Antioxidants and berry extracts

Antioxidants, many of which are extracted from fruit and berries, have also been shown to exert vascular benefits. Results from a pan-European research team found that consumption of an antioxidant-rich raspberry juice or tea may prevent artery hardening.

Writing in the journal Food Chemistry (Vol. 118, pp. 266-271), researchers from the University of Montpellier 2, the University of Parma, and the University of Glasgow reported that consumption of raspberry, strawberry and bilberry juices and green and black tea reduced aortic deposits in hamsters fed a high fat diet.

The authors noted that, while all of the beverages exerted beneficial effects, the composition and concentration of individual phenolic compounds varied substantially between the five beverages. “This indicates that anti-atherosclerotic effects can be induced by a diversity of phenolic compounds rather than a few specific components,” they said.

Another European study, this time focusing exclusively on bilberry extracts, found that the antioxidant-rich extract may prevent the build up of plaques in the arteries of mice. The researchers stated that the active compounds in the fermented extract have yet to be identified, but suggested they may be anthocyanin-derived polymeric pigments (Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, doi: 10.1021/jf9035468)