Blauwe bessen tegen diabetes en hoge bloeddruk*
Uit twee studies blijkt dat voeding rijk aan blauwe bessen goed is tegen
diabetes type-2 en tegen hoge
bloeddruk. In de ene studie kregen deelnemers, allen met overgewicht, twee maal daags een met blauwe bessen verrijkte smoothie. Deelnemers met de blauwe bessen in de smoothie hadden een duidelijk
betere insuline gevoeligheid dan de deelnemers die geen blauwe bessen in hun smoothie hadden. In de tweede studie met deelnemers met licht verhoogde bloeddruk bleek dat dagelijks twee kopjes blauwe bessen na 8 weken al een duidelijk lagere bloeddruk geeft.
This low-sugar fruit cuts your risk of diabetes, high blood pressure
Two new studies add to the growing body of research about the many health benefits of consuming blueberries. Researchers from Pennington Biomedical Research Center (PBRC) have found that blueberries help to prevent obesity-related insulin resistance, which leads to type 2 diabetes, while researchers from Oklahoma State University (OSU) have found similar success in using blueberries to prevent hypertension.
Published in The Journal of Nutrition, the PBRC study found that obese participants who consumed blueberry-rich smoothies twice a day for 42 days experienced an increase in insulin sensitivity compared to participants who consumed an equally nutritious, but blueberry-free, smoothie twice a day for the same time
period.
None of the participants had diabetes at the time of the study, but the blueberry compounds appeared to actually regulate the obesity-related insulin factors that are implicated in causing pre-diabetes and diabetes.
"We now know that compounds in blueberries may help obese, non-diabetic individuals maintain healthy blood glucose levels," explained Dr. April Stull, a researcher at
PBRC.
In the OSU study, which was also published in The Journal of Nutrition, researchers observed that patients with pre-hypertension -- that is, elevated blood pressure levels that are not quite at full hypertension levels -- responded well to drinking a beverage once a day for eight weeks that contained two cups of blended blueberries.
According to Arpita Basu, professor of nutritional sciences at OSU and author of the study, the blueberry group saw an average drop of seven-to-eight points in systolic blood pressure by the end of the evaluation period.
"Many patients rely too heavily on medication to help control blood glucose," explained Basu. "A diet that includes blueberries is a component of a healthier lifestyle that also includes diet and
exercise." (Januari 2011)
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