Bilberry Protects the Arteries Against the Risk of Atherosclerosis in Vivo

By Kyle J. Norton


Atherosclerosis, one of the major cause of the cardiovascular disease is a medical condition caused by the accumulation of plaque on the arterial wall. Over time, the condition can lead to narrowing the arteries or blocked arteries, leading to reduce oxygenated blood flow to the heart and other parts of the body.

Arteries are blood vessels carried the oxygen-rich blood to the heart before passing them to the tissues and organs.

Plague is made up of fat, cholesterol, calcium, and other substances found in the blood. In other words, cholesterol that cannot be returned to the liver for reuse may have a strong impact to induce plaque accumulation.

People at the early stage of atherosclerosis are asymptomatic. However, over time, the continued buildup of plaque on the arterial wall can cause symptoms of chest pain or angina shortness of breath. fatigue. confusion, due to a blockage or reduce blood flow.

Although there are many risk factors associated with the onset of atherosclerosis, an unhealthy lifestyle, particularly in people who follow the pattern of the Western diet has been found in many patients with the disease.

Dr. Matthias Nahrendorf, the lead scientist wrote, "Diet, exercise, stress, and sleep are receiving attention as environmental modifiers of chronic inflammatory diseases, including atherosclerosis, the culprit condition of myocardial infarction and stroke".

And, "Accumulating data indicate that psychosocial stress and a high-fat, high-cholesterol diet aggravate the cardiovascular disease, whereas regular physical activity and healthy sleeping habits help prevent it".

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

The plant berry 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.

On finding a potential compound for the treatment of atherosclerosis researchers evaluated a nutritional supplementation with a bilberry anthocyanin-rich extract (BE) in the atherosclerotic lesion development in apolipoprotein E-deficient (apoE⁻/⁻) mice.

On the early stage of atherosclerosis development in tested mice, BE significantly improved hypercholesterolemia associated with plaques built-up without affecting the plasmatic antioxidant status.

According to the nutrigenomic analysis, BE modulated the expression of the gene involved in different cellular processes such as oxidative stress, inflammation, transendothelial migration, and angiogenesis, that lead to atherosclerosis development/protection.

In other words, BE enhanced the mechanisms involved in the preventive action of bilberry anthocyanin-rich extract against atherosclerosis.

On the development of atherosclerosis in apolipoprotein E-deficient mice (apo E(-/-)). Apo E(-/-) mice, researchers compared the efficacy of two bilberry extracts, one rich in anthocyanins extracted from untreated bilberries (BE) and a second one extracted from yeast-fermented bilberries (FBE).

According to the 16 weeks a diet supplemented with 0.02% of either BE or FBE, both bilberry extracts led to significant inhibition of plaque development, without affecting the levels of oxidative stress parameters or lipid profiles.

These results strongly suggested that bilberry extract inhibited plaque development through other unknown mechanisms.  

By comparative tests, fermentation generates new bioactive compounds FBE are more effective in attenuating progression of the atherosclerotic lesions compared to those of BE.

Taken altogether, bilberry may be considered a functional remedy for the prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis, 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) Bilberry anthocyanin-rich extract alters expression of genes related to atherosclerosis development in aorta of apo E-deficient mice by Mauray A1, Felgines C, Morand C, Mazur A, Scalbert A, Milenkovic D. (PubMed)
(2) Atheroprotective effects of bilberry extracts in apo E-deficient mice by Mauray A1, Milenkovic D, Besson C, Caccia N, Morand C, Michel F, Mazur A, Scalbert A, Felgines C. (PubMed)
(3) Lifestyle effects on hematopoiesis and atherosclerosis by Matthias Nahrendorf and Filip K. Swirski. (PMC)