Benefits
Source of ellagitannins such as sanguiin H-6 and lambertianin C
In an analysis of foods eaten in Finland, cloudberry was one of only five berries, among 33 foods screened, with measurable ellagitannins. Lab analysis identifies its main ellagitannins as sanguiin H-6 and lambertianin C, with pedunculagin and free and bound ellagic acid. This is a composition note, not a measured health effect in people.
Vitamin C from the fresh berry
The Norwegian food composition table lists 95 mg of vitamin C, 3.2 mg of vitamin E and 6 g of fiber per 100 g of raw cloudberries. Nordic texts from 1593 and 1635 praised the berry against scurvy, the illness of vitamin C lack; that is history, not a modern trial. Jams and other sweetened products differ from the raw berry.
Cloudberry puree eaten with white bread
In a controlled crossover meal study in healthy women, 150 g of cloudberry puree eaten with white bread did not significantly lower the insulin response or improve the glucose profile compared with bread alone. In the same series of tests, strawberries, bilberries, lingonberries and chokeberries did lower the insulin response.
Daily strawberry, raspberry and cloudberry mix
In an 8-week randomized controlled trial in Finnish adults with features of metabolic syndrome, 300 g a day of a berry mix that was one third cloudberry was compared with a low-berry diet. Most outcomes did not differ between groups, and most berry eaters produced urolithins. The result cannot be credited to cloudberry alone.
Inflammation and liver markers in mice fed cloudberry (animal work)
In mice on a high-fat diet, feed with 20% air-dried cloudberry powder for 6 or 12 weeks prevented rises in an inflammation marker and the liver enzyme ALT and lowered cholesterol and fasting glucose at 6 weeks but not significantly at 12, without changing weight gain. In another mouse study, a cloudberry extract prevented a rise in insulin and was linked to less liver fat. Neither has been tested in people.
Effects on bacteria and digestive enzymes in lab tests
In lab dishes, cloudberry and raspberry were the strongest of eight Nordic berries at slowing the growth of gut pathogens, with Staphylococcus and Salmonella the most sensitive, with ellagitannins active against Staphylococcus and other compounds, such as organic acids, behind much of the Salmonella effect. Nordic berry extracts including cloudberry also slowed starch-digesting enzymes in test tubes. No human data.
Radical scavenging by its ellagitannins in lab tests
Ellagitannins isolated from cloudberries were strong radical scavengers in test tube assays and slowed the oxidation of human LDL particles and lipid emulsions outside the body. Isolated compounds tested in a dish do not show what eating the berry does in people, and no human study has measured this for cloudberry.
Mechanism of action
Ellagitannins and urolithins
Gut bacteria break ellagitannins down into urolithins. In the 8-week berry-mix trial, how much of the berry ellagitannins became available appeared to depend on each person's gut bacteria, and most participants given berries produced urolithins. Cloudberry was one of three berries in that mix.
Inflammatory signaling in fat and liver tissue (animal work)
In high-fat-fed mice, cloudberry powder blocked the rise in inflammation-related genes such as Mcp1, Cxcl14, Tnfa and S100a8 in liver and fat tissue. This is a proposed route seen in mice, not a measured effect in people.
Gut and liver signaling in mice (animal work)
In mice on a high-fat, high-sucrose diet, cloudberry extract raised liver Akt signaling, lowered circulating endotoxins and was linked to a bloom of the gut bacterium Akkermansia muciniphila, changes the authors tie to better insulin clearance by the liver. These were extract doses in mice.
Enzyme inhibition in test tubes
Nordic berry extracts including cloudberry inhibited alpha-amylase and alpha-glucosidase, enzymes that break down starch and sugars, and cloudberry was among the most potent of 14 berries against 15-lipoxygenase. Whether eating the berry does this in the human gut is untested, and the meal study above found no significant effect.
Clinical trials
Three randomized, controlled crossover 2-hour meal studies in healthy women; in the second, white wheat bread (50 g available starch) was eaten with 150 g of raspberry, cloudberry or chokeberry puree, or alone as the reference; outcomes were postprandial glucose and insulin responses (Törrönen et al. 2013, J Nutr)
Healthy women, 13 to 20 per meal study; cloudberries were tested in the second of the three studies.
Cloudberry puree was not among the berries that significantly reduced the insulin response or improved the glycemic profile compared with bread alone. In the same series, strawberries, bilberries, lingonberries and chokeberries lowered the insulin response, and only strawberries and a four-berry mix improved the glycemic profile.
Randomized controlled trial in adults with symptoms of metabolic syndrome: 100 g strawberry puree, 100 g frozen raspberries and 100 g frozen cloudberries daily for 8 weeks versus a habitual diet with restricted berry intake; a bilberry arm was reported separately; registered as NCT01414647 with a grant from Tekes, the Finnish technology agency (Puupponen-Pimiä et al. 2013, Mol Nutr Food Res)
Overweight Finnish adults aged 50 to 65 with at least two further metabolic risk features (registry criteria); a later report by the same group gives 20 in the berry group and 12 controls.
Most measured outcomes did not differ between the berry and control groups, with small favorable shifts reported in a few markers. About a third of those given berries showed shifts in their bacterial profiles, and most produced urolithins, the bacterial breakdown products of ellagitannins. Cloudberry was one third of the berries, so no result can be credited to it alone.
Mouse study: 72 male mice on a low-fat diet, a high-fat diet, or a high-fat diet with 20% by weight air-dried cloudberry powder for 6 or 12 weeks; the powder came from Kiantama Ltd, which employs one author. No people took part (Pemmari et al. 2022, Nutrients)
Male C57BL/6N mice, 12 per group; not a human study.
Cloudberry did not change weight gain, but it prevented the rise in the inflammation marker serum amyloid A and the liver enzyme ALT and damped inflammation-related genes in liver and fat tissue. Blood cholesterol and fasting glucose were lower than on the high-fat diet at 6 weeks but not significantly at 12 weeks, and glucose tolerance did not improve. Mouse results on a 20% berry-powder diet may not carry over to people eating the berry.
Mouse study: male C57BL/6J mice on a high-fat, high-sucrose diet were given oral extracts of one of five Arctic berries, including cloudberry, or vehicle for 8 weeks, with a standard-chow reference group. No people took part (Anhê et al. 2018, Diabetologia)
Male C57BL/6J mice; not a human study.
Cloudberry extract, along with alpine bearberry and lingonberry extracts, prevented the rise in fasting and post-meal insulin and was linked to less liver fat, lower circulating endotoxins and a bloom of Akkermansia muciniphila; bog blueberry and crowberry extracts did not. No extract changed body weight gain. These are extract doses in mice, not an effect measured in people.