Lingonberries could become the next go-to antioxidant source in 2012.
The berry, native to Sweden, is higher in antioxidants than either blueberries or raspberries, and could help protect the blood vessels of people with hypertension, suggests a new study from Finland.
“It doesn’t lower the blood pressure, but it stops the damage,” Dr. Peter Bongiorno of Innersource Health told Fox News.

“Lingonberries contain very high levels of certain phytochemicals, which are brilliant antioxidants, and these are the protective qualities that are in the berry that confer to us,” Bongiorno continued. “So the same way that these chemicals protect the sun's radiation from damaging the small fruit, when we take them in, they also protect our bodies and protect us from excessive oxidation.”

Results of the study by the Institute of Biomedicine at the University of Helsinki, published in the Journal of Functional Foods, found that the functioning of blood vessels in rats with high blood pressure that consumed the juice for eight weeks had improved. The rats given juices from other berries did not see the same benefits.

Researchers are still attempting to isolate the compounds in lingonberries that are responsible for the antihypertensive effects.