Strawberries lower cholesterol: study

Eating two punnets of strawberries a day could help lower cholestrol and blood fat, a new study has found.

Strawberries can lower levels of cholesterol and harmful blood fat - if you eat enough of them, research has shown.

Scientists found that adding strawberries to the diets of 23 healthy volunteers significantly lowered the amount of "bad" cholesterol and triglyceride fat in their blood.

But the participants had to consume 500 grams of the fruits, or two average-sized punnets, every day for a month.

The findings, reported in the Journal Of Nutritional Biochemistry, showed that strawberries reduced low-density lipoprotein (LDL), the harmful form of cholesterol, by nearly 14 per cent.

Levels of "good" cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), which has a healthy effect on arteries, were unchanged.

Other measurements of antioxidant activity, platelet function, and preservation of blood cells also improved.

Lead researcher Maurizio Battino, from the Universita Politecnica delle March in Italy, said it was the first time a study had been published that supported the protective role of the bioactive compounds in strawberries.