EAT BERRIES AND LOSE WEIGHT
Once again the weight police are out on patrol, and now they’re selling a new kind of food that you could eat and lose weight. This time it’s not a miracle food, though. It’s just plain old berries. To be more specific, cranberries.
A world specialist in the health effects of berry fruits, Professor Yves Desjardins, a member of Canada’s Institute of Nutrition and Functional Food, will present the findings of his research in Brisbane on Thursday at the International Horticulture Congress.
The study found that cranberry extract could decrease weight gain.
Professor Desjardins said that a previous study of thirty overweight men given a cup of cranberry juice a day, found they lost about 1cm of waist girth.
‘At the time we could not explain this effect, now we believe it stimulated their anti-obesity bacteria,’ Prof Desjardins said. ‘I think the point is, eat berries, they may modify positively your bacteria and you may lose weight.’
While it is not yet clear how much people would have to consume to get the health effects, Prof Desjardins said the amount of cranberry extract given to the mice in the study was roughly equivalent to about half a cup, possibly up to one full cup of berries each day.
‘So it’s easily reachable, it’s a reasonable amount,’ he said.
He said that while cranberry juice and blueberry juice are great sources for this, apple juice probably won’t work.
There are hopes that the compound will help in the fight against diabetes.
‘Our findings provide strong evidence that we can favour the development of a beneficial gut microbiota by consuming berry polyphenols and that these useful bacteria may improve metabolism in obese and type 2 diabetic patients.’
