Superfood

Bilberries - European cousins of the American blueberry - yield large quantities of red juice which contains a blue pigment. According to German doctor and herbalist Rudolf Fritz Weiss, this pigment is a wonderful gut healer which enters into the intestinal wall and forms a firmly adhering deep purple protective layer which shields against all mechanical irritation and reduces inflammatory secretions. The blue pigment also has an affinity for bacterial cells and damages the bacteria as it enters them. This effect is probably not enough to kill the bacteria, says Weiss, but their growth will be inhibited, and strained bilberry juice or tea made from steeping dried bilberries in hot water can be most effective against some forms of bacteria-induced diarrhoea.

The blue pigment of the bilberry is identified as an anthocyanoside-type flavonoid. It also has many other health benefits. During World War II, pilots for the British Royal Air Force noticed that they had better night vision if they ate bilberry jam before night flying. Now Italian scientists have demonstrated that anthocyanosides increase the production of enzymes in the retina of the eye, which are responsible for energy production. Studies have confirmed that bilberry extract speeds light/dark adaptation, which frequently diminishes as we age.

Bilberry extract also increases the blood flow to the retina. This is thought to be due to its properties as an antioxidant, improving the flexibility of cell membranes and capillaries, so that red blood cells can carry nutrients and oxygen more easily to the eyes. Bilberry extract may even reduce the pressure inside the eye. This may be found useful in preventing the blindness-causing disease glaucoma, and, in combination with vitamin E, the extracts have been found 97 per cent effective against cataract formation. Short-sightedness too was improved by bilberry extract in one study. By strengthening capillaries, bilberries can reduce a tendency to bruise easily and they improve the circulation generally.

Availability: May be more easily available frozen than fresh. Dried bilberry extract is available in capsules in health shops and through nutritional therapists.

Bile

A bitter, greenish-yellow fluid secreted by the liver and stored in the gall bladder, from which it is released into the small intestine, enabling waste products and cholesterol from the liver to be excreted from the body. Bile also plays a role in the digestive process by mixing with food after it emerges from the stomach, emulsifying fats and neutralizing acidity.