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Strawberries, blueberries may reduce women’s risk for MI
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Eating more anthocyanins, flavonoids found in red and blue fruits and vegetables, may decrease the risk for MI by 32% in women, data published in Circulation indicate.
Adding three or more servings of blueberries and strawberries per week into the habitual diet could have a "significant impact on prevention efforts," Eric Rimm, ScD, researcher and associate professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, said in a press release.
Rim and colleagues examined 93,600 women aged 25 to 42 years from the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) II who were healthy at baseline to assess the relationship between the risk for MI and anthocyanins and other flavonoids.
During 18 years of follow-up, 405 cases of MI were reported. Researchers found an inverse association between higher intake of anthocyanins and risk for MI (HR= 0.68; 95% CI, 0.49-0.96) after multivariate adjustment. This relationship was not weakened after factoring in intermediate conditions, including history of hypertension (HR=0.7; 95% CI, 0.5-0.97), according to the data. Results also revealed an association between combined intake of two anthocyanin-rich foods — blueberries and strawberries — and a 32% decreased risk for MI (HR=0.66; 95% CI, 0.4-1.08) when participants consuming more than 3 servings a week were compared with those consuming fewer servings.
"Our food-frequency questionnaire assesses intake of each food up to six times per day; therefore, even among the few participants who consume that many servings of blueberries or strawberries, we would be able to accurately assess their intakes," researchers wrote in the study. "It is likely that anthocyanin intake exerts benefits across the entire range of blood pressure, not just at an artificial threshold set for hypertension diagnosis."
Disclosure:The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
Perspective
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Robert H. Eckel, MD
We’ve learned a little bit more about nutrition science through this study. It opens up new doors to understanding why a heart-healthy diet may benefit by looking at one specific component — the flavonoids. Flavonoids produce benefits in a number of ways: by modifying inflammation, by antioxidant capabilities, by making blood vessels a little bit more distensible and by controlling changes in vascular biology over the years to come.
There has been a hint that flavonoids, through multiple properties, may be beneficial for CV risk reduction and modification of CVD. What surprised me was that the subclass that appeared to be most important was the colored fruits and some vegetables.
Based on this study, we now have additional evidence that these particular fruits may be beneficial.
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