Eating raspberries could slash the risk of heart disease, a study claims.
Scientists have found the summer smoothie favourite keeps blood vessels healthy and aids circulation.
An organisation made up of raspberry growers and importers, who part-funded the trial, described its results as 'exciting'.
Kings College London researchers led the study, which also involved scientists from universities in Germany and Spain.
FMD is an indicator of the health of the endothelial lining of the blood vessels, and the state of the lining can indicate a person's risk of heart disease.
Researchers believe if raspberries could sustain a change in FMD long enough, it would slash a person's risk of heart disease by up to 15 per
A further analysis showed there was a noticeable increase in the levels of urolithin metabolites in the blood of participants as FMD improved.
These are produced by bacteria in the gut as the body digests a chemical found in raspberries, known as ellagitannins.
The findings of the trial were published in the scientific journal The Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics.
