A diet rich in soft fruit such as lingonberries, bilberries and blackcurrants could offset some of the detrimental metabolic effects induced by a high-fat diet.
That was the conclusion of a paper published in the January edition of the Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism. The researchers wanted to test the effect of different soft fruit on a high fat diet in a strain of mice that are used in obesity studies. The mice were fed either a low fat diet, a high fat diet or a high fat diet supplemented with soft fruit (lingonberries, bilberries, blackcurrants and açai berries).
It turns out the mice fed a diet supplemented with lingonberries gained less weight and had lower insulin fasting levels (an indication of risk of type 2 diabetes) than the control group fed the high fat diet. Billberries and blackcurrant also had an effect but to a lesser extent. Açai berries actually seemed to lead to increased weight gain and a fatty liver.
High fat diets also tend to be high in protein, and blackcurrants are high in potassium. So taken together with the data from the Spanish study, looks like this fruit is one to be munching on if your diet tends to be high in fat and protein.
Click here to read the paper on the Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism website.