Eating Swedish meatballs? Don’t forget lingonberries — a new superfood that could prevent weight gain

Everyone knows Swedish meatballs are a hardy meal that will keep you energized in all seasons. But today, a lot of people are talking about that little red condiment that’s jammed between the meat and the potatoes — Swedish lingoberries.

Scientists at Lund University in Sweden have discovered that Swedish lingonberries can almost completely prevent the weight gain caused by a high fat diet. If you don’t know, lingonberries are like a more bitter version of cranberries — generally eaten with meatballs and other meaty Swedish food.

The bitter lingonberry does a good job of cutting into the fat and often creamy and rich Swedish food sauces. My kids eat lingonberries with blood pudding…..mmmm. Believe me, I have the stained clothing to prove it.

Now it looks like Swedish lingonberries do more than just giving your palate a break.

The Swedish scientists fed mice a high fat diet to make them obese. Then they gave the mice supplements of different types of Swedish berries, including lingonberries. The mice that ate these berries, especially the lingonberries, did not gain as much weight and had lower blood glucose levels.

“The results were quite surprising for us that lingonberries, especially, could almost completely prevent the weight gain in a high fat diet,” says Karin Berger, a diabetes researcher at Lund University. “It seems like it’s good to eat lingonberries, but we want to first now look at the mechanisms behind this.”