Now it is the season of berries, juicy, fragrant and incredibly healthy. Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, currants, gooseberries, blackberries, can be eaten as a snack or for breakfast, alone or added to a plant based yogurt, as a powerful source of antioxidants. A recent scientific research, published a few months ago in the journal Nutrition Review (Martini et al, Mar 2020), has managed to observe and evaluate the benefits of berries on the heart and vascular system.
Scientists are aware that berries contain valuable antioxidants of the polyphenol family. In the research under review, the researchers evaluated both the short-term and long-term effects of berry consumption on the health of blood vessels. What has emerged is that the consumption of berries, regular and at doses that are reached with the diet, is able, in the short term, to improve vascular reactivity. Vascular reactivity is a measure of how blood vessels respond to a stimulus through vasodilation or vasoconstriction in order to regulate and distribute blood flow. Not only that, the berries are also able to improve the elasticity of the blood vessels, but this is an effect that is observed only in the medium and long term.
Berries are therefore a very tasty way to take care of our health and of the health of the cardiovascular system.
