Blue 2 - Blueberry extract

Blueberries

Blueberries increase circulation to the capillaries of the eyes, which results in improved eyesight and reduced oxidation in these tissues. It is useful for preventing diabetic retinopathy as well as treating night blindness, macular degeneration and cataracts. Blueberry concentrate is also beneficial for strengthening all other capillaries, arteries and veins. It can also be used for reducing capillary fragility and permeability in conditions such as varicose veins. An antioxidant/anti-inflammatory, it reduces free radical- caused inflammation and histamine release (allergies).

Recent studies in animals have shown that as little as 1/2 cup of Blueberries per day can reduce symptoms of aging (memory loss, cognitive and motor impairment) and may help to prevent cancer, heart disease and arthralgia’s. Blueberries, like other Vaccinium species (Bilberry, Huckleberry, Cranberry) contain flavonoids such as anthocyanin’s, which are potent antioxidants. Blueberries had the highest antioxidant capacity of 40 fruits and vegetables tested by the USDA. These berries have a powerful ability to protect against free radical damage, inhibit enzymes, which may promote cancer, reduce histamine production and act as an anti-inflammatory nutrient to connective tissue.

Blueberries Overcome Mental Ageing, Damage

The link between diet, specifically antioxidants, and brain health gained further ground last week with new studies suggesting that antioxidant-rich blueberries can both help fight ageing and reduce some of the functional damage caused by brain injury. Researchers at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico (UNAM) and the University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL) reported at last week’s Society for Neuroscience meeting that a blueberry-enriched antioxidant diet prevents an age-related increase in a protein (NF-kappaB) that responds to oxidative stress, a probable cause of brain Ageing. Two years ago the same team had shown such a diet to prevent age-related deterioration of object recognition memory in aged rats.

''Our findings fit into an emerging pattern of data from many laboratories that point to a build-up of oxidative damage as one of the key factors in brain ageing,'' said Pilar Goyarzu, a doctoral student at UNAM under the direction of Dr David Malin and Francis Lau. ''The findings also suggest that diets rich in natural antioxidants have the potential to slow down this damage.''

For the current study, Goyarzu fed rats a blueberry-enriched diet. NF-kappaB levels were then assayed in five different brain regions involved in memory processes (the hippocampus, frontal cortex, striatum, basal forebrain, and cerebellum). The aged rats on the blueberry-enriched diet had lower NF-kappaB levels than aged rats fed a control data. Young control rats also had lower NF-kappaB levels than the aged control rats.

''We also found that among the aged rats, the higher the NF-kappaB levels, the poorer their memory scores,'' said Goyarzu. The researchers are now studying the effects of ageing and diet on other proteins that mediate the effects of oxidative stress in the brain.

A second study presented at the conference by the US National Institute on Ageing's (NIA) Gerontology Research Centre in Baltimore, Maryland, found that blueberries could help lessen some of the functional damage caused by a brain injury. ''Our results suggest that the consumption of blueberries and perhaps other fruits and vegetables could have a positive neurological impact on the Ageing brain, Alzheimer's disease, and other neurological disorders,'' said Edward Spangler, the lead author of the study.

Spangler and his colleagues fed one group of young rats a diet supplemented with a 2 per cent blueberry extract; another group was fed the same diet, but without the extract. After two to three months, all the animals received chemically induced lesions in their hippocampus, a region deep within the brain that plays an essential role in learning and memory. Damage to the hippocampus results in an inability to remember recent events.

The researchers then tested the animals' ability to learn a complicated maze task. The rats that had been fed the blueberry extract were significantly less impaired at performing the task than those that did not receive the extract. ''We believe the blueberries contain a particular group of as-yet unidentified bioactive chemicals that ameliorate the functional consequences of brain damage, including a loss of the ability to learn or remember recent events,'' said Spangler.

A third study, by researchers at the University of Maryland and the US Department of Agriculture in Boston, found that an antioxidant-rich diet may help stave off the harmful, immediate effects of certain cosmic radiation, findings which could help protect future astronauts from the dangerous effects produced by extended radiation exposure on long-term space missions, they said. A three-year European-funded collaborative research project, begun in 2000, is currently investigating the functional properties of anthocyanin’s, the compounds that give berries their colour, and their influence on heart disease (https://www.nutraingredients.com/Article/2003/11/17/Blueberries-overcome-mental-ageing-damage).

Antioxidant Capacity

Among twenty-four fruits investigated, blueberries were found to have the highest total antioxidant capacity (TAC) in an oxygen radical absorbance capacity assay (13427 TAC/serving; Wu et al., 2004). In a cell-based assay, wild blueberries also showed the highest cellular antioxidant activity (Wolfe et al., 2008). Wild blueberries (Vaccinium angustifolium) are originally from North America and Canada. Maine is the largest producer in the world with blueberries being cultivated on over 60,000 acres. There are over 400 species of blueberries. High bush blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum, is the most commercialized species growing on over 100,000 acres in the US and Canada. High bush blueberry is cultivated predominantly in the northern states while in the southern states rabbit eye blueberry (Vaccinium ashei) is the species mostly produced. In Europe, bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) is the most common species (Mizuno & Rimando, 2015).

Metabolic Effects and Weight Loss

Serratia vaccinii, a new strain of bacteria isolated from blueberry fruits, when used in the fermentation of blueberry juice, resulted in an increase in the phenolic content and antioxidant activity of the juice (Martin and Matar, 2005). In an in vivo study, bio transformed blueberry juice incorporated in the drinking water of KKAy mice (phenotypically obese with development of hyperleptinemia, insulin resistance, hyperinsulinemia, diabetes, dyslipidaemia, and hypertension) protected the young mice from developing glucose intolerance and diabetes (Vuong et al., 2009). The bio transformed blueberry juice also caused a significant reduction in mice body weight gains. These results suggested the juice had anti-diabetic and strong anti-obesity potential. In one other study, blueberry powder incorporated in the high-fat diet of male C57BL/6J mice protected against inflammation of adipose tissue (DeFuria et al., 2009). Adipose tissue inflammation promotes insulin resistance and other obesity complications. Inflammatory genes (tumor necrosis factor-a, interleukin-6, monocyte chemo attractant protein 1, inducible nitric oxide synthase) were upregulated in the adipose tissues of mice fed with high-fat diet, while in mice fed diet fortified with blueberry powder gene up regulation was attenuated or non-existent. Together with other results obtained on adipocyte physiology, the data from this study suggested dietary blueberry could provide metabolic benefits to combat obesity-associated pathology (Mizuno & Rimando, 2015).

Hyperlipidaemia

The correlation between cholesterol levels and risk of coronary heart diseases has been previously established. Hyperlipidaemia is the major cause of atherosclerosis, which is one of the leading causes of cardiac deaths worldwide. Atherosclerosis is the accumulation of fat in the blood vessels resulting in narrowing of the lumen of artery. Free hydroxy radicals are the major cause of oxidative damage to low density lipoproteins (LDL), which are responsible for the development of atherosclerosis in hyperlipidemic patients (Parthasarathy, 1992; Cignarella et al., 1996) reported the lipid lowering activity of blueberries for the first time. Blueberry leaf extracts administered orally to streptozotocin-diabetic rats decreased plasma triglycerides levels by 39%. The results were confirmed using different models of hyperlipidaemia. Extracts of blueberry leaves also showed lipid-lowering activity in Yoshida rats, a genetic model of hypertriglyceridemia. Supplementation of pig basal diets (containing 70% of soya, oats and barley) with blueberries reduced blood lipid levels. At 2% of blueberries, total cholesterol was lowered by 11.7%, LDL by 15.1% and HDL by 8.3% (Kalt et al., 2008). The lipid lowering effect of blueberries was attenuated when plant based components was decreased from 70 to 20%, indicating that blueberry and dietary components might be interacting synergistically to lipid lowering effect. The hypolipidemic activity of blueberries was also demonstrated in another study using bile acids binding assay (Kahlon and Smith, 2006). The effect of blueberries on the lipid metabolism of OLETF (Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty) rats, an animal model of type 2 diabetes with obesity, has also been investigated. Serum cholesterol and phospholipids levels were decreased, in a dose-dependent manner, in OLEFT rats fed freeze-dried blueberry leaves. The hepatic levels of cholesterol and phospholipids were also lowered, but not significantly (Nagao et al., 2008). Biological assays analysing the effects on the activity of enzymes involved in lipid metabolism suggested that the hypolipidemic activity of the leaves might be due to the inhibition of fatty acid synthase, a key enzyme in fatty acid synthesis, and to the activation of carnitine palmitoyl-transferase, an important enzyme involved in fatty acid beta-oxidation (Nagao et al., 2008). In a study using male Wistar rats the effects of daily intake of blueberries with those of spontaneous exercise were compared (Hamazu et al., 2005). Serum HDL-cholesterol level in rats fed with diet supplemented with blueberry paste every day was higher than those of the control rats, in one part of the study. Another part of the study rats was maintained in high-fat diet. The calcium/elastin level (an index of arterial calcification) was found to be lowest in rats that were supplied with blueberries daily. Blueberries and spontaneous exercise decreased the risk of arteriosclerosis differently (Mizuno & Rimando, 2015).

Ischemic Brain Damage

Supplementation with blueberries has also been shown to protect from ischemic brain damage (Wang et al., 2005). Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed with blueberry- (together with a group fed spinach-, and another group fed spirulina) enriched diets for four weeks. Animals on blueberry (or spinach or spirulina) diets had a significant reduction in the volume of infarction in the cerebral cortex, and an increase in post-stroke locomotor activity compared to the control animals. Another study has also shown that blueberries protected the brain against damage from ischemia (Sweeney et al., 2002). Rats were fed a diet fortified with 14.3% low-bush blueberries, and stroke was simulated by ligation of the left common carotid artery (ischemia), followed by hypoxia. In rats on blueberry-supplemented diet, hypoxia-ischemia resulted in only 17 ± 2% loss (while control rats lost 40 ± 2%) of neurons in the hippocampus of the left cerebral hemisphere, as compared to the right hemisphere. Neuro-protection was observed in the CA1 and CA2 regions, but not CA3 region, of the hippocampus. Results from this study suggested that ischemic stroke outcomes could be improved by inclusion of blueberries in the diet (Mizuno & Rimando, 2015).

References

Abidov M, Ramazanov A, Jimenez Del Rio M, Chkhikvishvili I. (2006). Effect of Blueberin on fasting glucose, C-reactive protein and plasma aminotransferases, in female volunteers with diabetes type 2: double blind, placebo controlled clinical study. Georgian Med News, (141):66-72.

DeFuria, J., Bennett, G., Strissel, K. J., Perfield, J. W., II, Milbury, P. E., Greenberg, A. S., and Obin, M. S. (2009) Dietary blueberry attenuates whole-body insulin resistance in high fat-fed mice by reducing adipocyte death and its inflammatory sequelae. Journal of Nutrition 139(8): 1510-1516.

Hamauzu, Y., Nosaka, T., Ishizuka, Y., and Sugimoto, M. (2005) Effects of daily blueberry intake and spontaneous exercise on risk factors for arteriosclerosis in rats. Nippon Eiyo, Shokuryo Gakkaishi 58(5): 259-266.

Kalt, W., Foote, K., Fillmore, S. A. E., Lyon, Martha., Van Lunen, T. A., and McRae, K. B. (2008) Effect of blueberry feeding on plasma lipids in pigs. British Journal of Nutrition 100(1): 70-78.

Kahlon, T. S. and Smith, G. E. (2006) In vitro binding of bile acids by blueberries (Vaccinium spp.), plums (Prunus spp.), prunes (Prunus spp.), strawberries (Fragaria X ananassa), cherries (Malpighia punicifolia), cranberries (Vaccinium macrocarpon) and apples (Malus sylvestris). Food Chemistry 100(3): 1182-1187.

Matchett MD, MacKinnon, L, Sweeney MI, Gottschall-Pass KT, Hurta, RAR. (2006). Inhibition of matrix metalloproteinase activity in DU145 human prostate cancer cells by flavonoids from lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium): possible roles for protein kinase C and mitogen-activated protein-kinase-mediated events. The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry. doi: 10.1016/j.jnutbio.2005.05.014.

Martin, L. J., and Matar, C. (2005) Increase of antioxidant capacity of the lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium) during fermentation by a novel bacterium from the fruit microflora. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 85(9): 1477-1484.

Mizuno CS and Rimando AM. United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, 
Natural Products Utilization Research Unit
University, 2015, MS 38677-8048

Nagao, K., Higa, K., Shirouchi, B., Nomura, S., Inoue, N., Inafuku, M., and Yanagita, T. (2008) Effect of Vaccinium ashei reade leaves on lipid metabolism in Otsuka Long - Evans Tokushima Fatty rats. Bioscience Biotechnology Biochemistry 72(6): 1619-1622.

Parthasarathy, S., Steinberg, D., and Witztum, J. L. (1992) The role of oxidized low - density lipoproteins in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Annual Review of Medicine 43: 219-225.

Schmidt BM, Erdman Jr JW, Lila MA. (2006). Differential effects of blueberry proanthocyanidins on androgen sensitive and insensitive human prostate cancer cell lines. Cancer Letters, 231(2):240-246. doi: 10.1021/jf049238n.

Sweeney, M. I., Kalt, W., MacKinnon, S. L., Ashby, J., and Gottschall-Pass, K. T. (2002) Feeding rats diets enriched in lowbush blueberries for six weeks decreases ischemia-induced brain damage. Nutritional Neuroscience 5(6): 427-431.

Vuong, T., Benhaddou-Andaloussi, A., Brault, A., Harbilas, D., Martineau, L. C., Vallerand, D., Ramassamy, C., Matar, C., and Haddad, P. S. (2009) Antiobesity and antidiabetic effects of biotransformed blueberry juice in KKAy mice. International Journal of Obesity 33(10): 1166-1173.

Wang, Y., Chang, C.F., Chou, J., Chen, H.L., Deng, X., Harvey, B. K., Cadet, J. L., and Bickford, P. C. (2005) Dietary supplementation with blueberries, spinach, or spirulina reduces ischemic brain damage. Experimental Neurology 193(1): 75-84.

Wedge DE, Meepagala KM, Magee JB, et al. (2001). Anti-carcinogenic Activity of Strawberry, Blueberry, and Raspberry Extracts to Breast and Cervical Cancer Cells. Journal of Medicinal Food, 4(1):49-51. doi: 10.1089/10966200152053703.

Wolfe, K. L., Kang, X., He, X., Dong, M., Zhang, Q., and Liu, R.-H. (2008) Cellular antioxidant activity of common fruits. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 56(18): 8418-8426.

Wu, X., Beecher, G. R., Holden, J. M., Haytowitz, D. B., Gebhardt, S. E., and Prior, R. L. (2004) Lipophilic and Hydrophilic Antioxidant Capacities of Common Foods in the United States. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 52(12): 4026-4037.

Yarborough, D. E. (2009) Wild blueberry fact sheet [Online URL: www.wildblueberries.maine.edu/ PDF/Production/220.pdf] accessed on August 21, 2009.

Yi W, Fischer J, Krewer G, Akoh C. (2005). Phenolic Compounds from Blueberries Can Inhibit Colorectal Cancer Cell Proliferation and Induce Apoptosis. J. Agric. Food Chem, 53(18):7320–7329. doi: 10.1021/jf051333o