Toronto, Sep 2 - Juice of North American blueberries, bio-transformed with bacteria from the skin of the fruit, looks promising as an anti-obesity and anti-diabetic agent.

Researchers from the Universities of Montreal, de Moncton and Institut Armand-Frappier, tested the effects of the bio-transformed juices on mice as part of a study.

'Results of this study clearly show that bio-transformed blueberry juice has strong anti-obesity and anti-diabetic potential,' says study co-author Pierre S. Haddad, pharmacology professor at the University of Montreal faculty of medicine (UMFM).

'Bio-transformed 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.'

The scientists tested the effect of bio-transformed blueberry juice on a group of mice prone to obesity, insulin resistance, diabetes and hypertension.