Berries Bust High Blood Pressure

NORWICH, EnglandBerry compounds may help prevent hypertension, according to a new collaborative study from University of East Anglia, Norwich, and Harvard School of Public Health, Boston (Am J Clin Nutr. 2011 Feb;93(2):338-47). The researchers found anthocyanins reduced the risk of high blood pressure by 12 percent, the flavone apigenin reduced the risk by 5 percent, and the flavan-3-ol catechin reduced it by 6 percent.

A total of 87,242 women from the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) II, 46,672 women from the NHS I, and 23,043 men from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS) participated in the study. Total flavonoid and subclass intakes were calculated from semi-quantitative food-frequency questionnaires collected every 4 years.

During 14 years of follow-up, 29,018 cases of hypertension in women and 5,629 cases of hypertension in men were reported. Participants in the highest quintile of anthocyanin intake (predominantly from blueberries and strawberries) had an 8-pecent reduction in risk of hypertension [P<0.03] compared with that for participants in the lowest quintile of anthocyanin intake; the risk reduction was 12 percent in participants 60 years old and younger. Analyses for individual compounds suggested a 5-percent (P = 0.005) reduction in risk for the highest compared with the lowest quintiles of intake of the flavone apigenin. In participants 60 years old and younger, a 6-percent (P=0.002) reduction in risk was observed for the flavan-3-ol catechin when the highest and the lowest quintiles were compared.