Strawberries join garlic, soybeans and walnuts in the list of foods that reduce the dreaded “bad cholesterol” or LDL, which accumulates on the walls of the arteries and causes cardiovascular problems. An experiment carried out by the Polytechnic University of the Marche (Italy), in collaboration with the universities of Salamanca, Granada and Seville, showed that the consumption of half a kilo of strawberries a day for a month reduces the levels of bad cholesterol and triglycerides . Good cholesterol levels, meanwhile, remain unchanged after the fruit diet, which corroborates the protective effect of the bioactive compounds in strawberries.
Strawberries, which are actually the fleshy flower receptacle that contains the true fruits, achenes, already have a myriad of proven benefits. Its popularity will be further increased if possible in view of the results of this study, according to which, 500 grams per day of this fruit reduces the total amount of cholesterol , the levels of low-density lipoproteins (LDL or bad cholesterol) and the amount of triglycerides by 9 percent, 14 percent, and 21 percent, respectively. The consumption of strawberries also improves other parameters such as the general profile of lipids in plasma, antioxidant biomarkers, anti-hemolytic defenses and platelet function.
However, all the parameters returned to their initial values 15 days after abandoning the diet . The team of scientists confirmed in previous studies that strawberry protects against ultraviolet radiation, reduces the damage that alcohol produces in the gastric mucosa, strengthens erythrocytes or red blood cells and improves the antioxidant capacity of the blood.
The authors of the work acknowledged to SINC, the scientific news agency, that there is still no evidence on which compounds in this fruit are behind its beneficial effects , but that everything points to anthocyanins, the plant pigments that give them their red color.
