries’ Impact
“This study shows that eating strawberries can help brain function and lower risk factors for heart disease like high blood pressure,” said Shirin Hooshmand, a professor at San Diego State and the person in charge of the study.
“We’re happy that a simple change in diet, like adding strawberries every day, may help older adults’ health.”
What’s Inside Strawberries
Strawberries are packed with compounds that are good for us.
Besides giving us all the vitamin C we need each day, strawberries also have other heart-healthy nutrients like folate, potassium, fiber, phytosterols, and polyphenols.
Earlier Findings on Strawberries
Past clinical trials have linked eating strawberries with better heart health markers, including lower total and LDL cholesterol, and lower blood pressure.
There is also a lot of research on how strawberries can help brain health.
Studies at Rush University showed that strawberries and a chemical mostly found in strawberries, called pelargonidin, were linked to a lower risk of Alzheimer’s dementia.
Long-term studies, including the Health Professionals Study and the Nurses’ Health Study, found that people who eat strawberries are less likely to experience a decrease in brain function.
So, it turns out, strawberries aren’t just tasty. They are also full of health benefits that can help us stay healthy, especially as we grow older.
If you care about brain health, please read studies about vitamin D deficiency linked to Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia, and higher magnesium intake could help benefit brain health.
For more information about brain health, please see recent studies about antioxidants that could help reduce dementia risk, and coconut oil could help improve cognitive function in Alzheimer’s.
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