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Smooth Move Increases Insulin Sensitivity

And the nutraceutical accolades for blueberries just keep pouring in. Here’s another tidbit of interest sent to us by the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council:

Seems researchers have found that a daily smoothie containing blueberries increased sensitivity to insulin in people who were at high risk for Type-2, adult onset diabetes. Based on the study, researchers proclaimed that blueberries may reduce the chances of at-risk people contracting the disease.

The study included obese, currently non-diabetic and insulin-resistant participants who were likely candidates for diabetes. They were given a blueberry smoothie every day for six weeks, and at the conclusion of the experiment exhibited a 22 percent change in insulin sensitivity compared to only 4.9 percent of people who downed a placebo.

Resistance to insulin is what leads to adult onset diabetes. When insulin is not utilized to help metabolize sugar as nature intended it, blood sugar levels are elevated.

“To our knowledge, this is the first reported human study that evaluated the effect of daily dietary supplementation with bioactives (a fancy name for anything that has an effect on human tissue) in blueberries on whole-body insulin sensitivity in obese, non-diabetic and insulin-resistant men and women,” commented researchers.

“This test is not conclusive, but it strongly suggests a need to further explore the cellular mechanism for the effect,” the report further notes.

So there you have it, another reason for buying – and growing! – blueberries.

NOTE: Some estimates put the incidence of obesity in the United States as high as two-thirds of the population.

Oregon Blueberry Commission • P.O. Box 3366 • Salem, Oregon 97302
Paid for by the Oregon Blueberry Commission, an agency of the State of Oregon.