Strawberries health benefits – Find out diseases that can be prevented or treated with these miraculous berries.
You’ve heard it before that a diet reach in vegetables and fruits can help you combat cardiovascular disease, cancer, and prevent or delay the onset of many of the effects of aging. It’s a statement that can’t be denied. About strawberries has been said a lot of things and many of you know about allergy caused by these berries. But we’ll try to focus only on positive qualities of strawberries.
Strawberries are an excellent source of vitamin C, manganese, dietary fiber, iodine, potassium, folate, vitamin B5, vitamin B6, vitamin K, riboflavin, omega-3 fatty acids, magnesium and copper.
It has been shown that strawberries significantly reduce liver cancer cells due to ellagic acid present in them. It also can be found in many red fruits and berries including raspberries, blackberries, and cranberries and of course strawberries. Ellagic acid prevents the destruction of P53 gene by cancer cells and can also bind with cancer causing molecules making them inactive.
Studies have shown that strawberry consumption can increase anti-cancer activity on cancer cells of the breast, oesophagus, skin, colon, prostate and pancreas.
An interesting study was carried out on a group of 1000 elderly people, and found that those eating the most strawberries had a risk of developing cancer that was only 33% of the risk in those eating none.
A study published by Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry shown that regardless of the cultivars, strawberries reduce significantly the rate of cancerous liver cells.
Like many other berries, strawberries contain high amounts of antioxidants; in particular anthocyanins type 2 and ellagitannins. Anthocyanins have been shown by several studies to be effective in reducing risks of developing cancer, cardiovascular disease and inflammation-related diseases. Anthocyanins have a function similar to cyclooxigenase inhibitors (such as aspirin) but without side effects being a safer version of aspirin in their anti-inflammatory proprieties. A study at Lane University suggests that the high levels of antioxidants in these berries help neutralize the destructive effects of free radicals helping repairing the tissues by giving a boost of vitamin C. Strawberry extracts have also been shown to inhibit COX enzymes in vitro, which inhibits the inflammatory process. Anthocyanins contained in strawberries greatly reduces the rate of mutation in cells, which is a direct measure for the risk of developing cancer and diseases such as atherosclerosis.
