We all love eating cranberries, but I was not aware that they have antioxidant properties which helps in having a longer & healthy life. Researchers from the National Institute on Aging in Baltimore conducted the study on a fruit fly called Drosophila.
For the experiment, researchers formed two groups of Drosophila consisting of roughly 200 flies each. Each group was provided with sugar rich food. Whereas one of the groups was also supplemented with 2% cranberry extract along with sugary diet. The flies were closely studied on every stage of life namely the health span, the transition span and the senescence span. In every stage, the flies were shifted to a new bottle and number of flies dying at each stage was recorded.
As per the study, it was found that the flies, which were fed with cranberry extract at the first stage of life cycle, showed an increase of 25 percent in the life span than the one fed only the sugar rich diet. And flies fed with cranberry extract on the second and third stage of life cycle tends to live up to 30% longer than the other flies.
In another similar study it was concluded that the cranberry contain unique bioactive elements which helps in improving the health. They can reduce the chances of infection and inflammation. The compound known as polyphenols found in cranberries are helpful in keeping urinary tract healthy and even protects from cardiovascular disease and chronic conditions. And the photo-chemicals found in the cranberry reduces the cellular damages caused by oxidative and environmental stress.
The limitation with the study is that it was conducted on flies and not humans. But the researchers say that the three stages of the Drosophila correspond to that of the humans (young, adult and old age) and so it calls for even deeper study to be done in future.
Source: Science World Report
