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Blueberry Puree Increases HDL‐cholesterol in Rats

Oxidative stress has come to the forefront as a contributor to a number of diseases, including cancer, neurodegenerative and cardiovascular diseases (CVD). High‐fat diets (HFD) are thought to increase LDL, which can contribute to oxidative stress by becoming oxidized in artery walls, leading to atherosclerotic plaques that promote CVD. Blueberry (BB) polyphenolics are thought to act as antioxidants, which can potentially mitigate oxidative stress and improve CVD outcomes. The objective of our study was to evaluate the effect of a HFD supplemented with BB puree on serum lipids and biomarkers of oxidative stress. Male Wistar‐Kyoto rats (n=7) were fed either a control diet (CON), CON with 5mL/kg BB (CON+BB), 20% lard diet (HFD) or HFD with BB (HFD+BB) for eight weeks. A serum lipid panel was measured in a clinical laboratory analyzer and urinary 8‐isoprostane, a marker of lipid peroxidation, and urinary nitrite, a product of free‐radical reactivity, were measured using Cayman and Promega kits, respectively. HDL in CON group was 0.747±0.014mM and was increased by 10% in CON+BB to 0.822±0.019mM (p=0.002, ANOVA). All other serum lipids, urinary 8‐isoprostane and urinary nitrite were not significantly changed by either HFD or BB enrichment. We have shown that feeding BB with a normal, healthy diet can improve serum HDL, which could potentially improve excretion of cholesterol from artery walls, improving CVD. Funding support provided by NSERC, UPEI internal grants and WBANA.