Bilberry
In
WW II, Royal Air Force pilots had a lot of success shooting down German
warplanes. Why was this? Well, they said they were using bilberries.
While they weren't actually firing bilberries from their guns, they
were eating them. The pilots said that before dog fights they would
stock up on bilberry jam. Bilberry is very much like a blueberry.
It grows on little shrubs mostly in Europe. The suggestion was that
this made them see better in the dark.
Well,
can it really do that? I suspect that their success actually had more
to do with radar than to bilberries. However, believe it or not there
are actually compounds in bilberry that have been linked to eye health.
These are called anthocyanins and they are instrumental in the formation
of rhodopsin, a protein found in the retina. This is essential for
seeing well in the dark. But, perhaps even more interesting is the
possibility that the ingredients in bilberry can help with certain
eye problems.
Some studies have shown that cataracts do not form as extensively
in people who take bilberry supplements. Even a terrible disease called
macular degeneration can progress more slowly if there is a sufficient
level of these anthocyanins in their blood. Furthermore, the kind
of blood vessels in the eye and the rest of our capillaries are less
prone to hemorrhaging and breaking if there is a high level of anthocyanins.
So that's what we need to look for in bilberry. Anthocyanins are the
active ingredient. There is no risk with taking any of these, but
you want to look for some standardized preparation. You want to make
sure that any pills you take have 500 to 1000 milligrams of bilberry
extract and are standardized to 25% anthocyanins. That will make you
see better.
