Table 2.

Summary of berry intervention trials.

Reference	Duration	Study design	Study subjects	Control	Berry intervention	Significant findings
Cao et al. (1998)32	Postprandial	Controlled trial	Eight healthy female subjects (mean age, 67 ± 0.6 years)	Coconut drink	240 g strawberries added to the control drink	Increase in plasma vitamin C, serum and urine antioxidant capacity (P < 0.05)
Paiva et al. (1998)33	Postprandial	Controlled trial	Seven healthy elderly women (mean age, 67 ± 0.6 years)	378 mL coconut drink	240 g fresh, whole, and homogenized strawberries added to the control drink	Decreased plasma carotenoids versus baseline (P < 0.02)
Marniemi et al. (2000)34	Eight weeks and postprandial	Randomized controlled trial	Sixty healthy adults (mean age, 60 years)	500 mg calcium gluconate	100 g deep-frozen berries (bilberries, lingonberries, or black currants); 240 g berries in postprandial study	Increase in serum ascorbate (P < 0.05); slight decrease in LDL oxidation (P = 0.07), and slight increase in serum antioxidant capacity (P = 0.08) in berry group; decrease in LDL oxidation in postprandial study (P < 0.05)
Pedersen et al. (2000)35	Postprandial	Randomized controlled trial	Nine healthy female volunteers (mean age, 31 ± 2 years)	9% (w/v) sucrose in water (500 mL)	500 mL blueberry juice (Beutelsbacher, Germany) or cranberry juice (Ocean Spray, UK)	Increase in plasma antioxidant capacity, vitamin C and phenols with cranberry juice (P < 0.05); no effects with blueberry juice
Van den Berg et al. (2001)36	Three weeks with a two-week washout period	Randomized controlled crossover trial	Twenty-two male smokers (mean age, 33 ± 11 years)	Control drink (330 mL)	Fruit drink (330 mL); 30% clarified blueberry juice concentrate (SVZ International, the Netherlands)	Increase in vitamin C, carotenoids, and plasma antioxidant capacity with fruit drink (P < 0.05)
Simeonov et al. (2002)37	Three months and postprandial	Baseline and post intervention effects	Sixty-two patients with type 1 or 2 diabetes mellitus (median age, 46.2 ± 4.04 years)	None	200 mL chokeberry juice (Aronia melanocarpa)	Decrease in fasting glucose, HbA1C, and lipids (P < 0.001) in the three-month intervention
Kay and Holub (2002)38	Postprandial phases, one week apart	Single-blind crossover study	Eight middle-aged male subjects (mean age, 47 ± 2 years)	High-fat meal (McDonald’s Corp.)	High-fat meal supplemented with 100 g freeze-dried wild blueberry powder	Increase in serum antioxidant status (P < 0.05)
Mazza et al. (2002)39	Postprandial phases, one week apart	Single-blind crossover study	Five male subjects (mean age, 47 ± 2 years)	High-fat meal (McDonald’s Corp.)	High-fat meal supplemented with 100 g freeze-dried wild blueberry powder	Increase in serum antioxidant status (P < 0.05)
Bub et al. (2003)40	Ten weeks	Randomized crossover study	Twenty-seven non-smoking men (mean age, 35 ± 4 years)	None	Anthocyanin-rich juice containing aronia, blueberries, and boysenberries in a mixture of apple, mango, and orange juice (76% w/w water); 330 ml/day	Decrease in plasma TBARS; decrease in oxidative DNA damage in lymphocytes (P < 0.05)
Chambers and Camire (2003)41	Twelve weeks	Randomized controlled trial	Twenty-seven adults with type 2 diabetes (mean age, 56 ± 13 years)	Colored powder as placebo capsules (6 capsules/day)	Cranberry juice concentrate powder (6 capsules/day)	No effect on fasting glucose, lipids, or HbA1C (P > 0.05)
McAnulty et al. (2005)42	Three weeks or postprandial	Randomized controlled trial	Twenty smokers (mean age: blueberry group, 26 ± 3.3; control group, 29 ± 4.2 years)	Usual diet and lifestyle with restriction of large amounts of fruits and vegetables and all vitamin supplements	Acute or daily consumption of 250 g blueberries	Decrease in lipid hydroperoxides in blueberry group versus control at 3 weeks (P < 0.001)
Ruel et al. (2005)43	Fourteen days	Baseline and post-intervention effects	Twenty-one healthy men (mean age, 38 ± 8 years)	None	7 mL/kg body weight cranberry juice per day (Ocean Spray’s Light Cranberry Juice, Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc., USA)	Decrease in plasma ox-LDL (P < 0.05); increase in plasma antioxidant capacity (P < 0.05) at 14 days
Ruel et al. (2006)44	Four successive 4-week phase (including 4-week run-in phase)	Placebo-controlled trial	Thirty healthy men (mean age, 51 ± 10 years)	Placebo juice (Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc., USA); 500 mL/day	Increasing doses of cranberry juice cocktail (125, 250, 500 mL/day, Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc., USA) during three successive 4-week periods	Increase in plasma HDL-cholesterol at the end of 4 weeks of 250 mL/day cranberry juice intake (P < 0.01); decreases in body weight, BMI, and waist circumference at the end of the study (P < 0.05)
Duthie et al. (2006)45	Two weeks	Randomized controlled trial	Twenty healthy female volunteers (mean age, 28 ± 7 years)	Natural mineral water with strawberry flavor + sucrose (9 g/ 100 mL); 750 mL/day	Cranberry juice (Ocean Spray Cranberry Select, UK); 750 mL/day (3 × 250 mL)	No effects on blood or cellular antioxidant status, lipid status, or oxidative DNA damage in cranberry group versus placebo (P > 0.05)
Ruel et al. (2008)46	Sixteen weeks	Successive 4-week phases of increasing dose of cranberry juice	Thirty healthy men (mean age, 51 ± 10 years)	Placebo juice; cranberry flavored and low calorie (500 ml/day for 4 weeks)	125, 250, and 500 mL/day cranberry juice cocktail (Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc., USA); each dose for 4 weeks	Decrease in plasma ox-LDL, adhesion molecules (ICAM, VCAM), and systolic blood pressure following cranberry intervention at 12 or 16 weeks (P < 0.05)
Lee et al. (2008)47	Twelve weeks	Randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study	Thirty type 2 diabetic subjects (mean age, 65 ± 1 years)	Placebo capsules (3/day)	Cranberry extract powder; 500 mg/capsule; 3 capsules/day (Triarco Industries Inc., USA)	Decrease in total and LDL-cholesterol and total:HDL-cholesterol ratio in cranberry versus placebo groups (P < 0.05); no effects on glucose or glycated hemoglobin
Jensen et al. (2008)48	Postprandial	Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial	Twelve healthy subjects (mean age, 19–52 years)	Placebo capsules (0.5 g each) prepared by mixing white potato flakes with a purplish food-coloring blend, redrying, grinding, and providing in vegetable-based capsules	120 mL juice blend containing acai berry, cranberry, blueberry, wolfberry, and bilberry in addition to other fruit juices	Increase in serum antioxidant status and inhibition of lipid peroxidation versus placebo (P < 0.03)
Erlund et al. (2008)49	8 weeks	Randomized, single-blind, placebo-controlled, trial	72 subjects with cardiovascular risk factors (mean age: control group, 58.4 ± 5.6 years; berry group, 57.5 ± 6.3 years)	One of four control products each day to match the energy intake in the berry group; 2 dL sugar-water, 100 g sweet semolina porridge, 100 g sweet rice porridge, or 40 g marmalade sweets	Two portions of berries daily; whole bilberries (100 g) and a nectar of 50 g crushed lingonberries every other day; black currant or strawberry puree (100 g, 80% black currants) and cold-pressed chokeberry and raspberry juice (0.7 dL, 80% chokeberry) on alternating days	Inhibition of platelet function; increase in HDL-cholesterol; decrease in systolic blood pressure in berry versus control group (P < 0.05)
Qin et al. (2009)50	12 weeks	Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, trial	120 subjects with dyslipidemia (mean age: placebo group, 55.1 ± 5.4 years; anthocyanin group, 55.3 ± 5.0 years)	Placebo capsules pullulan and maltodextrin (2 capsules twice daily)	Anthocyanin capsules 320 mg/day (2 capsules twice daily); 17 different natural purified anthocyanins from bilberry and black currant	Increased HDL-cholesterol, decreased LDL-cholesterol, decreased mass and activity of plasma cholesteryl ester transfer protein in anthocyanin group versus placebo (P < 0.05)
Basu et al. (2009)51	Four weeks	Baseline and post-intervention effects	Sixteen women with metabolic syndrome (mean age, 51 ± 9.1 years)	None	50 g of freeze-dried strawberry powder as beverage (California Strawberry Commission, USA)	Decrease in total and LDL-cholesterol and lipid peroxidation at 4 weeks versus baseline (P < 0.05)

Abbreviations: ICAM, intracellular adhesion molecule; VCAM, vascular cell adhesion molecule; ox-LDL, oxidized LDL.