Biotransformed blueberry juice found to fight fat and diabetes

Pierre S. Haddad, a pharmacology professor at the Université de Montréal's Faculty of Medicine. (Source: Marc Robitaille)

Juice extracted from North American lowbush blueberries, biotransformed with bacteria from the skin of the fruit, holds great promise as an anti-obesity and anti-diabetic agent. The study, published recently in the International Journal of Obesity, was conducted by researchers from the Université de Montréal, the Institut Armand-Frappier and the Université de Moncton who tested the effects of biotransformed juices compared to regular blueberry drinks on mice.

“The results of this study show that biotransformed blueberry juice has strong anti-obesity and antidiabetic potential,” says senior author Pierre S. Haddad, a pharmacology professor at the Université de Montréal's Faculty of Medicine. “Biotransformed blueberry juice may represent a therapeutic agent, since it decreases hyperglycemia in diabetic mice and can protect young pre-diabetic mice from developing obesity and diabetes.”

The scientists tested the effect of biotransformed blueberry juice on a group of mice that is prone to obesity, insulin resistance, diabetes and hypertension.

The scientists found a reduction in food intake and lowered body weight in the mice after they have been fed with water that contained biotransformed blueberry juice. “These mice were an excellent model that closely resembles obesity and obesity-linked type 2 diabetes in humans,” says Haddad, who is also the director of the CIHR Team in Aboriginal Anti-Diabetic Medicines at the Université de Montréal. Biotransformation of the blueberry juice was achieved with a new strain of bacteria isolated from the blueberry flora, called Serratia vaccinii, which increases the fruit's antioxidant effects. Tri Vuong, lead author from the Université de Montréal's Department of Pharmacology says on the impact of blueberry products on diabetes: “The consumption of fermented blueberry juice gradually and signifi cantly reduced high blood glucose levels in diabetic mice. After three days, our mice subjects reduced their glycemia levels by 35%.”