Eight weeks of consuming a daily dose of 22 grams of freeze-dried blueberry powder resulted in 5.1% and 6.3% reductions in systolic and diastolic blood pressure, wrote the researchers in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
"The potential is enormous," said Dr. Anais Archambeault commenting on the study. "Many patients on antihypertensives experience less than a 5% decrease in overall blood pressure and here we clearly have a natural product that may eventually outperform well known drugs," she said.
Dr. Archambeault claims that with the right nutriceutical prescription, blueberry powder in combination with other antioxidants may prove very effective for patients who don't react well or benefit from blood pressure medication.
The benefits were also linked to an increase in levels of nitric oxide (NO), which were found to increase from 9.11 to 15.35 micromoles over the course of the study. NO is a potent vasodilator, helping to relax the walls of blood vessels and lower blood pressure.
"To our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the effects of blueberries on arterial function as was done in this study, as well as in this study population," said corresponding author Bahram Arjmandi, PhD. "These findings suggest that blueberries may prevent the progression to full-blown hypertension."
"Considering the prevalence of hypertension in the US, preventive strategies such as dietary modifications (e.g. functional foods and dietary supplements) that aim to improve hypertension and its related complications are warranted."
