New research has found that eating a handful of wild blueberries daily has health benefits, including lowered blood pressure, faster reaction time and improved memory and brain cognition.
The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, was led by researchers from King’s and the University of Reading. It involved a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled trial of 61 healthy men and women aged 65 to 80, who drank a beverage made with 26 grams of freeze-dried wild blueberry powder (equivalent to about 178 grams of whole berries) whilst the other group drank a matching placebo.
Over twelve weeks, researchers found that volunteers who consumed the berry powder in drinks experienced better memory and an improved accuracy on attention tasks, as well as lower blood pressure.
