Cranberries were high on the list of best-for-your-heart foods in a review of 134 studies examining cardio-smart nutrition. Researchers suspect that an arsenal of polyphenolic compounds in the tart red fruit may help your ticker in several ways:
1. They calm your tissues. Compounds that are close to becoming household words (quercetin, proanthocyanidins, and resveratrol) help put the chill on chronic vascular inflammation -- and that may lead to younger arteries and a lower risk of cardiovascular disease.
2. They clean house. The antioxidants in cranberries help cells in your heart and elsewhere rid themselves of troublemaking free radicals.
3. They may even balance your blood fats. Although further research is needed, cranberry juice may increase good-for-you HDL cholesterol and reduce lousy LDL cholesterol.
Cranberries
