Of hamsters, blueberries, and cholesterol

Blueberries have received no end of good press over recent years so they really don’t need anyone to pump up their tyres any further. If you know anyone who is not aware that blueberries are a rich source of antioxidant polyohenols then buy them a radio and a subscription to a good newspaper, or even better WellBeing magazine, because this is news that cannot have been missed. What a new study has done though is show that blueberries have another very handy action in lowering bad cholesterol and it has also shown how they do this.

For the study a group of hamsters were fed a high fat diet. They were then divided into three groups. One group had blueberry skins added to their diet; that is, the portion left over when a blueberry is juiced. Another group was given fibre extracted from blueberry peel and a third group was given polyphenols from blueberry peel. The study was designed in this way to attempt to establish which part of the blueberry peel, if any, might exert an effect.

The results showed that all of the three groups of hamsters that were fed blueberry by-products had total cholesterol levels that were between 22 and 27 per cent lower than hamsters who were given no blueberry at all in their diet. Additionally, levels of very low density lipoprotein (VLDL – a bad form of cholesterol) were about 44 per cent lower in all blueberry fed hamsters.

This does not tell us what part of the blueberry is having the effect but analysis by the researchers did suggest how it was being done.

Using a genetic test called real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), the researchers established that the blueberry was switching off genes in the liver that either make cholesterol or use cholesterol. The net result: lower cholesterol.

The whole study design and findings makes it impossible to ignore that Monty Python French taunt from the Life of Brian, “Your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elderberries.” Allow a bit of poetic license and we could perhaps modify the quote to, “Your mother was a low cholesterol hamster because your father smelled of blueberries.”With apologies to Messrs Cleese, Palin, Jones, Idle, etc.

Source: Sleep Medicine

For the study a group of hamsters were fed a high fat diet. They were then divided into three groups. One group had blueberry skins added to their diet; that is, the portion left over when a blueberry is juiced. Another group was given fibre extracted from blueberry peel and a third group was given polyphenols from blueberry peel. The study was designed in this way to attempt to establish which part of the blueberry peel, if any, might exert an effect.

The results showed that all of the three groups of hamsters that were fed blueberry by-products had total cholesterol levels that were between 22 and 27 per cent lower than hamsters who were given no blueberry at all in their diet. Additionally, levels of very low density lipoprotein (VLDL – a bad form of cholesterol) were about 44 per cent lower in all blueberry fed hamsters.

This does not tell us what part of the blueberry is having the effect but analysis by the researchers did suggest how it was being done.

Using a genetic test called real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), the researchers established that the blueberry was switching off genes in the liver that either make cholesterol or use cholesterol. The net result: lower cholesterol.

The whole study design and findings makes it impossible to ignore that Monty Python French taunt from the Life of Brian, “Your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elderberries.” Allow a bit of poetic license and we could perhaps modify the quote to, “Your mother was a low cholesterol hamster because your father smelled of blueberries.”With apologies to Messrs Cleese, Palin, Jones, Idle, etc.

Source: Sleep MedicineMeanwhile if you visit Meijer Ad that contains mostly likewise discounts with Winn Dixie Ad you surely have a range like ALDI Ad.