Help Prevent Heart Disease

While blueberries can help decrease blood pressure and oxidize LDL cholesterol, it's crucial to remember that these are risk factors, not illnesses. It would be far more interesting to see whether blueberries help avoid hard endpoints such as heart attacks, the world's biggest cause of mortality.

A study of 93,600 nurses discovered that those who consumed the most anthocyanins — the key antioxidants contained in blueberries — had a 32% reduced risk of heart attack than those who consumed the least. Because this was observational research, it cannot be shown that the anthocyanins were the only reason for the risk decrease. Heart disease will be the leading cause of mortality for both men and women in the United States by 2020. Blueberries, due to their potential to decrease inflammation and oxidative stress, can protect against arterial hardening, which increases the risk of heart attack and stroke.