A Fruit Juice You've Never Heard Of Can Help Stabilize Blood Sugar And Blood Pressure At The Same Time

A stroll through the refrigerated aisle of your grocery store offers many possibilities for juice. Orange juice is probably the most abundant, with low pulp, high pulp, and calcium-added choices. You'll also find apple ciders, pineapple juice, and vegetable juices. If you're lucky, your grocery store might also have cold-pressed juices that mix greens and sweet juices.

Have you heard of aronia juice? That's the juice of the black chokeberry. You might see aronia juice in the list of ingredients of a juice blend. You might want to keep an eye on this unique type of juice for its powerful antioxidants, especially if you have high blood pressure or type 2 diabetes.

A 2021 study in Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry explored how aronia juice extract could help people with metabolic syndrome, which is a cluster of conditions that includes risk factors such as high blood sugar, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. Supplementing with aronia juice extract lowered blood sugar and blood pressure while also improving cholesterol balance after four weeks.

Black chokeberries are packed with polyphenols, which are natural compounds that help fight inflammation and oxidative stress. These compounds can play a role in keeping your heart healthy. A 2016 study in Nutrition Research tested the effects of chokeberries by having people drink either cold-pressed chokeberry juice or take a chokeberry powder for eight weeks. Their daytime diastolic blood pressure dropped slightly, though the change in systolic blood pressure wasn't significant. More notably, the chokeberry juice helped lower markers of inflammation, which is important for overall cardiovascular health.

People with diabetes are often advised to avoid fruit juices due to their high sugar content and lack of fiber, which can spike blood sugar. However, a 2002 study in Folia Medica found that when aronia berry juice was sweetened with artificial sweeteners, it actually helped people with type 2 diabetes manage their blood sugar. The juice lowered blood sugar for people who were taking insulin to help manage their diabetes. It also helped those who weren't dependent on insulin. Drinking 200 milliliters (just under a cup) of aronia juice daily for three months also lowered HbA1c levels, a measure of long-term blood sugar.

Even if your blood sugar and blood pressure are normal, adding some aronia juice to your diet can keep you healthy through your gut microbiome, especially if you eat unhealthy every once in a while. In a 2023 article in Frontiers in Nutrition, researchers implanted the gut microbiomes of human donors into lab mice to study the effects of aronia juice on metabolism and gut health. Some of the human donors had high inflammation while others had low inflammation. When the mice were fed a high-fat diet, the aronia juice helped preserve the diversity of gut bacteria and increased beneficial bacteria. Aronia juice also increases substances in the gut that are linked with better gut function and reduced inflammation.

If you'd like to give black chokeberries a try, their bitter taste might be a turn-off. Rather than drink straight aronia juice, it's often blended with other fruits or sold in extract form. Remember that even unsweetened aronia berry juice still has sugar, so people with type 2 diabetes should consult with their doctors before adding this juice to their diet. Or you could add whole aronia berries to your salads or oatmeal to add fiber to control your blood sugar.