It is known that high cholesterol often contributes to the development of obesity.
Chemist Wallace Yokohama from the Ministry of agriculture of the USA with colleagues conducted laboratory research on rodents effect of blueberries on cholesterol.
Laboratory hamsters, a diet containing blueberries, showed healthier levels of cholesterol than those who were not fed blueberries.
Yokohama announced about the need of further studies to confirm whether the effects observed in hamsters, in the human body.
In the study, hamsters were fed portions that are high in fat. Rodents in some of the portions were added one of three by-products in the manufacture blueberry juice: peel the fiber from the skins or polyphenols, also extracted from the skins. By the way, the polyphenols give the blueberry its color.
Scientists reported that all the hamsters that were fed blueberry, the level of low density lipoprotein (bad cholesterol) was at 22-27% lower than the rest.
Ultraligero levels of cholesterol (very low density lipoprotein) in rodents treated with the blueberries, were lower by 44%.
Using a procedure known as a polymerase chain reaction with reverse transcription, Yokohama and his colleagues found which genes are responsible for this effect.
In hamsters and humans, the liver also makes cholesterol and helps get rid of excess. The activity of some liver genes that produce or use cholesterol, leading to low levels last in blood.
Anyway, while scientists do not know which component of the berry activates genes of the liver.
