While awareness about the benefits of blueberries in warding off cancer and lowering the risk of heart disease is widespread, very few people are aware of its advantages of reverting ageing, improving vision and memory, new research has found.
The researchers wanted to determine how much consumers know about blueberry health benefits and see if there is a knowledge gap with blueberry health benefits among demographic groups.
They surveyed more than 2,000 people in 31 US states to see what they know about the health benefits of blueberries.
The researchers found that most people were aware of the benefits of blueberries in cancer prevention and lowering the risk of heart disease but they are less aware of the advantages of reverting aging, improving vision and memory.
"People being more familiar with blueberries as deterrents for cancer and heart disease may be related to the high general awareness of these two diseases," said lead researcher Shuyang Qu, doctoral student in agricultural education and communication at University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, in a statement.
"The fact that cancer and heart diseases are the leading causes of death in America may have led to more personal research related to preventing the diseases, leading to the respondents being exposed to these findings more than other benefits," Qu noted.
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The study also found that low-income populations tend to know less about blueberry health benefits.
--IANS
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