Posted on 09/10/2009 9:26:35 PM PDT by neverdem
Juice extracted from North American lowbush blueberries, biotransformed with bacteria from the skin of the fruit, holds great promise as an anti-obesity and anti-diabetic agent.
The study, published in the International Journal of Obesity, was conducted by researchers from the Université de Montréal, the Institut Armand-Frappier and the Université de Moncton who tested the effects of biotransformed juices compared to regular blueberry drinks on mice.
"Results of this study clearly show that biotransformed blueberry juice has strong anti-obesity and anti-diabetic potential," says senior author Pierre S. Haddad, a pharmacology professor at the Université de Montréal's Faculty of Medicine. "Biotransformed blueberry juice may represent a novel therapeutic agent, since it decreases hyperglycemia in diabetic mice and can protect young pre-diabetic mice from developing obesity and diabetes."
The scientists tested the effect of biotransformed blueberry juice on a group of mice prone to obesity, insulin resistance, diabetes and hypertension. Incorporating biotransformed blueberry juice into the water of mice reduced their food intake and their body weight. "These mice were an excellent model that closely resembles obesity and obesity-linked type 2 diabetes in humans," says Dr. Haddad, who is also director of the CIHR Team in Aboriginal Anti-Diabetic Medicines at the Université de Montréal.
Biotransformation of the blueberry juice was achieved with a new strain of bacteria isolated from the blueberry flora, specifically called Serratia vaccinii, which increases the fruit's antioxidant effects. "The identification of the active compounds in biotransformed blueberry juice may result in the discovery of promising new antiobesity and antidiabetic molecules," says Dr. Haddad.
As for the impact of blueberry products on diabetes, says Tri Vuong, lead author and recent PhD graduate from the Université de Montréal's Department of Pharmacology: "Consumption of fermented blueberry juice gradually and significantly reduced high blood glucose levels in diabetic mice. After three days, our..."
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...
......this study, funded by the New Jersey Department of Agriculture......
Reminds me: Think I'll go frappier a blueberry drink right now!
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FReepmail me if you want on or off the diabetes or microbiology ping list. What a name, Serratia vaccinii!
Serratia has dark history in region - Army test in 1950 may have changed microbial ecology
Is it any blueberry juice, or is this the next acaia/mangosteen-like fad?
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I hope this includes Bob Evans blue berry pancakes. YUM
Are there any recommended products on the market now? I’ve got blood sugar issues so I’d sure like to try some of this.
I wonder what they really mean by bio-transformed blueberry juice?
"Consumption of fermented blueberry juice gradually and significantly reduced high blood glucose levels in diabetic mice."
Serratia vaccinii appears necessary for changing the blueberry's biochemical properties via bacterial fermentation.
I have no idea. This is from a press release accompanying a scientific article. Universities do it all the time.
See comment# 12.
Me too !
FYI
Members of the genus Vaccinium, such as blueberry and cranberry, are known to be excellent sources of antioxidant phenolic compounds, for example anthocyanins, flavonols and phenolic acids. The fruit also provides a natural habitat for numerous microorganisms. Interaction between the fruit and the microflora might affect the antioxidant phenolic compounds. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects on phenolic content and antioxidant capacity of wild blueberry fermented by a newly identified bacterium isolated from blueberry-fruit surface microflora, Serratia vaccinii. Increase in the antioxidant capacity following fermentation of blueberries by the novel bacterium, as determined with the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl method, was attributed not only to an increase in total phenolics, but also to a change in the phenolic profile, as demonstrated by the production of gallic acid and of a novel compound of phenolic or phenylpropanoic structure. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry
Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture
Volume 85 Issue 9, Pages 1477 - 1484
Thank you. I got that, and that it has to be the berries from the Lowland type of blueberry.
I’d sign up for a study if I knew where.
Thanks for the link.
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