This Little-Known Berry Could Help Lower Your Cholesterol And Prevent Disease

Berries pack sweet flavor to a cup of yogurt or bowl of oatmeal and pack powerful antioxidants to battle free radicals that harm your body. Eating berries every day can improve your eye and heart health and reduce inflammation. Blueberries can help you manage your blood sugar, while acai and black raspberries could reduce your risk of cancer (via WebMD).

Blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries are plentiful in your produce section, but have you considered mulberries? A cup of mulberries contains just 60 calories and more than half of your daily supply of vitamin C. Mulberries have 2.4 grams of fiber per cup, and it's the soluble fiber that can lower your cholesterol, said Destini Moody, a registered dietitian with Garage Gym Reviews, in a Health Digest interview.

"When consumed, soluble fiber stimulates the liver and gallbladder to produce and release more bile into the GI tract," Moody said. "This is significant because the liver has to remove cholesterol from the bloodstream in order to make bile. The more bile that's produced, the more cholesterol is removed, thus lowering cholesterol levels in the blood." Mulberries also have certain nutrients that can prevent disease.

If you've never seen a mulberry before, it looks a little like a stretched-out blackberry. Mulberries come in black, white, and red. While white mulberries are considered to be superfoods, they're also quite perishable, which is why you'll see dried white mulberries for sale on Amazon and health food stores.

Although mulberry leaves and bark have been used in traditional Chinese medicine, the mulberry has polyphenols such as flavonols and anthocyanins that are higher than blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries, according to a 2018 review in Antioxidants. The fiber in mulberries helps lower cholesterol, and anthocyanins may also contribute. Eating 45 grams of dried mulberries for six weeks can lower your total and LDL cholesterol.

The polysaccharides in mulberries might help reduce your blood sugar and improve your insulin sensitivity, although the research hasn't studied this effect on humans. Mulberries might also help you lose weight. "High-fiber foods also digest more slowly in the stomach, which can help those trying to lose weight control their hunger," Destini Moody said. There may be some compounds in mulberries that also help your body break down fat.

You can easily add nutritious mulberries to your diet by using them in place of other berries in foods like yogurt, oatmeal, or smoothies. Mulberries add a little sweetness to a spinach salad, or you can create a healthy jam with fresh mulberries. Keep in mind that they can go bad quickly in your refrigerator, so be sure to freeze them if you're not using them within a few days.

"The most popular way to eat mulberries is dried, which may also be the best form to eat them in if you want to maximize the amount of fiber you get from them as you can eat significantly more berries," Destini Moody said. "After all, it's easier to eat 30 raisins than it is to eat 30 grapes." A quarter cup of white dried mulberries has 110 calories, 2 grams of fiber, plus all of the powerful antioxidants. She suggests making a homemade trail mix from dried mulberries by adding nuts and seeds.