SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- Daily consumption of strawberries could mitigate colonic inflammation, a U.S. non-profit scientific organization said Monday.
The American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest non-profit scientific society, said that less than a cupful of strawberries a day can serve as a simple dietary intervention to help reduce harmful inflammation in the colon, or inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that can cause severe diarrhea and fatigue.
A research team from the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) conducted an experiment on four groups of mice that were fed with different amounts of strawberry powder to examine the effect of the fruit on reducing colonic inflammation.
The scientists found that the dietary consumption of whole strawberries at a dose equivalent to three-quarters of a cup of strawberries per day in humans significantly suppressed symptoms such as body weight loss and bloody diarrhea in mice with IBD.
Other benefits of strawberries consumed regularly were also observed in reversing the unhealthy microbiota composition in mice diagnosed with IBD, which increases harmful bacteria while reducing beneficial bacteria levels in the colon.
The researchers will continue their research to validate the effects of strawberries on IBD patients.
"The sedentary lifestyle and dietary habits of many people in this country -- high-sugar, high-animal-fat, but low-fiber diets -- may promote colonic inflammation and increase the risk of IBD," Hang Xiao said, a Ph.D. scientist with UMass Amherst who led the study.
Statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that about three million adults in the United states were diagnosed with IBD in 2015. IBD patients are exposed to a higher risk of colorectal cancer.
