Should we add strawberries to the list of superfoods (cranberry, pomegranate, acai, blackcurrant …) with multiple health benefits? Eating strawberries daily could indeed lower cholesterol levels significantly. Researchers from the Polytechnic University of Marche in Italy and their colleagues from the universities of Salamanca, Granada and Seville in Spain, made this discovery by observing the impact of this “strawberry diet” on 23 volunteers. The panel consumed 500 strawberries per day for a month. A blood test was taken at the start and at the end of the experiment.
The results published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry show that this diet reduced the level of bad cholesterol (LDL-cholesterol) by 14%. The level of good cholesterol has not changed. In contrast, the amount of triglycerides fell by 21%. In excess, these lipids increase the risk of atheroma plaque, that is, the deposition of lipids inside the wall of the arteries.
Other parameters also improved such as the concentration of antioxidant biomarkers such as vitamin C as well as platelet function. These changes returned to normal after 15 days after stopping “treatment”.
Other cholesterol-lowering foods
It is difficult to determine exactly which compounds present in strawberries can explain these cholesterol-lowering benefits. Maurizio Battino, Italian researcher director of the study, puts forward a hypothesis. “All the signs and epidemiological studies carried out on strawberries converge on anthocyanins, the plant pigments at the origin of their red color”.
Strawberries therefore join the plate of anti-cholesterol foods. While waiting for the strawberry season, you can enjoy for example apples, oat bran, sardines, mackerel, nuts and peppers. Compose your pleasure menus with our anti-cholesterol recipes.
