Another Elderberry Benefit? Glucose Study Results

Note: This transcript is abridged. For the complete episode, click "play" on the podcast link above.

Dr. Mike: Hey, Dr. Mike here. So, you want to live forever…ish? Well, [you've] got to know what's in and what's not. Stay tuned to find out.

Live Foreverish Introduction: You're listening to Live Foreverish, a show dedicated to helping you live just a little longer. Here [are] your hosts, Dr. Mike and Dr. Crystal Gossard.

Dr. Mike: All right, welcome to Live Foreverish. This is the in and out; this is where we discuss the latest findings to help all of us…live a whole lot stronger and a little longer.

Dr. Crystal: I think that was it.

Dr. Mike: I can’t remember.

Dr. Crystal: I think it was a little bit longer and a whole lot stronger.

Dr. Mike: A whole lot stronger. That's it.

Dr. Crystal: Our new tagline…

Dr. Mike: I flipped it.

Dr. Crystal: …that we can't remember.

What Are the Health Benefits of Elderberries? 00:00:39

Dr. Mike: I know. That's not good. All right.

But anyway, here we go. The first in: This is what you want to do. It's a great step in helping [with] glucose issues. That is elderberries.

Dr. Crystal: Yes. And most people think about elderberry for immunity.

Immune stuff. I do, too!

Yes. It's full of antioxidant polyphenols, specifically anthocyanins. [It is] particularly high in that type of polyphenol compared to other berries.

So yes, we do see research where it can support immunity, but now we're branching out into other areas of health.

Dr. Mike: Yeah, I love it. In this case, it was elderberry juice. And the focus was on glucose tolerance issues in people who were overweight or obese.

Dr. Crystal: Yes. These individuals [were] overweight or obese—according to the classic parameters or ways to measure it—but did not have other chronic health conditions. I think that's important as well.

18 volunteers, [which is] a lower [number of participants]. But it was a crossover study.

Dr. Mike: Which is good.

Dr. Crystal: Which brings it up.

Dr. Mike: Yeah. I don't think statisticians would like us to say it almost doubles, but it doesn't. Because when you think of it, you can see how you become your own placebo.

So maybe it's more like almost 40 people. But no, they don't like that. But crossovers allow you to have more trust in the data when it's smaller numbers.

Dr. Crystal: Absolutely. And then, when you have that individual being their own control, you know that the good outcomes that you’re seeing in that person are real.

Can Elderberry Help Regulate Glucose Levels? 00:02:38

Dr. Mike: Yeah.

Five-week crossover: one week—let's make sure I get this right—they had the elderberry juice, and then the third week was a washout. And then the next week, they would flip whatever it was. So—if I [were] on juice, I'd be on placebo now.

Dr. Crystal: Correct—for that last week.

Dr. Mike: Or if I was on placebo after the washout, I'm on juice now.

Dr. Crystal: Yes.

Dr. Mike: Okay. This was 5.5 fl oz of high-antioxidant elderberry juice versus that placebo twice daily, mornings and evenings, with meals. What do we find out?

Dr. Crystal: Oh—well, let's just back up. Because [there is] one other thing that I thought was just brilliant.

Dr. Mike: Oh, I see it here. I know where you're going.

Dr. Crystal: Yeah. It was the one week on whatever intervention—the juice or the placebo—but [for] the last four days of that week, they controlled your diet.

And not just giving you a diet plan and [saying], “Hey, this is what you should eat.”

Dr. Mike: They gave the food.

Dr. Crystal: They gave them everything: prepackaged, single-serving food for the last four days. These are the steps that you can take when you have a lower number of participants.

Dr. Mike: It’s good control. [By] doing it that way, you're able to limit some of the other polyphenols they might get from their diet that could be interfering with the elderberry.

Now, I don't want to say interfering. But if you're allowing them to eat a full polyphenol diet, and you're studying a single polyphenol, how do you know which one is doing it?

Dr. Crystal: Right. That was the other piece throughout the entire time: There was a list of high-polyphenol foods that the participants were told to avoid.

Dr. Mike: I love it.

Dr. Crystal: With that, the researchers saw blood glucose levels reduced by 24 percent in the elderberry group compared to [the] placebo [group]. Insulin levels [were] reduced by 9 percent compared to placebo.

They also saw an increased breakdown of fatty acids, [or] fat oxidation—which means you're essentially burning more calories when you're eating high carbohydrate foods.

Dr. Mike: That's really interesting. They also looked at gut microbes and found that there was an increase in [beneficial] bacteria.

Dr. Crystal: Yes. I think we said this was published in the journal Nutrients…

Dr. Mike: I don't think I did. I forgot.

Dr. Crystal: …in October 2024—if you want to find the full text. The free, full text is available.

Dr. Mike: Elderberry [is] expanding its uses beyond the immune system. Hey, that would make a nice blog or something. “Elderberry: beyond the immune system.”