Bilberry May Ease the Damages Caused by Stress
Lee Swanson Research Update
Extracts from bilberry may reduce stress-induced damage in the liver, according to a new study with mice.
Chinese researchers restrained mice to induce oxidative stress, and found that five days of supplementation with bilberry extract exerted a protective antioxidant activity.
"Our results showed that bilberry extract attenuated oxidative stress by changing the oxidative status and improving antioxidative processes in mice subjected to stress," study authors wrote in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. If the results can be repeated in humans, bilberry extract could be positioned as a potential supplement for people leading a stressful lifestyle.
Previous studies have shown that restraint of an animal promotes lipid peroxidation in liver tissue, said the researchers. This in turn leads to oxidative damage. Serious liver damage was observed in the new study after the mice had been restrained for 18 hours. This was associated with increases in blood levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and decreases in the oxidative activity of the blood, measured by the oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) values in the plasma.
Mice supplemented with an anthocyanin-rich bilberry extract at doses of 50, 100 and 200 mg per kg per day experienced lower ALT levels than non-supplemented restrained animals (17.23 versus 107.68 units per liter, respectively).
Moreover, levels of malondialdehyde (MDA)—a by-product of lipid peroxidation—were significantly lower in the bilberry-supplemented groups, said the researchers.
Blood levels of vitamin C were also found to be significantly lowered following restraint of the animals, with free mice having average vitamin C levels of almost 400 mcg per gram of tissue, compared to only 173 mcg per gram in the stressed, un-supplemented animals.
Following supplementation with 100 or 200 mg per kg per day of the bilberry extract, vitamin C levels were measured at 347 and 451 mcg per gram of tissue, respectively.
"This study showed the beneficial health effects of bilberry extract through its antioxidative action," the researchers concluded.
Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 56(17):7802-7807, 2008
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