New Brunswick's BioSciences CommunityCompaniesResearch OrganizationsDevelopment OrganizationsTechnology transfer, allied industry and scientific associations Other Canadian BioSciences Associations and Commercialization Agencies New Brunswick fermentation technology at the core of a new discovery on the impact of wild blueberries on diabetes
September 2, 2009Moncton, NB - A recent press release from the Université de Montréal alludes to the impacts of biotransformed wild blueberry juice on obesity and diabetes. The news revolved around a recent study published in the International Journal of Obesity, which demonstrates how the juice of the wild blueberry fermented with a novel bacteria present on the skin of the fruit holds great promise as an anti-obesity and anti-diabetic agent. Within a day the news flew across news services, and the lead author's inbox was swamped with information requests arriving from all over the world.
Diabetes and obesity are big news. Diabetes currently constitutes an annual economic burden of approximately CAD$9 billion and the number of patients with diabetes is projected to increase from about 5.1% in 2009 to about 7% of the population by 2016, and affecting about 2.4 million Canadians. Since diabetes is a major complication of obesity and overweight, its incidence has increased in parallel with the prevalence of obesity around the world. The World Health Organization has indicated that obesity and type 2 diabetes have reached epidemic proportions worldwide.
"Results of this study clearly show that biotransformed blueberry juice has strong anti-obesity and anti-diabetic potential," says senior author Pierre S. Haddad, a pharmacology professor at the Université de Montréal's Faculty of Medicine. "Biotransformed blueberry juice may represent a novel therapeutic agent, since it decreases hyperglycemia in diabetic mice and can protect young pre-diabetic mice from developing obesity and diabetes." In contrast, normal blueberry juice was without effect.
The group of mice was predisposed to Type 2 diabetes, a chronic condition of the pancreas that can lead to cardiovascular problems, blindness and kidney complications. It is linked to diet and can be brought on by obesity. The researchers suspect that the fermented juice reduced the mice's caloric intake and sugar levels, helping to stop the onset of the two conditions. Haddad said sugar levels in the group dropped by one-third after the mice were given the enhanced juice, made from wild blueberries that are harvested in Eastern Canada. This biotransformation was achieved with a new strain of bacteria isolated from the blueberry flora, specifically called Serratia vaccinii, which increases the fruit's antioxidant effects.
This bacteria was isolated and identified by the lab of Dr. Chantal Matar, then with the Université de Moncton, after several years of searching for the causal agent. Its mode of action has been the object of a successful patent. The technology, which includes access to the bacterial strain, is exclusively licensed to Vaccinium Technologies Inc., a New Brunswick company.
Wild blueberries (WBB) are indigenous to North America although it is only in northeastern North America, where the plant is more pervasive, that this berry crop has been industrialized. Commercial production of WBB involves the management of large tracts of land which are maintained, through a number of specialized and sophisticated production technologies, at a static point in an ecological succession back to a forest. Total wild blueberry acreage is 110,000 in Canada and 60,000 acres in Maine; and half of this area is harvested annually, due to the crop's biennial production regime. The Wild Blueberry is currently exported to over 30 countries.
New Brunswick and Eastern Canada are home to a strong cluster of science and technology related to the health functionality of Vaccinium fruit, a genus which includes cranberry and wild blueberries. A recent study by BioAtlantech and its partners identified a significant plant bio-sciences cluster in New Brunswick, with economic activity and employment exceeding $70 million, and 600 highly qualified persons.
For more information on this topic, please visit the following links:
http://www.nouvelles.umontreal.ca/udem-news/press-releases/biotransformed-blueberry-juice-fights-fat
http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/publicat/bnds-bsnd/pdf/bnds-bsnd-vol_2-eng.pdf
http://www.who.int/diabetes/actionnow/en/DANbooklet.pdf
http://www.who.int/diabetes/facts/en/diabcare0504.pdf
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