Strawberry

Scientific Name(s): Fragaria ananassa, Fragaria x ananassa, Duch.
Common Name(s): Strawberry

Medically reviewed by Drugs.com. Last updated on May 23, 2022.

Clinical Overview

Use

Wild strawberry has likely been used for thousands of years, based on evidence from pre-Columbian sites. Epidemiological and interventional studies reveal potential beneficial effects of strawberries on cellular inflammation and oxidation, some cardiometabolic disorders, immunomodulation, metabolic dysregulation, and some neurological conditions. Strawberries have been evaluated in some cancers, but clinical data are lacking to support use.

Dosing

Fresh strawberry dosages have ranged from 250 to 500 g/day, given for up to 1 month. Freeze-dried strawberry powder dosages have ranged from 10 to 60 g/day for up to 6 months. In clinical studies, 1 g of freeze-dried strawberries (at 10% of fresh weight) was equivalent to approximately 10 g of fresh strawberries.

Contraindications

Known allergy to strawberries; cross-sensitivity may occur in birch pollen–allergic individuals.

Pregnancy/Lactation

Information regarding safety and efficacy in pregnancy and lactation is lacking.

Interactions

None well documented.

Adverse Reactions

Allergic reactions (itching, dermatitis) to red ripe strawberries (but not the mutated white genotype) have been reported. A case report of a local reaction to an artificial strawberry-scented anesthetic face mask was reported in a 9-year-old girl. In clinical studies assessing adverse effects of dietary supplementation with strawberries, no adverse events occurred with 6 to 12 weeks of supplementation.

Toxicology

No data.

Scientific Family

• Rosaceae

Botany

Strawberries (Fragaria spp) belong to the Rose (Rosaceae) family and grow across a broad range of temperate habitats and elevations. Fragaria has unusual fruit morphology in that it has an aggregate accessory fruit. The fruit, which is consumed, is a fleshy receptacle in which the botanical fruits (dry achenes) are embedded. The seed in the achene matures in a coordinated manner with the receptacle as it softens and expands. This low-growing herbaceous perennial is pollinated by insects and capable of clonal growth, and its accessory fruits are dispersed by animals. The leaves are usually evergreen and generally trifolioliate; however, Fragaria iinumae is deciduous, and some Chinese species have 5 leaflets. Flowers are white and can be tinged with pink. Nine related species (the China clade) are distributed throughout China, Himalayan countries, and Japan, while another 11 species (the vesca clade) are found in northern Eurasia, North and South America, and Hawaii.1

History

Wild strawberry has likely been consumed by humans for thousands of years; it grows throughout the Northern Hemisphere and in a disjunct manner in southern South America. Limited archaeobotanical evidence has uncovered strawberry achenes (seeds) from pre-Columbian sites in eastern North America. The Picunche and Mapuche people of Chile domesticated Fragaria chiloensis more than 1,000 years ago. In Europe, Fragaria vesca (the alpine strawberry) has been grown in gardens since at least Roman times, and the musk-flavored Fragaria moschata (hautboy) and Fragaria viridis (green strawberry) since the 16th century. The North and South American species Fragaria virginiana and F. chiloensis, which hybridize naturally in northwestern North America, are the parental species of the domesticated European F. x ananassa, which originated in the 18th century. Although strawberries have been primarily valued for their flavor, medicinal claims have been acknowledged for cent...