Strawberries Could Help Protect Against Damage From Ultraviolet Radiation, Cell Study Suggests

Besides being chock full of essential nutrients like vitamins A, C and B, new lab research suggests strawberries might also, in the future, play a part in protecting against dangerous UV rays.

Spanish and Italian researchers found that putting strawberry extract on skin cells helped to protect the cells from UVA damage.

The researchers speculated that the protective powers may lie in strawberries’ anthocyanins (previously linked with a decreased diabetes risk), which are what make strawberries red.

“These compounds have important anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anti-tumour properties and are capable of modulating enzymatic processes,” study researcher Sara Tulipani of the University of Barcelona, said in a statement. However, “we have not yet found a direct relationship between their presence and photoprotective properties.”

“At the moment the results act as the basis for future studies evaluating the ‘bioavailability’ and ‘bioactivity’ of anthocyanins in the dermis and epidermis layers of the human skin, whether by adding them to formulations for external use or by ingesting the fruit itself,” Tulipani added.

Continue reading at Huffington Post

Tagged anthocyanins, anti-tumour, antioxidant, nti-inflammatory, strawberries