Photo: flickr
For many people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), available medical treatments offer only limited relief. In a series of studies conducted in rats, researchers have found that eating blueberries could help to reduce the genetic and biochemical drivers behind depression and suicidal tendencies associated with the disorder.
"We need to conduct a clinical trial in people to be certain that this works, but based on our studies in animal models, there is evidence that blueberries may help to mitigate some of the problems associated with PTSD," said Joseph Francis, Ph.D., the Everett D. Besch Professor of Veterinary Medicine at Louisiana State University's School of Veterinary Medicine and the study's senior author. "And in the meantime, it seems safe to say that eating blueberries can't hurt -- and may help -- in people with PTSD."
The team is now pursuing research into the links between SKA2, which is a gene that other researchers have found is expressed at abnormally low levels in people who have committed suicide, and serotonin levels to find out whether blueberries may simultaneously help relieve feelings of depression and reduce suicidal tendencies through a single biological pathway.
Category(s):Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) / Trauma / Complex PTSD
Source material from Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB)
