Blueberry ameliorates hepatic fibrosis

World Journal of Gastroenterology ^ | June 17, 2010 | Unknown

[decimon]

Conventional drugs used in the treatment of liver diseases inevitably have side effects. An increasing number of natural substances have been studied to explore if they have protective effects on the liver. Blueberries have unique effects on human retinal, brain and tumor cells, but reports about the effects of blueberries on liver diseases are lacking.

A research article to be published on June 7, 2010 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology addresses this question. The research team led by Ming-Liang Cheng, MD, from Department of Infectious Diseases, Guiyang Medical College, Guiyang, presented some data from their research on the effectiveness of blueberries on liver fibrosis induced in laboratory animals.

Their study showed that blueberries could reduce liver indices, serum levels of hyaluronic acid and alanine aminotransferase, and increase levels of superoxide dismutase and decrease levels of malondialdehyde in liver homogenates compared with the model group. Meanwhile, the stage of hepatic fibrosis was significantly weakened. Blueberries increased the activity of glutathione-S-transferase in liver homogenates and the expression of Nrf2 and Nqo1 compared with the normal group, but there was no significant difference compared with the model group.

The authors suggest that blueberry consumption is beneficial for hepatic diseases (including fibrosis).

###

Reference: Wang YP, Cheng ML, Zhang BF, Mu M, Wu J. Effects of blueberry on hepatic fibrosis and transcription factor Nrf2 in rats. World J Gastroenterol 2010; 16(21): 2657-2663 http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/full/v16/i21/2657.htm

Correspondence to: Ming-Liang Cheng, MD, Department of Infectious Diseases, Guiyang Medical College, Guiyang 550004, Guizhou Province, China. chengml@21cn.com Telephone: +86-851-6752795 Fax: +86-851-6741623

About World Journal of Gastroenterology

World Journal of Gastroenterology (WJG), a leading international journal in gastroenterology and hepatology, has established a reputation for publishing first class research on esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, liver cancer, viral hepatitis, colorectal cancer, and H pylori infection and provides a forum for both clinicians and scientists. WJG has been indexed and abstracted in Current Contents/Clinical Medicine, Science Citation Index Expanded (also known as SciSearch) and Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition, Index Medicus, MEDLINE and PubMed, Chemical Abstracts, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, Abstracts Journals, Nature Clinical Practice Gastroenterology and Hepatology, CAB Abstracts and Global Health. ISI JCR 2008 IF: 2.081. WJG is a weekly journal published by WJG Press. The publication dates are the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th day of every month. WJG is supported by The National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 30224801 and No. 30424812, and was founded with the name of China National Journal of New Gastroenterology on October 1, 1995, and renamed WJG on January 25, 1998.

[decimon]

Ping

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Blueberries every morning.

[G Larry]

Berry good article.....

[hennie pennie]

Does anybody happen to know where blueberries originated?

What is the original, non-domesticated ancient blueberry like?

Is there any actual scientific PROOF that other berries have the same effects?

[mommyq]

Berry funny!!

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Blueberries, strawberries and raspberries came to earth millions of years ago to take over. Their conquest goals were thwarted, however, by the fact that they didn’t speak a common language.

[G Larry]

Is there any actual scientific PROOF that other berries have the same effects?

Acacianally......

[hennie pennie]

What are lingenberries good for?

[Daaave]

[Tuscaloosa Goldfinch]

We have huckleberries here - they are like a tiny blueberry, and then there is another kind of dark blue berry here, not a huckleberry but resembling one, same type of bush, etc., but it has more seeds. It’s called sparkleberry.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Their spaceships landed much later and were confined to the northern latitudes.

[Quix]

Thanks. Interesting article.

[chris_bdba]

My blueberries bushes might just produce a few quarts this year. They are about 4 years old now and I am hoping over the next few years that they become prolific producers. I’ll dry as many as I can grow for use all year long. :)

[SunkenCiv]

Wonka’s factory, but I can’t substantiate that.

[neverdem]

thanks decimon

[divine_moment_of_facts]

I love blueberries.. I eat a handful of them every day.