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Heart Health


WHY BLUEBERRIES ARE THE SUPERFOOD FOR YOUR HEART

Packed with antioxidants, this tiny fruit can help keep your heart pumping and
strong.


By Zachary SmithMedically Reviewed by Anurag Sahu, MD
Reviewed: July 21, 2022
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Medically Reviewed


High in soluble fiber, low in calories and carbs, blueberries are the healthiest
fruit around.
Joe St.Pierre/Stocksy

Are blueberries nature’s perfect fruit? For those trying to keep a strong heart
and reduce the risk of heart disease, they very well might be.

Let's look at some numbers. Just one cup of blueberries a day can provide loads
of nutrients: 24 percent of your daily intake of vitamin C, 36 percent of
vitamin K, 25 percent of manganese, which helps with blood clotting and promotes
bone and muscle strength, and 14 percent of dietary fiber, according to
the Cleveland Clinic. 

“These little nuggets are phenomenally full of vitamins and minerals,” says
Evelina Grayver, MD, a cardiologist at North Shore University Hospital at
Northwell Health in New York City. “It is very important to understand how they
help manage cholesterol, potentially help manage blood sugar, how they reduce
blood pressure, and how overall they decrease inflammatory response in the
vessels and thus decrease the risk of heart disease.”

How exactly can eating blueberries improve your heart health? 




MANAGE CHOLESTEROL

Blueberries are high in soluble fiber, which helps your gut remove bile and
manage cholesterol, a known risk factor of cardiovascular health. Soluble fiber
does this by binding to the cholesterol, salts, minerals, and other bile
components and removing it through the body’s waste. 

“Soluble fiber is a natural cleansing system, helping keep your cholesterol
levels down,” says Julia Zumpano, RD, a registered dietitian at the Cleveland
Clinic in Ohio.

A review published in May 2019 in Nutrients found that blueberries had more
grams per cup of fiber than apples, strawberries, peaches, and plums. The same
study found that most Americans do not consume the necessary amount of fiber per
day — 38 grams per day for men under 50 and 25 grams for women under 50 — so
adding blueberries to your diet would be an easy way to up your fiber and keep
your cholesterol in check. 


KEEP BLOOD SUGAR UNDER CONTROL

Blueberries can help regulate blood sugar levels. fruit is often referred to as
nature's candy, but blueberries have a lowering effect on blood sugar levels
compared with other fruits. 



“Right now, we're in the midst of a hot summer, and we all love to have a nice
cool watermelon or melons, which are great. However, there's so much sugar,”
says Dr. Grayver. “Blueberries are actually low in sugar, no matter how sweet
they may taste.”

This means they are less likely to cause blood sugar levels to spike, a key
benefit for those with diabetes who also have a heart condition. A controlled
study published in Current Developments in Nutrition in March 2020 found that
eating 22 grams (g) of freeze-dried blueberries every day (equivalent to about
one cup of fresh blueberries) benefited cardiometabolic health in men with type
2 diabetes. But more research must be done to account for all people. 

Zumpano says that while diabetes is often not the first thing to come to mind
when dealing with heart problems, it doesn’t mean the two are not connected. 



“Elevated blood sugars can lead to an unhealthy heart, inflammation, and
elevated risk of insulin resistance or diabetes, which doubles your risk of
heart disease,” she says.


REDUCE STRESS

An unhealthy diet and stress cause wear and tear on the body, typically through
oxidative stress, which is an imbalance of unstable molecules and antioxidants
in the body that can lead to cell and tissue damage.

“The more we ingest antioxidant-rich foods, we're creating barriers around some
of the stressors that we may not be able to control, like environmental toxins,
to help protect the cells from being damaged,” says Zumpano.

Some studies show that antioxidants like anthocyanin, which blueberries are
loaded with, play a role in reducing oxidative stress and cell damage, although
much of this research has been done on rodents, not humans.

Wild blueberries have elevated levels of anthocyanin, and Zumpano recommends
them if they are available in your area and are affordable. 


LOWER BLOOD PRESSURE

Blueberries are high in nitric oxide, a molecule that relaxes the inner muscles
of blood vessels. This characteristic helps lower blood pressure. 

A randomized controlled trial published in June 2019 in the American Journal of
Clinical Nutrition looked at 115 people with metabolic syndrome and tested how
eating blueberries affected symptoms. Participants were split between a placebo
group, those who ate half a cup of blueberries, and those who ate a full cup per
day for six months. While insulin resistance remained unchanged, sustained
improvements in vascular function, cholesterol concentrations, and underlying
nitric oxide activity (which helps increase blood flow by relaxing blood
vessels) following 1 cup of blueberries per day were observed, predicting a 12
to 15 percent reduction in cardiovascular diseases.

“That was just one particular study, but we have seen blood pressure and
inflammation being reduced with just general healthy eating and high antioxidant
foods,” says Zumpano.


ADD BLUEBERRIES TO YOUR DIET

The good news is there are tons of ways you can eat blueberries. 

Zumpano suggests adding them to oatmeal, Greek yogurt, or a smoothie for
something quick. Blueberries can also be added to salads or cottage cheese for
something more savory. 

Grayver and Zumpano agree that cooking blueberries will cause them to lose some
of their nutritional value, and eating them raw is best, but that still leaves
plenty of options. And when they are out of season, you can always choose
frozen, which are just as good and contain most of the nutrients of fresh
berries. 

Grayver says she adds blueberries to at least one meal a day, typically
breakfast, because of their great nutritional value.

“I actually like to put them on pretty much everything,” says Grayver. “If you
have one cup a day, you can actually get enough of the benefits.”

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