The bergamot, or bergamot orange, is a citrus fruit that mostly grows in the Calabria region of southern Italy. According to Wikipedia, the tree blossoms in winter and the juice is less sour than a lemon but more bitter than a grapefruit.
It looks like the primary use for this fruit is to create essential oils, like for aromatherapy, and is thought to help with depression, stress, tension, fear, hysteria, infections, anorexia, psoriasis, and eczema. Bergamot is also used to flavor Earl Grey tea.
More importantly for us, extracts of the bergamot fruit also have beneficial effects for our cardiovascular health. Clinical tests have shown that bergamot extract can help to maintain levels of triglycerides, blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol.
Here is an abstract I found on PubMed:
Bergamot juice produces hypolipemic activity in rats though the mechanism remains unclear. Here we investigated on the effect of bergamot extract (BPF) in diet-induced hyperlipemia in Wistar rats and in 237 patients suffering from hyperlipemia either associated or not with hyperglycaemia. BPF, given orally for 30 days to both rats and patients, reduces total and LDL cholesterol levels (an effect accompanied by elevation of cHDL), triglyceride levels and by a significant decrease in blood glucose. Moreover, BPF inhibited HMG-CoA reductase activity and enhanced reactive vasodilation thus representing an efficient phytotherapeutic approach in combating hyperlipemic and hyperglycaemic disorders.
“produces hypolipemic activity” in plain English means that it reduces fat, or cholesterol, in the blood. “combating hyperlipemic and hyperglycaemic disorders” means that it helps helps people who are dealing with problems of high blood fat and high blood sugar.
Here is where I get my bergamot juice extract.
Wayne Woodworth
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