OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – A new study by the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation found ways to improve your heart health without any prescriptions or medications.  

Instead, they say try eating strawberries. 

“Maybe the real message is, you should eat food, not processed stuff, but real food especially, including fruits and veggies,” said member of arthritis and clinical immunology, Dr. Hal Scofield. “Maybe that could be good for your arthritis, maybe that’s good for your heart.”

His latest message may have you thinking twice about what you buy at the grocery store. 

While eating healthy is not a new phenomenon, Dr. Scofield says using strawberries to tackle specific diseases is. 

The new research found that in obese individuals, eating just a few cups of strawberries daily lowered glucose levels and reduced bad cholesterol, two leading causes of heart attacks and strokes. 

“Unfortunately, obesity is worse in Oklahoma than many other states,” said Dr. Scofield. 

In a 2019 study, the CDC ranked Oklahoma in the top five when it comes to obesity levels. 

The same year, we ranked number one in heart disease.

Strawberries aren’t a complete solution to those staggering statistics, but they’re certainly a step in the right direction.

“The way things moved in that study it looks like it should make heart trouble better,” said Dr. Scofield. “What we don’t know, and that would take long-term studies over many years is does it reduce progression of arthritis?”

Strawberries also proved to be effective toward ‘insulin resistance,’ an underlying cause of Type 2 diabetes. 

All it takes is adding the fruit to one meal a day. 

“Kind of the amount of strawberries or some berry fruit you might be able to eat in real life, you know if you were eating the fruit for breakfast,” said Dr. Scofield. 

For more information, visit the OMRF website.