Blueberries are a super fruit—but they become extra-super when you exercise.
Eating a cup of blueberries every day—or 25 g of the freeze-dried variety—helps your body burn fat faster when you exercise.
The berries are high in anthocyanins, which reduce oxidative stress—when free radicals and antioxidants get out of kilter—and encourage fat burning. Anthocyanins are antioxidants that give the fruit its bluish color.
Researchers from the California Polytechnic State University gave 11 male cyclists 25 g of freeze-dried wild blueberries, which contain around 375 g of anthocyanins, for two weeks before monitoring their rates of fat oxidation, or “fat burning,” while they did moderate cycling exercises for 40 minutes. They had also carried out the same exercises after avoiding all anthocyanin-rich foods for two weeks.
After eating the berries, the cyclists’ fat-burning levels increased by 31 percent—but the increase peaked at 43 percent after 30 minutes of cycling.
Nutrients, 2023; 15(6): 1339
Make nuts and seeds your snack for a healthier heart
Making nuts and seeds your go-to snack of the day may make your heart healthier.
Eating a handful every day likely lowers your risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) by 20–25 percent, say researchers at the University of Oslo.
A 30 g (1 oz) serving every day seems to be the minimum amount needed to have a positive effect on your heart. People who ate that amount every day had a 19 percent lower risk of heart disease and a 23 percent lower risk of death from heart disease than those who didn't eat nuts or seeds. Those eating 50 g (1.7 oz) also saw levels of LDL “bad” cholesterol drop.
The researchers trawled through 42 studies that had monitored the heart health of 1.89 million participants and measured the amount
