Diabetes Super-berry
Research shows that all berries in the vaccinium family help reduce the body’s glucose response after eating a high sugar meal. These berries have anthocyanosides, polyphenols and other nutrients that have excellent antioxidant properties. They scavenge damaging particles in the body known as free radicals, helping prevent or reverse damage to cells.
Bilberry and its leaves, have been used for centuries to help manage blood sugar levels in people with diabetes. In a survey of 685 Italian herbalists, bilberry ranked fourth in a list of herbal remedies recommended for improvement of glycemic control.1
Part of the reason might be that the anthocyanin content was four times higher in bilberries than in black currants!
What Does Bilberry Do?
The hypoglycemic effect of bilberry is thought to interrupt the enzyme activity of α-glucosidase and effects on insulin secretion and glucose transport.2 Cyanidins and delphinidins (the major anthocyanins in bilberry) showed the greatest effect in stimulating insulin secretion from cultured rodent pancreatic B cells and helping glucose transport into muscle cells.3
Bilberry leave extract caused a significant decrease in blood glucose (by 33% and 51%) in an animal study.4
Obesity is a strong predisposing factor for type 2 diabetes. Berry polyphenols may help prevent obesity by inhibiting digestive enzymes, such as lipase, thereby lowering fat absorption. These changes indicate a role for anthocyanins in preventing metabolic syndrome, an increasingly common condition associated with insulin resistance, hypertension, and dyslipidemia that often progresses to type 2 diabetes.5
There are many more studies providing good evidence of a role for bilberry in treating or preventing type 2 diabetes. Benefits would come from increasing insulin secretion and glucose transport. Antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and lipid-lowering effects would help delay the serious vascular complications of diabetes. Controlling obesity would help prevent many cases of type 2 diabetes.
While more human studies are needed, we do not want to ignore the historical usage of bilberry either. Therefore, we have added it to our formula.
References
- Cicero A. F. G, Derosa G, Gaddi A. What do herbalists suggest to diabetic patients in order to improve glycemic control? Evaluation of scientific evidence and potential risk. Acta Diabetol. 2004;41:91–8.
- McDougall G.J, Kulkarni N.N, Stewart D. Current developments on the inhibitory effects of berry polyphenols on digestive enzymes.Biofactors. 2008;34:73–80.
- Jayaprakasam B, Vareed S.K, Olsen L.K, Nair M.G. Insulin secretion by bioactive anthocyanins and anthocyanins present in fruits. J Agric Food Chem. 2005;53:28–31.
- Martineau L.C, Couture A, Spoor D, et al., editors. Anti-diabetic properties of the Canadian low-bush blueberry Vaccinium angustifolium Ait. Phytomedicine. 2006;13:612–23.
- McDougall G.J, Kulkarni N.N, Stewart D. Current developments on the inhibitory effects of berry polyphenols on digestive enzymes.Biofactors. 2008;34:73–80.
Cignarella A, Nastasi M, Cavalli E, Puglisi L. Novel lipid lowering properties of Vaccinium myrtillus L. leaves, a traditional antidiabetic treatment, in several models of rat dyslipidaemia: A comparison with clofibrate. Thromb Res. 1996;84:311–22.