Yummy berries protect your heart and arteries

Scientists from King’s College London have just published a study in the Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics proving that a delicious berry is extremely good for cardiovascular health.

These berries clean your arteries and make them more flexible, and can therefore lower blood pressure and counteract high cholesterol levels.

You can buy these berries in most supermarkets and they are delicious.

Endothelial cells line your blood and lymph vessels on the inside.

When they work well, your blood remains liquid and your blood vessels can contract and expand as necessary to accommodate blood flow.

However, when they are dysfunctional, your blood has a higher chance of clotting and your blood pressure would likely be high because your blood vessels are not as pliable as they should be.

Using ten healthy men between the ages of 18 and 35, the scientists gave the subjects drinks containing 200g of raspberries, 400g of raspberries, or no raspberries.

They then tested the subjects’ blood pressure and the flow-mediated dilation (FMD) of their brachial artery.

FMD indicates how well an artery widens when the blood flow through it increases. It is an important measure of good heart health, as arteries that can widen to accommodate the increased blood flow keep your blood pressure down.

The participants showed a clear increase in FMD, an effect that lasted for up to 24 hours after they drank the raspberry drink.

The researchers attributed the effect to chemicals called ellagitannins, which are native to raspberries.

The reason they hypothesized that this chemical was involved was that they could see a corresponding increase in the urolithin metabolites in the subjects’ bloodstreams.

The bacteria in your intestines produce urolithin metabolites when they break down the ellagitannins in raspberries.

Given the size of the effect on FMD, they concluded that raspberries may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease by 15%, especially if the effect can be sustained over time.

Other foods rich in ellagitannins include strawberries, pomegranates, and nuts.

Eating raspberries is great. But if you really want to get your cholesterol under control, you must cut out this one ingredient (something that you didn’t even know you were consuming)…

And if your blood pressure is too high, click here to learn 3 easy exercises that bring it down below 120/80 in as little as 9 minutes…