Promising Health Benefits of the Strawberry: A Focus on Clinical Studies

Abstract

The potential health benefits associated with dietary intake of fruits have attracted increasing interest. Among berries, the strawberry is a rich source of several nutritive and non-nutritive bioactive compounds, which are implicated in various health-promoting and disease preventive effects. A plethora of studies have examined the benefits of strawberry consumption, such as prevention of inflammation disorders and oxidative stress, reduction of obesity related disorders and heart disease risk, and protection against various types of cancer. This review provides an overview of their nutritional and non-nutritional bioactive compounds and which factors affect their content in strawberries. In addition, the bioavailability and metabolism of major strawberry phytochemicals as well as their actions in combating many pathologies, including cancer, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes, neurodegeneration, along with microbial pathogenesis have been reviewed, with a particular attention to human studies.

Keywords: anti-inflammation; anticancer; antidiabetes; antimetabolic syndrome; antiobesity; cardioprotection; neuroprotection; phenolic compounds; strawberry.