I wish I could say “OK”. There are two reasons why I don’t think that supplement would approximate that which was used in the study.

1. Each capsule only contains 20 mg of anthocyanins. 25% of 80 mg.

2. The label doesn’t state how many, if any, anthocyanins are contained in the black currant portion of the supplement. It appears to be 50 mg of the “whole fruit”. If that’s the case, it wouldn’t be expected to contain nearly as much anythocyanins as a concentrate or extract.

That’s the upside of Medox. It provides a very concentrated extract in one pill (administered twice daily, in the study). The downside is the price.

There may be other options out there. If you find any others, please feel free to run them by me.

Be well!

JP

I found this on the internet with both ingredients, it seems all of them talk only about the eye protection (which is good too)

http://www.vrp.com/ProductPage.aspx?ProdID=6456&zType=1

Serving Size: 1 Capsule

Amount Per Serving

Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) 80 mg *
extract (fruit), 25% anthocyanidins

Black Currant (Ribes nigrum) fruit 50 mg *

*Daily Value not established

Other Ingredients: Hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (vegetarian capsule) and magnesium stearate.

Do you think this will be OK? (since it is just one pill)

Best Regards

Sai

The good news is that these kinds of berry extracts may also help a bit with the blood sugar angle. There’s some research to support that – as you know.

The exact product used in the study is called Medox (linked below). It’s pretty expensive but you may find similar results by using different brands of bilberry and black currant extracts. I’ll give one example below.

http://www.medox-usa.com/index.php

or

http://www.jarrow.com/product/502/Blackcurrant_Juice_Concentrate

+

http://www.jarrow.com/product/501/Blackcurrant_Extract

If you used about 2 tsp (not tablespoons) of the black currant juice concentrate and 1 capsule of a high potency bilberry extract … you’d get a comparable level of anthocyanins – as was used in the study.

Please keep in mind that this would not be identical to the product used. But, it might be close enough to provide similar benefits.

Be well!

JP

Another very good article. I am very much aware of the properties of turmeric (best place to get this is India Grocery store) and my grandma will give us turmeric milk (mixed with black pepper) for cough/cold/throat problems. The article about the berry extract is really good. Since Dyslipidemia seems alomost Metabolic Syndrome (minus some factors (bllod sugar/pressure) what product will have this hdl raising and ldl lowering effect? You know if any is available in the market or is this chinese natural medicine? I would very much appreciate this information. Again, a very good article.

Best Regards

Sai

It most certainly does! I’m not sure if you caught my previous column about curcumin. I mention some of the research about it’s potential with regard to MS.

http://www.healthyfellow.com/303/curcumin-research/

Be well!

JP

Thanks JP! Very good article!