Bilberry is a small shrub found on heaths where it grows to about 60 centimeters tall. You will find many eye formulas that contain bilberry, including Eyesight Rx. This herb has more than a dozen anthocyanosides for eye health.
    Bilberry is one of the most popular herbs on the market today. During World War II when British air pilots ate bilberries, they reported an improved ability to adjust to glare and an increase in their visual acuity and nighttime vision. Extracts show promise in the areas of diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration, cataracts, glaucoma, varicose veins and other health conditions.

Bilberry side effects, adverse events, toxicity
No major bilberry side effects have been reported in the medical literature. One cannot imagine any unpleasant medical reaction to eating jam or drinking the juice. However, since bilberry extract supplements have only been available for a few years, we don't know if high doses cause side effects in the long term. To minimize any potential adverse reactions, take a day or two off each week from your product use.

Dose
It is not clear at this time what the ideal bilberry dose would be. For the time being, a dose of 10 to 100 mg of a 100:1 extract comprised of 25% anthocyanosides a few times a week should suffice.

Buy Bilberry Extract, 80 mg, 60 Capsules
Bilberry Extract, also referred to as blueberry, is a potent extract yielding key bioflavonoids and antioxidants called anthocyanosides, anthocyanins, ellagitannins, and proanthocyanidins. A controlled extraction process guarantees at least 25% anthocyanosides.

Supplement Facts:
Bilberry Fruit Standardized Extract - 80 mg (Vaccinium myrtillus) Yielding 20 mg anthocyanosides

Suggested Use: 1 capsule a few times a week, or as recommended by your health care professional.

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Bilberry jam and juice
The jam is a healthy way to improve your eyesight, however there is a concern of too much sugar being added to the jam. The juice is often mixed with other fruit juices.

Vitamin content
Bilberry has vitamin A and Vitamin C along with many beneficial flavonoids.

Anthocyanidins and antioxidant influence
Anthocyanosides are the pharmacologically active constituents of bilberries. They consist of a backbone known as anthocyanidin which is bound to one of three sugars: arabinose, glucose, or galactose. Five different anthocyanidins in bilberry produce more than fifteen different anthocyanosides. The fresh fruit contains an anthocyanoside concentration of 0.1 to 0.25 percent. A concentrated bilberry extract however yields 25% anthocyanidin content, which corresponds to about 38% anthocyanosides. Anthocyanins and other phenolics upregulate oxidative stress defense enzymes.

Inhibition of protein and lipid oxidation in liposomes by berry phenolics.
J Agric Food Chem. 2004.
The antioxidant activity of berry phenolics such as anthocyanins, ellagitannins, and proanthocyanidins from raspberry (Rubus idaeus), bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus), lingonberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea), and black currant (Ribes nigrum) was investigated. The antioxidant protection toward lipid oxidation was best provided by lingonberry and bilberry phenolics followed by black currant and raspberry phenolics. Bilberry and raspberry phenolics exhibited the best overall antioxidant activity toward protein oxidation. Berries are rich in monomeric and polymeric phenolic compounds providing protection toward both lipid and protein oxidation.

Comparison of HPLC methods for determination of anthocyanins and anthocyanidins in bilberry extracts.
J Agric Food Chem. 2004.
The HPLC method coupled with a mass detector has identified 11 anthocyanins in bilberry extracts. Five major anthocyanidin aglycones: delphinidin, cyanidin, petunidin, peonidin, and malvidin. Each of these aglycones can be separated completely and quantitated accurately with external standards.

Cancer prevention
Anthocyanin-rich extracts inhibit multiple biomarkers of colon cancer in rats.
Nutr Cancer. 2006.
The purpose of the present study was to investigate the activity of anthocyanin-rich extracts from bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus L.), chokeberry (Aronia meloncarpa E.), and grape (Vitis vinifera) by assessing multiple biomarkers of colon cancer in male rats treated with a colon carcinogen, azoxymethane. The results support previous in vitro studies suggesting a protective role of berry extracts in colon carcinogenesis and indicate multiple mechanisms of action.

Induction of apoptosis in cancer cells by Vaccinium myrtillus and the anthocyanins.
J Agric Food Chem. 2003.
Among ethanol extracts of 10 edible berries, bilberry extract was found to be the most effective at inhibiting the growth of HL60 human leukemia cells and HCT116 human colon carcinoma cells in vitro. Bilberry extract and the anthocyanins, bearing delphinidin or malvidin as the aglycon, inhibit the growth of HL60 cells through the induction of apoptosis. Only pure delphinidin and the glycoside, but not malvidin and the glycoside, inhibited the growth of HCT116 cells.

Blood pressure and ACE inhibiting effect
Effect of Vaccinium myrtillus and its polyphenols on angiotensin-converting enzyme activity in human endothelial cells.
J Agric Food Chem. 2009..
This study evaluates if the connection between bilberry and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) might be an explanation of the pharmacological effects on circulation. It may thus have the potential to prevent and protect against cardiovascular diseases.

Heart disease benefit
Thirty-one participants were given the bilberry juice while another thirty-one participants were given water for 4 weeks. The results were the group drinking it experienced significant decreases in plasma concentrations of C-reactive protein (rises when there is inflammation), interleukin (IL)-6, IL-15, and monokine induced by INF-gamma. The authors wrote “These findings suggest that supplementation with bilberry polyphenols may modulate the inflammation processes. Bilberry juice modulates plasma concentration of NF-kappaB related inflammatory markers in subjects at increased risk of CVD. Eur J Nutr. 2010.

Macular degeneration
Dietary supplementation with bilberry extract prevents macular degeneration and cataracts in senesce-accelerated OXYS rats.
Adv Gerontol. 2005.
Cataracts and macular degeneration remain the major cause of blindness and acuity of vision deterioration in the elderly. Both pathology have been attributed to damage by free radicals, there has been a great deal of interest in antioxidants. Our results suggest that long-term supplementation with bilberry extract is effective in prevention of macular degeneration and cataract.

Memory
Effect of lyophilised Vaccinium berries on memory, anxiety and locomotion in adult rats.
Pharmacol Res. 2005.
Epidemiological studies suggest that diets with a high intake of vegetables and fruits may reduce the incidence of degenerative disorders including Alzheimer's disease. Berries are some of the popular fruits consumed worldwide. They are considered to be rich in anthocyanin pigments, a group belonging to the flavonoids, a widespread class of phenolic compounds. Anthocyanins have notorious pharmacological properties, and have been used in humans for therapeutic purposes. The present experiments were performed to study the possible effects of prolonged administration of lyophilised Vaccinium berries (blueberry, bilberry) on cognitive performance using step-down inhibitory avoidance, open field, elevated plus-maze, and radial maze tasks. During this experiment the rats consumed approximately 3.2mgkg/day (oral), of the anthocyanins. Our results suggest that lyophilised bilberries may be beneficial in the prevention of memory deficits, one of the symptoms related to Alzheimers disease, and corroborate previous findings showing that flavonoids present effects in several learning paradigms.

Resveratrol content
Resveratrol in raw and baked blueberries and bilberries.
J Agric Food Chem. 2003.
Resveratrol in the fruits of bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus), the lowbush "wild" blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium), the rabbiteye blueberry (Vaccinium ashei), and the highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) were measured. Although blueberries and bilberries were found to contain resveratrol, the level of this chemoprotective compound in these fruits was <10% that reported for grapes. Furthermore, cooking or heat processing of these berries will contribute to the degradation of resveratrol.

Vision, cataract, macular degeneration
Some of you history buffs may recall that during World War II, British Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots mentioned that their night vision was clearer whenever they ate bilberry preserves before starting out on their evening bombing raids.

Dietary supplementation with bilberry extract prevents macular degeneration and cataracts in senesce-accelerated OXYS rats
Adv Gerontol. 2005.
Bilberry flavonoids are known as potent antioxidants, scavenging free radicals and used for multiple age-related ocular disorders. Senescence-accelerated rats with early senile cataract and macular degeneration were used. From 1.5 to 3 month rats were given control diets or those supplemented with 25% bilberry extract (20 mg on kg of body weight including 4.5 mg of antocianidin) or vitamin E (40 mg/kg) as drag for comparison. The testing at 3 month showed that more then 70% of control rats had cataract and macular degeneration while the supplementation of bilberry extract completely prevented impairments in the lenses and retina.

Anthocyanosides of Vaccinium myrtillus for night vision -- a systematic review of placebo-controlled trials.
Surv Ophthalmol. 2004.
We have systematically reviewed placebo-controlled trials of bilberry -extracted anthocyanosides for evidence of positive effects on night vision. The hypothesis that bilberry anthocyanosides improves normal night vision is not supported by evidence from rigorous clinical studies. There is a complete absence of rigorous research into the effects of the bilberry extract on subjects suffering impaired night vision due to pathological eye conditions. Evidence from methodologically weaker trials and auxiliary evidence from animal studies, trials of synthetic anthocyanosides, and a recent randomized controlled trial of Ribes nigrum (black currant) anthocyanosides may warrant further trials of bilberry anthocyanosides in subjects with impaired night vision.

The effect of bilberry extract nutritional supplementation on night visual acuity and contrast sensitivity.
Altern Med Rev. 2000..
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of bilberry on night visual acuity and night contrast sensitivity. The subjects were young males with good vision; eight received placebo and seven received active capsules for three weeks. Active capsules contained 160 mg of bilberry extract (25-percent anthocyanosides), and the placebo capsules contained only inactive ingredients. Subjects ingested one active or placebo capsule three times daily for 21 days. The current study failed to find an effect of bilberry on night VA or night CS for a high dose of bilberry taken for a significant duration. Hence, the current study casts doubt on the proposition that bilberry supplementation, in the forms currently available and in the doses recommended, is an effective treatment for the improvement of night vision in this population.

Use with other supplements and herbs
It can be used in low amounts in combination with several herbs and extracts including tongkat ali cranberry, pomegranate, and curcumin.