Elderberry juice, carbohydrate burning and blood sugar in adults
What it found
In a small trial in overweight or obese adults, a week of elderberry juice raised how much carbohydrate the body burned after a sugary meal, but blood sugar and insulin responses were about the same as with a placebo drink.
The juice was well tolerated.
What they found
Studies in people
Carbohydrate burning
After a week of elderberry juice, average carbohydrate oxidation during the meal test was higher than after placebo (3.38 vs. 2.88 g per interval).
Fat burning
Average fat oxidation during the meal test was lower after elderberry juice than after placebo (1.17 vs. 1.47 g per interval).
Blood sugar and insulin
There was no difference in serum glucose or insulin response between the elderberry juice and placebo treatments.
Energy expenditure
Average energy expenditure did not differ between treatments (25.1 vs. 25.7 kcal per interval).
Tolerance and compliance
The juice was well tolerated, with no reports of gastrointestinal distress, and compliance was 99.6%.
What the authors conclude
“In conclusion, 7-day feeding of 100% elderberry juice increases postprandial CHO oxidation following a high-sugar MTT but does not affect serum glucose or insulin in a small sample of overweight or obese free-living participants.”
Also in their conclusions
- They conclude that 7-day feeding of 100% elderberry juice increases postprandial carbohydrate oxidation after a high-sugar meal test but does not affect serum glucose or insulin in a small sample of overweight or obese free-living participants.
- They state that elderberry juice is well tolerated.
- They advise that follow-up work with more robust designs, controlling background diet and with adequate statistical power, is warranted to confirm these potentially beneficial outcomes.
How it was done
The authors wanted to test whether elderberry juice, which is a dense source of anthocyanins, could improve how the body handles a meal, since earlier berry studies have shown mixed results and practical serving sizes matter.
They ran a randomised, placebo-controlled crossover pilot study in 10 overweight or obese adults. Each person drank 177 mL of 100% elderberry juice or a sugar-matched placebo twice daily for 1 week, with a 3-week washout between treatments. After each week, they did a 3-hour meal tolerance test and measured breathing gases and blood glucose and insulin. Nine people were included in the analysis.
What it can’t tell you
- This was a small pilot study with only 9 people analysed, so the results may not apply to larger groups.
- The study did not control the participants' background diet in the week before testing, which could affect the results.
- The trial lasted only 1 week per treatment, so it cannot show what happens with longer-term elderberry juice consumption.
Who paid
- Funding
- Funded by Northeast Sustainable Agriculture, Research, and Education (NESARE) (from the PubMed record).
- Conflicts
- The authors declare no conflict of interest.
- Authors work at
- Washington State University, USA; Indiana University, USA
The paper
- Title
- One-Week Elderberry Juice Treatment Increases Carbohydrate Oxidation after a Meal Tolerance Test and Is Well Tolerated in Adults: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Study
- Type
- Randomised controlled trial
- Evidence
- Studies in people
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Licence
- CC BY. Words in quotation marks are the authors’; the rest is our summary.
- Cite
- Rust BM, Riordan JO, Carbonero FG, Solverson PM (2023). One-Week Elderberry Juice Treatment Increases Carbohydrate Oxidation after a Meal Tolerance Test and Is Well Tolerated in Adults: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Study. Nutrients. doi:10.3390/nu15092072Free full textPubMed 37432227DOI
Summary written 30 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error