Exploring The Bilberry Eye Health Benefits

Bilberry is a great food to consume regularly. This plant looks much like blueberry – it is thus often referred to as the wild blueberry, and it is a member of the same family as cranberry as well as blueberry.

Bilberry has very high antioxidant content and can really improve your cardiovascular health and digestion. It has also been found to benefit eye health. In the Second World War, British air pilots ate bilberry to improve their eyesight, and now there is evidence to suggest that bilberry is great for eye health.

So, what’s the bilberry eye health connection?

The strong antioxidant qualities of bilberry help it fight effectively against free radicals that are behind the cell destruction in the body. These antioxidants help to keep the veins from aging and can thus help in protecting the eye against many health conditions.

The very important antioxidant that provides bilberry eye health benefits is a flavonoid called anthocyanosides. According to the Eye Health Center reporting in 2008, these anthocyanosides enhance microcirculation in the body. They are especially good in supplying important nutrients and improving the circulation in the small blood vessels in the retina of the eye. The retina is really important for eye health because all major functions of vision occur in it. They are useful also in protecting the collagen structures in the body, especially again in the eye.

There are many studies that affirm bilberry’s eye health benefits. It can be used in many eye conditions and there are some studies that suggest it can even improve the visual accuracy in healthy people when consumed orally. Health with Food reports that bilberry has been studied widely and found to “improve night time visual acuity, reduce eyestrain, and promote quicker adjustment to darkness.”

There are two eye health conditions, macular degeneration and retinopathy, that have clinically been proven to be positively impacted by bilberry consumption.

Pages: 1 2