Thirty-seven strawberries a day may keep the doctor away

(abimages)

An apple a day has been replaced with strawberries - 37 of them, to be exact. A recent study from scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego, California, suggests that eating a heaping bowl of the flavonoid-packed fruits every day can keep diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, and even cancer at bay.

Published on June 27 in the peer-reviewed journal PLoS ONE, the research reveals that a naturally occurring flavonoid called fisetin (also found in lesser degrees in other fruits and veggies) is found most abundantly in strawberries and packs a mighty punch at fending off diseases.

In the study, researchers fed Akita mice the equivalent of 37 strawberries a day for a human. The mice, genetically afflicted with high blood sugar, showed a reduction in medical diabetes symptoms and inflammatory activity linked to cancer, and the study also concluded that the fisetin-rich diet protected neurons in the brain to help prevent Alzheimer's disease.

Earlier research supports the findings that strawberries preserve brain function by reducing the cell-damaging inflammation and oxidation that accompanies age-related diseases. Scientists from the Chicago Healthy Aging Project revealed that older adults who consume strawberries at least once a month have less cognitive decline, and that women who consumed more than one serving of strawberries a month had a 16.2 percent slower rate of mental decline than those who consumed less.

Access the new research: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0021226