Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Strawberries Reduce Cholesterol and other Blood Lipids

Oh, man. This is exciting. Imagine a craving you're supposed to give into! Red, juicy, mouth-wateringly sweet and tangy strawberries. Mmm, just the thought of them makes me crave them and according to new research out this month I can indulge without guilt. New research has found eating strawberries daily can lower blood lipid levels (cholesterol, triglycerides) and thus offer heart healthy benefits.

The Study: (Journal of Nutrition Biology - March 2014) Italian researchers reported that when study participants ate 500g of strawberries daily for a month they experienced a 9% drop in total cholesterol levels, 13% reduction in LDL cholesterol levels and 20% reduction in triglyceride levels. This suggests that eating strawberries beneficially lowers blood fat levels, which is associated with a lower risk of heart disease. In addition, eating strawberries resulted in higher levels of vitamin C and other antioxidant in the participants. Antioxidants are thought to be the fountain of  youth - antioxidants fight damaging inflammation, offer heart healthy benefits, reduce wrinkle formation and much more!

Want to read the study - click here:
http://www.jnutbio.com/article/S0955-2863(13)00249-0/abstract

As you can bet, I'm off to pull on my snow boots and dredge over to the store for some organic strawberries. If those aren't available (which is common here on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean under a blanket of snow and ice), then I'll bring home the most "local" strawberries I can, pull out my fruit and veggie wash and spritz those little berries to remove some of the yucky pesticides on them. My mouth is literally watering as I'm typing this - so excited!

My Confession: Despite knowing a lot about food and how it reacts with my body, I'm not perfect. Heck, I'd never suggest that I am. I do like to have my cake and eat it too. So, as you can guess this research is close to my heart - I have high cholesterol. Yep, thanks Dad for passing on those genes. So, when I read research that supports eating healthy (and did I mention delicious) foods to naturally keep cholesterol levels low I get really excited. Off to the store I go to stock up on some strawberries - organic, of course. Till next time, enjoy health!

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