Abstract
- Background
Dietary interventions incorporating strawberries (Fragaria × ananassa) have consistently demonstrated favorable clinical outcomes in mitigating multi-faceted cardiometabolic risks across multiple human clinical trials. However, despite established physiological improvements, empirical scientific literature has largely lacked comprehensive investigations evaluating alterations in serum metabolomic profiles—which are essential for identifying the precise molecular target pathways and underlying biochemical mechanisms influenced by strawberry bioactives. This randomized controlled trial was designed to examine the systemic metabolomic shifts associated with dietary strawberry supplementation in adult human participants exhibiting established features of metabolic syndrome.
- Methods
A rigorous 14-week randomized, controlled crossover clinical trial was conducted. Participants with features of metabolic syndrome were sequentially assigned to three distinct treatment arms, each lasting four weeks and separated by a mandatory one-week washout period: a control powder arm, a low-dose intervention arm (1 serving equivalent to 13 g freeze-dried strawberry powder/day), and a high-dose intervention arm (2.5 servings equivalent to 32 g freeze-dried strawberry powder/day). Comprehensive data collection—including anthropometric measurements, systemic blood pressure readings, detailed dietary and physical activity tracking, and fasting blood sample collection—was performed at baseline and at the conclusion of each four-week intervention phase. Harvested serum samples underwent advanced mass spectrometry analyses to quantify primary metabolites and complex lipids. Statistical analyses utilized mixed-model ANOVA to evaluate targeted metabolite differences across treatment phases, alongside LASSO logistic regression to examine untargeted metabolite variations between the post-strawberry intervention state and baseline.
- Results
Metabolomic analyses revealed significant physiological and biochemical alterations driven by dietary strawberry consumption:
Targeted Metabolite Shifts: High-dose strawberry supplementation induced statistically significant differences in circulating serum branched-chain amino acids, specifically valine and leucine, compared with both the low-dose and control intervention phases.
Untargeted Metabolomic Profiles: Untargeted profiling identified several key signature metabolites, including serum phosphate (reflecting improved energy-metabolism pathways), benzoic acid and hydroxyphenyl propionic acid (serving as reliable compliance biomarkers and reflecting the active microbial metabolism of dietary strawberry polyphenols). Overall, dietary supplementation with strawberries significantly optimized serum metabolic pathways linked with cardiometabolic disease protection.
- Conclusions
Daily dietary supplementation with strawberries significantly improves the serum metabolic profiles and underlying pathways associated with cardiometabolic risks in adults with metabolic syndrome. By modulating branched-chain amino acids, optimizing energy metabolism, and introducing bioactive microbial polyphenol metabolites, strawberries demonstrate robust therapeutic efficacy as a functional food matrix.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9916764/