Blueberries offer tasty benefits
by Matilda Charles

What can a blueberry do for you? It could help you live a longer and healthier life.

We already know that blueberries are efficient antioxidants -and that makes them superb cancer fighters. They've also shown promise in dealing with diabetes. Also, as antioxidants, they help the skin resist aging.

That list alone would make the tasty blueberry a welcome visitor to the kitchen. But Dr. Agnes M. Rimando, a research scientist at the Department of Agriculture in Oxford, Miss., has found more evidence that it may also lower cholesterol -in many cases as effectively as commercial drugs, but without unpleasant side effects.

Dr. Rimando's study shows that blueberries contain a compound called pterostilbene (pronounced ter-a-STILL-bean) that activates a cell receptor in the body that helps lower cholesterol and some blood fats. This action is like the one produced by ciprofibrate that lowers LDL (the bad cholesterol) and triglycerides, which encourage the development of plaque in the arteries.

Dr. Rimando, who discovered the cholesterol-lowering

potential of

blueberries,

says if scientists could produce the compound in pill form, it could be taken without triggering the

side effects such as nausea and muscle pain that some people experience. And because the compound appears to be effective in low concentration, eating the berries might help lower cholesterol. But no one knows, as yet, how many blueberries to eat.

Adding blueberries to your diet could be a good idea, but be sure to talk to your doctor first. (Diabetics, for example, need to know how much of a sugar or carbohydrate

exchange to

make with other

foods.) With all the

good things we know

about blueberries

already, you can get a head start on health while researchers look for more benefits.

Write to Matilda Charles in care of King Features Weekly Service, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475, or send e-mails to letters.kfws@hearstsc.com.