Eat a handful of berries and you’ll be rewarded with a sweet burst. 9 Amazing Benefits of Berries for Your Health They are equally delicious for dessert and breakfast. However, the research that demonstrates that berries provide a plethora of advantages, such as improving cognitive health, assisting in the prevention of cancer, and lowering blood pressure, is just as beneficial.

You should be able to tell that nature’s candy is good for you just by how they look. Fruits and vegetables with vibrant colors offer some of the highest levels of nutrients, particularly antioxidants. According to owner of Rethink Nutrition in Manhattan, Kansas, Anna Binder-McAsey, RD, “berries are some of the most vibrantly colored fruits you’ll find.” The anti-inflammatory properties of these antioxidants may assist in preventing disease as you get older. She continues, “Berries should be considered a healthy component of an anti-inflammatory lifestyle for both the prevention and management of chronic diseases.”

1. Anthocyanidins in Berries Keep Your Mind Sharp Women who consume two servings of strawberries or one serving of blueberries per week experience less mental decline over time than peers who do not consume these nutritional powerhouses, according to research published in the Annals of Neurology. The researchers looked at data from 16,010 women over 70 in the study. The highest berry intake was associated with a two-and-a-half-year delay in cognitive decline. According to study author Elizabeth Devore, a doctor of science, associate epidemiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School, also in Boston, “We think that the effect might be related to a class of compounds called anthocyanidins, which is a type of flavonoid.” It is known that these compounds, which are almost exclusively found in berries, cross the blood-brain barrier and are located in the brain’s learning and memory centers.

2. Berries Are a Good Choice to Prevent or Manage Diabetes Berries are sweet, but not the kind of sweet that should send diabetics running. According to registered dietitian Nancy Copperman, RD, a nutrition consultant in community health in Georgetown, Texas, “people with diabetes can include that in their diet as a serving of fruit.” This is due to the fact that they contain fiber. Raspberries are one of the best berries to choose from because they are high in fiber. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), a cup of raspberries contains 8 g of fiber and 15 g of carbohydrates.