Just a handful of specific berries every day can greatly improve your mental and physical health. Recent research shows that eating a handful of blueberries – a delicious superfood – a day can significantly boost your health.
Blueberries, along with other fruits like strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and cherries, are famed for their health benefits due to their high content of antioxidants, vitamins, and fibre.
These characteristics make them ideal foods for preventing diseases and promoting overall good health. You can pick up a pack of about 60 at Tesco for £1.80 – making each delicious berry worth about 3p.
A study published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition found that blueberries can improve blood pressure, endothelial function (a layer of cells lining all blood vessels that regulates exchanges between the bloodstream and surrounding tissues), and arterial stiffness.
A 2021 study published in Nutrients found that blueberries can improve glucose management and insulin levels.
Another study published in Antioxidants found that blueberries can improve skin elasticity and reduce skin roughness.
The Nutrients study has revealed that scoffing just half a cup of blueberries daily for 12 weeks can lead to improvements in learning, memory and executive functions such as decision-making and task management.
The research, titled ‘Blueberry Supplementation in Midlife for Dementia Risk Reduction’, found that those who consumed blueberries performed better and experienced less difficulty with memory encoding in their day-to-day activities.
This suggests that regular consumption of blueberries could help protect against cognitive decline if started early enough.
However, it’s important to remember that blueberries aren’t magic bullets – genetics also play a significant role in dementia prevalence.
Furthermore, a wealth of research indicates that diet, exercise and a healthy lifestyle can significantly impact cognitive ageing and memory. Some ways to boost your health include:
- Adopting a healthy diet to reduce age-related cognitive decline
- Exercising to delay or even reverse physical brain deterioration
- Ensuring you get enough sleep, as poor quality rest is linked to accelerated brain atrophy and impaired brain functional connectivity
- Giving up alcohol, tobacco and other drugs which directly affect the brain, causing it to age faster.