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Can blueberries help your mood? A new small study asked this question. ScienceDaily wrote about it this week.

Scientists in Boston worked with older people. The people were 65 or older. They did not move or exercise much. They also felt a little sad or low.

Every day for three months, one group took blueberry powder. The powder was like two cups of fresh blueberries. The other group took a different powder. It looked the same, but it had no blueberries in it. This is called a placebo.

The blueberry group felt a bit better. Their sad feelings went down more. But the difference between the two groups was small. The scientists say it was not statistically significant. This means it could be chance. So the study does not prove that blueberries help.

The scientists also looked at bacteria in the gut. Most things did not change. Only some small parts of the bacteria changed in the blueberry group.

This was a pilot study. A pilot study is a first, small test. Now scientists need bigger studies to find the real answer.

Could a bowl of blueberries every day lift your mood? According to ScienceDaily, a small study from Boston tried to find out, and the answer is still not clear.

The research was carried out by a team at the Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research, led by Dr Courtney Millar. The volunteers were adults aged 65 or older who spent most of the day sitting and who had mild depressive symptoms. For three months, one group took 48 grams of freeze-dried blueberry powder each day, which is about the same as two cups of fresh berries. The other group took a placebo powder that looked exactly the same. Neither the volunteers nor the researchers knew who was getting which powder.

The team was interested in two nutrients in blueberries: fibre and anthocyanins, the natural pigments that give the fruit its colour. They believe these may affect gut bacteria and, as a result, substances linked to depression.

According to the institute, the blueberry group had a larger and steadier drop in depressive symptoms. However, the difference between the two groups was not statistically significant, so the study cannot show that blueberries relieve depression.

Inside the gut, most things stayed the same. The types and amounts of bacteria did not change. Only the genes for some bacterial enzymes changed, and one of these enzymes helps to produce GABA, a chemical messenger in the brain.

Although the results are interesting, this was only a pilot study. Researchers will need to set up larger trials before anyone can say what blueberries really do for our mood.

It would be convenient if a handful of berries could chase away low moods. A small trial from Boston, reported this week by ScienceDaily, hints at such a link, but its authors are careful not to overstate what they found, and readers would be wise to follow their lead.

The study was led by Dr Courtney L. Millar of Hebrew SeniorLife's Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research, who is also an assistant professor of medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School. Her team recruited sedentary adults aged 65 and over with mild depressive symptoms and randomly assigned them to one of two groups. For three months, one group took 48 grams of freeze-dried blueberry powder a day, roughly equivalent to two cups of fresh fruit, while the other took a placebo powder that was indistinguishable from it. The trial was double-blind, meaning that neither participants nor researchers knew who received what.

The rationale centres on two components of the fruit: fibre and anthocyanins, the pigments responsible for its deep blue colour. The researchers suspect these may reshape the gut microbiome and, in turn, influence substances associated with depression. To test this, they analysed stool samples and used validated questionnaires before and after the three months.

The findings are, frankly, a mixed bag. According to the institute, the blueberry group saw a larger and steadier decline in depressive symptoms, yet the gap between the groups was not statistically significant. Nor did the overall make-up of the gut bacteria shift: the species, their abundance and the metabolites measured all stayed the same. The only notable change was in the genes for certain bacterial enzymes, one of which is involved in producing GABA, a neurotransmitter in the brain. An earlier conference report from the same team, covering 22 participants, also found no change in inflammation markers, motivation or daily step count.

In short, these are preliminary findings to be taken with a pinch of salt. A pilot study exists to test whether a larger trial is worth running, not to deliver verdicts. Still, the results offer some food for thought about how diet, gut and mind may be connected.