Eating a serving of blueberries can help counteract smoking.
Arterial dysfunction caused by a cigarette. Scientists have studied the effects of frozen blueberries on young smokers. After smoking, the ability of arteries to relax naturally decreases by 25% within two hours. However, if two glasses of blueberries are eaten within 100 minutes before smoking, the damage caused by cigarettes will be reduced by more than half. This proves that consuming large amounts of frozen blueberries can counteract smoking-induced arterial dysfunction. But it is clear that blueberry consumption should not be seen as a means of preventing the health hazards caused by smoking. The only way to prevent the harms of smoking is to quit, and people who have never smoked are better. However, two cups of blueberries are quite large and may need to be beaten to make them easy to drink. So how much blueberries do you need to eat at least to be effective? A team of British researchers conducted the test. We now know the answer. To conduct a double-blind experiment, they made a dummy blueberry drink that did not contain blueberries as an ineffective control agent. They then used freeze-dried wild blueberry powder, providing the equivalent of three-quarters of a cup and a half and three cups or four cups of fresh blueberries. The experimental results showed that the significant improvement effect of blueberries on arterial function was related to intake.
So what is the optimal intake? Apparently consuming fake blueberry drinks had no effect, but after consuming one and three-quarters cups of blueberries, arterial function improved significantly in just one hour. The effect of blueberries above this intake does not appear to increase. Consuming blueberries under one cup is still beneficial. But one to two cups are better, and more than two cups in a meal are no longer effective.
then Are cooked blueberries still effective? How is it cooked into blueberry pie? In fact, after eating blueberry baked bread, arterial function will still improve significantly, but the effect will be delayed by one hour. Because solid foods are digested more slowly, if you consume blueberries every week, your body will reap long-term benefits, arterial stiffness will decrease, and natural killer cells will increase, which is the body's first line of defense against viral infections and cancer.
Note, however, that if anthocyanins – purportedly the blue, pigment of the active ingredient in blueberries – are actually difficult for our bodies to digest and absorb. So how do these amazing effects of blueberries come about?
Some of the female participants in the experiment consumed more than one cup of blueberries, but they found almost no anthocyanins in their blood or urine. This is a chromatogram. These spikes show a peak in the anthocyanins contained in blueberries. Before eating blueberries, your blood looks like this: there are no traces of anthocyanin pigments. After an hour you start to see anthocyanins appear, and after a few hours it becomes clearer. But in general, only a few billionth of a gram of anthocyanins will appear per milliliter of blood, so either anthocyanins are so effective that they are still very active at low blood concentrations of a few parts per billion; Either their bioavailability is underestimated. So the researchers decided to radiolabel anthocyanins and track them throughout the body.
It was found that after blueberry pigment is metabolized into active metabolites by the beneficial bacteria in our liver and gut – microbial flora – these active metabolites are then absorbed into the body, so the benefits of berries are realized by working together throughout the body. This also explains the mystery that blood anthocyanins are so low. Did you notice the second spike here in the sixth hour? Why is that? It turns out that some metabolites peak in the bloodstream within an hour, but others rise gradually, especially if the berries need to gradually flow downwards to our colon. Spikes don't just occur after the first and sixth hours, and if you track them further some will continue to peak even later, so you may still be benefiting from the berries you eat a day later. Because our gut bacteria continue to produce beneficial metabolites that are absorbed back into our bodies, while we feed our gut bacteria, it is also feeding us beneficial metabolites. The effects of eating blueberries on the benign bacteria in our gut are like taking a natural probiotic, which is definitely a win-win. So the health benefits of blueberries are not limited to their antioxidant content, but involve our entire body and interactions with gut microbes. In conclusion, the benefits of blueberries on arterial function are significant, which can counteract the arterial dysfunction caused by smoking to some extent. However, the best preventive measure is still to quit smoking.
In addition, blueberries and other berry fruits have a variety of benefits for our body, including improved gut health. Therefore, maintaining a healthy diet, including adequate intake of fruits and vegetables, is essential for our health. Blueberries have multiple health effects such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor, making it a good health food. Although blueberries can indeed alleviate the harm caused by smoking to some extent, this does not mean that smokers can safely consume blueberries to counteract the negative effects of smoking. Adequate fruit and vegetable intake, including quitting smoking, is essential for our health. In this process, blueberries can serve as a beneficial food supplement for us to maintain our health.