Strawberries Can Protect Our Stomach

Even those of us who commonly follow a healthy diet sometimes consume the foods or beverages which can be irritating and harmful to our stomach. For example, having a glass of wine, even the best quality wine, can damage your stomach a little. Or eating a slice of lemon. Fortunately, the scientists now can show us the way to minimize this kind of damage and improve our digestive health. By eating some fresh strawberries it is possible not only to enrich our body with antioxidants and other useful nutrients, but substantially lower our risks to suffer from various digestive problems, including very dangerous ones like gastritis or ulcers.

A team of Spanish, Italian and Serbian specialists joint their efforts and found scientific evidence of the fact that consuming strawberries can prevent negative effects of drinking alcohol and eating various acidic foods to the stomach. According to the findings of the European specialists, published recently in the journal Public Library of Science One, by enriching your diet with fresh strawberries, you can prevent various gastric illnesses including inflammations of the stomach mucous membrane, caused by the activities of free radicals and oxidative stress related to free radicals in the body.

The research included experiments with special lab rats. Within 10 days the rodents were given a portion of strawberry extract, in the amounts approximately 40 mg per every 1 kg of their body mass. Then, the rats were given alcohol, and on the latest stage of the study, the changes in their stomachs were thoroughly analyzed. It turned out that those rats who consumed good amounts of strawberry extract had much better condition of their stomachs. In particular, they did not develop any ulcers of a considerable size.

“The positive effects of strawberries are not only linked to their antioxidant capacity… but also to the fact that they activate the antioxidant defences and enzymes of the body“, Sara Tulipani, one of the leaders of the study groups and a specialist from the University of Barcelona, comments. Gastritis, or inflammation of the stomach mucous membrane is a very common disease nowadays, which is caused by increased alcohol consumption, improper diet, consuming too acidic or too toxic foods, and other factors. This problem is well familiar to many people, and using small amounts of strawberries in the daily diet can reduce our chances to suffer from this health condition.

Author Info: Hi! My name is Carla and I am a 5th year medical student at HYMS. I am interested in alternative medicine and I have done months researching the topic of herbal medicine. Besides, I like interviewing people and learning more about their experiences with one or another type of herbal treatments. I am willing to contribute to this site with my knowledge, and I would be happy to help you out to the best of my ability with any specific questions or problems related to alternative medicine.

Comments are closed.