Bilberry Protects Your Vision Against Eye Strain (Asthenopia), According to Studies

By Kyle J. Norton

On seeking natural therapy with no side effects, scientists may have a whole fruit for the prevention and treatment of asthenopia (eye strain), according to studies.

Asthenopia is a condition characterized by nonspecific symptoms such as fatigue, pain in or around the eyes, blurred vision, headache, and occasional double vision.

Symptoms occur mostly in the people who have spent a long time in the visual task focusing, such as prolonged reading on the screen or newspaper.

Some researchers suggested by giving the eye some rest such as looking on a distant object at least once an hour can be helpful in alleviating the problem.

Mechanically, eye muscle imbalance or uncorrected vision can also cause asthenopia. 

Symptoms of asthenopia include sore or irritated eyes dry or watery eyes,  blurred or double vision and increased sensitivity to light.

Some people may also experience symptoms of trouble focusing and pain in the neck, shoulder, and neck.

If you experience some of the above symptoms, you may have asthenopia, please make sure you check with your doctor for preventive measure.

Some researchers suggested that asthenopia may also be a symptom in people with a chronic headache.

Dr. Vincent AJ, the lead scientist in the investigation of a chronic headache asthenopia wrote, "Sensitivity to light in the absence of a headache was reported by 27.8% of controls and 44.7% of headache sufferers (p less than 0.05)" and "The latter figure increased to 71.3% when a headache was actually present (p less than 0.001)".

These results indicated a strong correlation between a chronic headache and asthenopia.

Bilberry is a species of low-growing shrubs in the genus Vaccinium, belonging to the family Ericaceae, native to Northern Europe.


The plant has been used as herbs in traditional medicine for the treatment of acute and chronic diarrhea, gastritis, gastric ulcer, and duodenal ulcer, enterocolitis, ulcerative colitis, anemia, cystitis, kidney disease, and psoriasis, diabetes, etc.

Researchers with an aim of finding a natural ingredient for the treatment of asthenopia examined the effects of dietary supplementation with a combination of fish oil, bilberry extract, and lutein on subjective symptoms of asthenopia in humans.

A double-blind, randomized, parallel-group and the placebo-controlled trial was conducted by the Human Life Science R&D Center,
* In the Active group, eleven subjects were given a supplement containing omega-3 fatty acid-rich fish oil (docosahexaenoic acid 783 mg/day, eicosapentaenoic acid 162 mg/day), bilberry extract (anthocyanidin 59 mg/day), and lutein (17.5 mg/day) in soft gel capsule form, every day for 4 weeks.

* In the Placebo group, nine subjects were received placebo capsules.

According to the questionnaires taking before and after the experiment, researchers found that
* Asthenopia symptoms such as "stiff shoulder, low back pain", "frustration", "dry-eye", and "stuffy head" were improved in the Active group compared to the placebo.

* Subjected received the supplement also demonstrated a significant improvement od mental symptoms such as fatigue after 4 weeks.

No side effects were reported in the active group at the 2 and 4 weeks of supplemental injection, according to the return questionnaires.

The results strongly supported the use of dietary supplementation with the combination of omega-3 fatty acid-rich fish oil, bilberry extract, and lutein for the treatment of asthenopia.

Taken altogether, bilberry used alone or combined with other supplements may be considered functional remedies for the prevention and treatment of asthenopia with no side effects, pending to the validation of larger sample size and multicenter human study.

Taken altogether, bilberry processed abundantly bioactive compounds may be considered a natural remedy for the treatment of dry eye with no side effects, pending to the validation of larger sample size and multicenter human study.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

References
(1) Effects of dietary supplementation with a combination of fish oil, bilberry extract, and lutein on subjective symptoms of asthenopia in humans by Kawabata F1, Tsuji T. (PubMed)
(2) A controlled study of visual symptoms and eye strain factors in chronic headache by Vincent AJ, Spierings EL, Messinger HB. (PubMed)