Strawberry, gut microbes and blood vessel inflammation in mice
What it found
In mice, strawberries reduced blood vessel inflammation linked to a high-fat diet, but this benefit disappeared when gut microbes were wiped out with antibiotics.
What they found
Animal and lab studies
Microbes make strawberry metabolites
In mice on a standard diet, strawberries increased blood levels of p-coumaric acid and gallic acid. Antibiotics reduced these, showing gut microbes are needed to make them.
High-fat diet changes metabolites
In mice on a high-fat diet, strawberries increased hippuric acid in the blood, but antibiotics greatly reduced it. This suggests hippuric acid is made by gut microbes from strawberries when fat intake is high.
Strawberries calm vessel inflammation
Mice on a high-fat diet had more monocyte binding to the aorta and higher inflammatory chemokines. Strawberry supplementation reduced these signs of vascular inflammation.
Antibiotics block strawberry benefit
When gut microbes were depleted with antibiotics, strawberries no longer reduced monocyte binding or chemokines. This shows the microbes are required for the vascular benefit.
Gut bacteria shifts
Strawberries decreased Coprobacillus, a microbe linked to more vascular inflammation, and increased Lachnospiraceae, which was linked to less inflammation and more hippuric acid.
Hippuric acid linked to less inflammation
Higher blood levels of hippuric acid were associated with lower monocyte binding and lower inflammatory chemokines. This association does not prove cause and effect.
What the authors conclude
“Our study fills in some pieces of the giant puzzle regarding the influence of gut microbes on the biological activities of phytochemicals.”
Also in their conclusions
- They conclude that gut microbes are essential for producing strawberry-derived metabolites and for mediating the vascular benefits of dietary strawberries.
- They state that their study provides significant proof of concept to warrant future research on the use of strawberries as a nutritional strategy to prevent vascular complications.
- They note that the metabolism of strawberry compounds by microbes varies with diet and health status, so a one-size-fits-all approach is inaccurate.
How it was done
The authors wanted to understand how gut microbes break down strawberry compounds and whether these microbes are needed for strawberries to benefit blood vessels.
They fed mice a standard or high-fat diet, with or without strawberry powder (about 2 human servings), and with or without an antibiotic mix to kill gut microbes, for 12 weeks. They then measured strawberry compounds in blood, gut bacteria, and signs of blood vessel inflammation.
What it can’t tell you
- These are animal studies. They cannot show what happens in people.
- The study found associations, not proof that strawberries or hippuric acid directly cause less inflammation.
- The mice were given a specific strawberry dose and diet, so results may differ with other amounts or diets.
Who paid
- Funding
- Funded by NCCIH NIH HHS; USDA/NIFA; National Institute of Food and Agriculture (from the PubMed record).
- Conflicts
- No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
- Authors work at
- University of Utah, USA; University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, USA; North Carolina State University, USA
The paper
- Title
- Gut microbes metabolize strawberry phytochemicals and mediate their beneficial effects on vascular inflammation
- Type
- Study
- Evidence
- Animals and lab studies
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Cite
- Petersen C, Satheesh Babu AK, Della Lucia CM, et al (2025). Gut microbes metabolize strawberry phytochemicals and mediate their beneficial effects on vascular inflammation. Gut microbes. doi:10.1080/19490976.2024.2446375Free full textPubMed 39760464DOI
Summary written 26 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error