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Blueberries Help to Lower Blood Pressure

Wild blueberries reduce blood vessel constriction, in a lab animal model of high blood pressure (hypertension).

Blueberries are a rich source of polyphenols, potent antioxidants that include phenolics acids, tannins, flavonols and anthocyanins.  Previous studies have suggested  blueberries to exert a variety of beneficial health effects, including cholesterol reduction, and prevention against some cancers and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Dorothy J. Klimis-Zacas, from the University of Maine (Maine., USA), and colleagues fed a diet including 8% wild blueberries to laboratory rats in which high blood pressure (hypertension) was induced.  The researchers observed that the animals experienced less constriction in blood vessel, compared with animals fed a control diet, suggesting increased activity of the nitric oxide pathway, whereby nitric oxide acts as a potent vasodilator, to promote the relaxation of blood vessels, thereby easing blood pressure. The team concludes that: “The findings document the potential of wild blueberries to modify major pathways of vasomotor control and improve the vascular tone.”

Aleksandra S. Kristo, Anastasia Z. Kalea, Dale A. Schuschke, Dorothy J. Klimis-Zacas. “A Wild Blueberry-Enriched Diet (Vaccinium angustifolium) Improves Vascular Tone in the Adult Spontaneously Hypertensive Rat.”  J. Agric. Food Chem., 2010, 58 (22), pp 11600–11605, October 22, 2010.

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