10 Advantages of Eating Blueberry

Sweet, nutritious, and highly sought after, blueberries tick all boxes. Blues to greens, there’s quite a scale of them among fruits, therefore, their consumption is not guilt-laden at all. Today we will be looking at 10 proven advantages of eating blueberry.

Contents: 10 Advantages of Eating Blueberry

• Calories and Nutrients
• Antioxidants
• Decrease DNA Damage
• Cholesterol
• Blood Pressure
• Heart Disease
• Brain Function
• Anti-diabetes
• Urinary Tract Infection
• Muscle Damage
• Conclusion

Advantages of Eating Blueberry: Calories and Nutrients

There are a lot of advantages of eating blueberry. Most of the time people assume blueberries are just another topedarp sound , but the blueberry bush’s picture is full of meaning. It has flowers and produces bluish berries; the ones that are called blueberries.

Moreover, the blueberry bush belongs to some of these berries: cranberries and huckleberries.

Blueberries most often now growing to the size of a coin are distinguished with cylindrical shapes with an even surface around the edges. The initial stage of blueberry’s lifecycle sees seeds growing in green color, then a further stage transforms, when the berries are fully developed purple or blue colors.

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Generally, three types of blueberry exist including highbush or lowbush blueblas as common types. Highbush blueberries are mostly planted in the United States, whereas Lowbush (wild) blueberries possess a tinier radius with more dense minerals. But normal people wouldn’t be among those who wish to take vitamins as blueberries are incredible sweet and irresistable.

In a one-cup serving of blueberries (148 grams), the following nutrients are present:

1. Fiber: 3.6 grams
2. Vitamin C: 16% of Daily Value or Recommended Intake
3. Vitamin K: 24% of the DV
4. Manganese: 22% of the DV

There are also small amounts of various other nutrients present in the intake as well.

Also note that they are approximately 85% water and a cup would alone provide 84 calories and 21.5 grams of carbohydrates.

In terms of calories, this do make them a good source of a number of valuable nutrients.

Advantages of Eating Blueberry: Antioxidants

Antioxidants are the substances that shield your body from free radicals which are reactive molecules that can cause cell harm and are associated with aging and diseases like cancer.

Blueberries are known to have the highest quantity of active antioxidants among the commonly available fruits and vegetables.

The two principal antioxidant components in blueberries are polyphenol antioxidants known as flavonoids.

One subgroup of them, called anthocyanins, is believed to provide most of these berries’ positive health attributes.

It has been established that blueberries specifically potentiate antioxidant levels in the body. This is one of the advantages of eating blueberry.

Advantages of Eating Blueberry: Decrease DNA Damage

Oxidative DNA damage is, if not the most dangerous, then the most terrific kind of modern warfare. It is thought to be present in every cell in your body every day.

Cellular DNA damage is one of the causes of aging. Also cancerous diseases greatly rely on the level of this damage.

Since blueberries contain large amounts of antioxidant compounds, they have the potential to eliminate some of the free radical particles that are harbingers of DNA damage and injury.

In one experiment, 168 participants consumed 34 ounces (1 liter) of blueberry–apple blended juice every day. Out of this control group, after 4 weeks the free radical activity on the oxidative DNA strand was apparent decrease of 20%. Decreasing DNA damage is one of the best advantages of eating blueberry.

Advantages of Eating Blueberry: Cholesterol

Oxidative damage is not something that is restricted to your cells and DNA within the body. Oxidation of “bad” LDL cholesterol is also troublesome. In fact, oxidation of “bad” LDL cholesterol is a key event in the pathogenesis of heart disease.

The antioxidants in blueberries are consistently associated with a decrease in the level of oxidized LDL. This is why blueberries are very good for the heart. It is another of the advantages of eating blueberry.

Women who consumed a daily dose of 50 g (2 oz) freeze-dried blueberries for 8 weeks had a 28 % drop in LDL oxidation owing to a cumulative effect. Another study found out that the oxidation of ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol was considerably reduced when 2.5 ounces (75 grams) of blueberries were eaten with a main course.

Advantages of Eating Blueberry: Blood Pressure

Blueberries seem to give quite a lot of benefits for patients with high blood pressure, which is a major risk factor for heart disease.

In one group with a high risk of heart disease such as adults with obesity who were given a freeze-dried blueberry powder, which is equivalent to 50 grams a day, for 8 weeks. It has been noted that about 4% to 6% of blood pressure is reduced.

Other studies have also taken note of the postmenopausal women noting similar effects. Effectiveness over blood pressure is one of the highlighting advantages of eating blueberry.

Advantages of Eating Blueberry: Heart Disease

As much as eating blueberries can lower blood pressure and oxidized LDL levels, it must be noted that these two are simply risk factors - not diseases in and of themselves.

It would be even better to know whether or not blueberries can help reduce the risk of the 2nd most killer disease in the world, heart attacks. In a study performed on 93,600 nurses, the nurses with the highest consumption of blueberries were 32% lesss likely to suffer a heart attack than the nurses with the lowest blueberry intake.

However since this was observational in nature, it cannot determine whether the anthocyanins were solely responsible for the decrease in risk.

The tentative conclusions should come with caution due to the general lack of studies. Thus it is considered one of the major advantages of eating blueberry.

Advantages of Eating Blueberry: Brain Function

Oxidative stress tends to speed the epigenetic aging of your brain and, at the same time, decrease your brain's functioning capacity.

As stated by the studies done on animals, the antioxidants that are usually found in blueberries might reach some important areas of your brain that help in the intelligence processes.

The neurons which undergo aging do seem to have some advantages which help the progress of cell signaling which in turn helps to treat aging as well.

Studies of human children have also produced good results. This is an effective advantages of eating blueberry.

In one of such studies, nine elderly subjects with mild dementia were asked to drink blueberry juice regularly. They saw changes in both functional and cognitive aspects of the brain 12 weeks later.

Another study that lasted for six years of more than sixteen thousand older adults reported the effect of blueberries and strawberries on postponing mental aging by as much as 2.5 years and that was based on several factors.

Advantages of Eating Blueberry: Anti-diabetes

Interestingly, when it comes to sugar content, blueberries has a lower sugar content than most fruits.

Moderate sugar content is found in one cup (148 grams) of blueberries, which is comparable to that of a small apple or an average sized orange.

But in terms of controlling blood sugar levels and managing them, bioactive components present in blueberries seem to cancel out or outscore the negative effects brought about by the sugar on blood sugar management.

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Recent research confirms that an antioxidant called anthocyanin found in blueberries increases insulin sensitivity, and glucose metabolism. Anti-diabetic effects have been reported with a variety of processed and unprocessed berries, including blue and freeze-dried varieties.

And when looking at 32 obese individuals with insulin resistance that consumed 2 blueberry smoothies a day, this regime resulted in significant improvement in insulin sensitivity.

If metabolic syndrome is relieved through higher insulin sensitivity, then the risk of developing type two diabetes which has a number of conditions being associated to it would be low. This is an widely know advantages of eating blueberry.

Advantages of Eating Blueberry: Urinary Tract Infection

There are some common infections known as urinary tract ones, which affect the urinary system especially with those that are AFAB.

But many people consider cranberry juice to be useful in the treatment and the prevention of this type of infection.

However, blueberries being loners with connective fruits, have quite similar vitamins as cranberry juice.

These are called anti-adhesives, which are recognized for their incapability to let E. coli and other bacteria attach to the internal wall of the bladder.

It has been established that blueberry extract may offer some degree of antiadhesive activity; however, no studies have been conducted to assess the role of blueberries with UTIs. Therefore, it would be better to use cranberries for that purpose.

Advantages of Eating Blueberry: Muscle Damage

Regular exercise has always been linked with muscle pain and tiredness.

This is due to inflammation at the site and oxidative stress in muscle tissues.

Scientific studies have shown that blueberry nutritional supplements could be used to reduce offensive process on the molecular level hence reduce muscle soreness and muscle outperformance functions being affected.

In an experiment that involved 10 female endurance athletes, it was found that blueberry did speed muscle recovery following harsh leg exercises.

Conclusion

There are countless advantages of eating blueberry and we've discussed a few of them above. Blueberries are very nutritious and healthy.

They improve the functions of the heart, the brain and many other systems in the body.

And what is probably the best thing about them, they are tasty, bright and can be consumed fresh or frozen without any special effort.