Ian has been looking at the potential health benefits of eating a diet enriched with cranberries. Cranberries were chosen as a point of interest because they contain large amounts of antioxidants, which have been shown to possess a variety of health benefits.
For his summer research, he conducted experiments with two groups of mice: one group was normal (or control) mice and the 
second group was bred to be deficient in a gene called apoE. These mice are prone to develop atherosclerosis, commonly called hardening of the arteries, a major cardiovascular disease and risk factor for heart attack and stroke. Within these groups, mice were fed either a high fat control diet (developed by the American Institute of Nutrition in 1993; so-called AIN-93), or a high fat AIN '93 diet that had been enriched with 5% cranberry by weight. The study was carried out for 8 weeks, and regular blood and urine samples were collected to test for cholesterol, other fats, and various markers of cardiovascular disease, inflammation and antioxidant status. He has also removed the brain, heart, lungs, liver and kidneys so they can be analysed for other markers of cardiovascular disease.
Student Research