Tis the time for Strawberry Fields

One of my favourite berries is back in season. To me it signifies the beginning of spring, longer nights, warmer days, but also a change of eating style, away with winter warming foods and in with salads and lighter meals.

The good old strawberry is a delight to eat, pleasing to the eye and packed full of nutrients. This small fruit has so much to offer. It can be consumed as a guilt free snack, added to fruit and vegetable salads, smoothies, desserts, and breakfast. If the strawberry is not a permanent feature within your daily diet then why not?

With only 33kcal in 100g, you can afford to consume a commercial size punnet a day and not worry about your daily calorie consumption, its high water content  helps towards maintaining daily hydration levels, as well as being great for weight loss and weight maintenance. So why have a Jammy dodger (85kcal per biscuit) when you can gorge on strawberries?

The strawberry has many more benefits as well as its low calorie content; it is rich in both nutritive and non-nutritive compounds. Nutritive compounds include vitamins, minerals, fibre, protein and carbohydrate. It is also rich in non- nutritive bio-active phenolic compounds that have powerful antioxidant qualities. Antioxidants help lower the risk of CV events by inhibiting LDL- cholesterol oxidation, which leads to reduced plaque production, increased vascular endothelial function and reduced thrombotic tendency. Strawberry phenols detoxify free radicals, blocking their production, as well as protecting and repairing DNA damage.

It doesn’t stop there, the strawberry has an array of polyphenolic bio-active compounds. It is rich in flavonoids of which anthocyanin is one.  Found in foods that are red, purple, blue or black in colour. Dietary flavonoids have been shown to reduce atherosclerotic risk, arterial blood pressure, and oxidative stress, regulate blood lipid levels, regulate carbohydrate/ glucose levels as well as improve endothelial capillary function. Hence, why they are an integral food for those looking to lose and/ or maintain weight, but for overall health maintenance.

   

 A study completed on healthy individuals, who consumed a daily intake of 500g of strawberries for one month, showed a statistically significant reduction in total cholesterol, Low density lipoprotein (LDL) and  Triacylglycerol (TAG), which was shown to be due to the increase in vitamin C and anthocyanin (Alvarez-Suarez et al 2014). There was no impact on good High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, which is involved in scavenging free lipids from free radical attack. It would be correct to say that strawberries can have a positive impact on the reduction of inflammatory diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity.

So, what are the take home messages from this body of information:

1.       Make strawberries  a permanent feature in your daily diet

2.       Combine them with other berries for a powerful daily antioxidant punch

3.       Eat fresh colourful foods , as they provide powerful disease prevention bioactive components

4.       Strawberries help towards maintaining hydration levels

5.       They are great for weight loss and weight maintenance

6.       Even better in reducing the inflammatory signs of aging.

7.       Make them your go to as opposed to your more refined strawberry flavoured sweets.

References

Alvarez-Suarez JM, Giampieri F, Tulipani S, (2014) One month strawberry rich anthocyanin supplementation ameliorates cardiovascular risk, oxidative stress markers and platelet activation in humans, Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, vol 25 (4) P 289-94.

Afrin S, Gasparrini M, Forber-Hernandez TY (2016) Promising Health Benefit of the Strawberry: A focus on clinical studies, Journal of Agricultural Food Chemistry, vol 64 (22) 4435-49.

Giampieri F, Forbes-Hernandez TY, Gasparrini M (2015) Strawberry as a health promoter: An evidence based review, Journal of Food Function, vol 6 (5) 1386-1398.

Giampieri F, Alvarez-Suarez JM, Mazzoni L (2013) The potential impact of strawberry on human health, Journal of Natural Production Research, vol 27 (4-5) 448-455

Lopes Da Silva  F, Escribana-Bailon MT, (2007) Anthocyanin pigments in the strawberry, Journal of Food Science and Technology, vol 40 (2) 374-382