You know, anthocyanin supplement products are popular in the market now .There’s a huge trend for functional foods in the current world. More importantly, the consumption of antioxidants is on the rise. Clearly, this is because of their good health benefits. In this article, we will focus on the health benefits of anthocyanins. And also we will be looking into different sources of anthocyanins.
What are anthocyanins??
Anthocyanins basically belong to the flavonoid group. They are one of the most important pigments present in plants including fruits, vegetables, and flowers. Anthocyanins derive from anthocyanidins. Therefore based on the composition, of course, there are different anthocyanins. In your eyes, it is visible in purple, blue, and bright red colors. Usually, food industries use it as a colorant. Or else you can use it as a pharmaceutical.[1]
Now let’s see why anthocyanin supplements are that important? Well, there’s no doubt it is because of its functional properties.
What is an Anthocyanin supplement??
An Anthocyanin supplement is a product consisting of anthocyanin that you can intake as a supplement or support to your diet. This supplementation will help to improve the bioactive compound level in your body with regard to anthocyanins.
What are the benefits ??
1. Anthocyanin supplements to improve your vision
Some scientific studies suggest that you can improve your eyesight by daily intake of anthocyanin supplements. Particularly natural fruits like black currents, grapes will be better. This is because the anthocyanins can stimulate the regeneration of rhodopsin( a protein linked receptor in the retina of the eye).
Rhodopsin is a protein linked receptor very important for your vision. And also these fruits can facilitate the adaptation of the eye to darkness. In the overall effect, anthocyanins can strengthen your eye health.[2]
2. How an anthocyanin supplement prevents you from diabetes??
Simply diabetes is a condition that arises due to impaired sensitivity to insulin. What anthocyanin does is that it reduce resistance to insulin. That is how it helps to prevent diabetes. In addition to that,[3][4]
- It can maintain the carbohydrate metabolism in your body
- Help to Upregulate the gene expression of GLTU4 thereby reduce the insulin resistance
- More importantly, anthocyanins can increase glucose uptake by tissues. Therefore the amount of glucose released into your blood will be reduced.
- And also anthocyanins can increase insulin secretion in your body which will have a great effect on diabetes
- Furthermore, they can downregulate the enzymes that will release more glucose into the bloodstream
With the above effects now you can clearly see why anthocyanins are that important for diabetes control in your body.
3. Anthocynin supplement products For your heart health
The deposition of fats in your blood vessels is the major cause of heart ailments. What anthocyanin does is, reduces oxidative stress. Clearly, it can prevent the oxidizing of LDL cholesterol. The liver is the organ that can directly affect lipid-protein metabolism in your body. It can regulate lipid levels in plasma. Take an anthocyanin supplement for two weeks regularly. You will observe a significant reduction in your triglyceride and cholesterol levels.
In addition to that, anthocyanins can scavenge free radicals and avoid the oxidation of lipoproteins in the body. And also it will reduce blood pressure. Therefore you can prevent infarction conditions too. Clearly, this will have a huge effect on good heart health.[5][6]
4. How to prevents obesity with anthocyanin??
Here the activity of anthocyanin supplements is associating with C- reactive proteins. They are proteins that mark the inflammation in your body. Some researchers say that you can improve your lipid profile by regular intake of anthocyanin-rich diets. In this case, anthocyanin supplements are important. supplements. In addition to that, there are some other benefits too. They are,[6][7]
- Significantly Reducing the lipid profile of the liver
- And also Reducing inflammation
- Suppressing the weight gain
- Regulate the secretions (adiponectin and resistin)of the adipose tissue that may lead to obesity
- Increase the levels of PUFA – healthy fats and decrease healthy fats in your body,
Clearly, These are the key results that you get if you keep including anthocyanin supplements in your diet. You can easily improve your lipid profile!!
5. How to prevent cancer risk with anthocyanin supplements??
Anthocyanin is a bioactive compound with many antioxidant properties. Now let’s see how those properties will help in preventing cancer risk in your body. According to several studies, Anthocyanins can inhibit the cancer cell lines of the breast, colon, skin, and liver. In addition to that, it is capable of preventing leukemia too. Why it is important ?? it is because [8]
- Anthocyanin’s anti-proliferative activity will block the cancer cell cycle by affecting regulatory proteins. So that it will reduce the growth of cancer cells
- it can facilitate the apoptosis process, which means it can cause death in cells. Your body uses that kind of mechanism to prevent abnormal cells. With anthocyanins, you can kill the cancer cells in your body.
- Prevent the inflammatory action in your body that leads to facilitate cancer cells. anthocyanins can downregulate those inflammatory proteins.
- And also they can prevent the blood vessel formation near cancer cells. So that cancer growth will be reduced in your body.
- Carry out certain functions to Avoid the invasion of cancer cells into your body.[9]
6. How Anthocyanin supplement help in losing bodyweight
Well, Anthocyanins are pigments that belong to the group of flavonoids. If you take anthocyanins in your regular diet, it will help to manage your body fat. for that, your diet should contain more anthocyanins. Although your diet contains considerable fat content still you can control weight gain. That is why you should keep taking anthocyanin supplements.[10].what are their beneficial functions in losing weight??
- Significantly reduce deposition of fat in your body
- Thereby contribute to weight loss in adipose tissue
- And also reduce your cholesterol levels
- in addition, it will prevent insulin resistance too.
7. Anthocyanin supplements to prevent microbial infection
Rich extracts of anthocyanin can prevent microbial growth and associated disease. Anthocyanins can perform various harmful reactions to microbial growth. They diminish the several microbial species including, pathogenic ones such as Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes, Enterococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica, etc.[11]
How an anthocyanins supplement help in antimicrobial effects?
- Because they can Damage bacteria cells and destroy the structure
- And also can Break the cell walls and membranes. So the content inside the microbial cells may leak out.
- Furthermore, anthocyanins can deform the pathogen cells and destroy favorable enzymes. This will stop proper functioning because they are vital for the cellular functions of pathogenic microbes
8. Anthocyanin supplement to Improve your immune function
How exactly anthocyanins can improve your immune function? They can facilitate cytokines. So they will control the immune responses. And also they prevent peroxidation of lipids and the Damage of DNA to secure the immune activity. Besides they can maintain hormonal stability too.
In addition, anthocyanin can promote enzyme activities. Therefore your cellular functions will be better with strong cell membranes. Then your body cells will be resistant to infections. Therefore taking an anthocyanin supplement will help your immunity in a better way.
9. Anthocyanin supplement to improve your liver function
Anthocyanins are important for scavenging free radicals. if there are more free radicals it can affect your liver cells. They can activate certain compounds that avoid fat deposition. In addition, anthocyanins can prevent damage from oxidation. So that you can protect your liver from injury conditions. This is how you can protect from liver fibrosis and improve liver function. Therefore enrich your diet with an anthocyanin supplement to safeguard health.[12]
What are the side effects of anthocyanin supplements??
In the overall status anthocyanins are very important dietary supplements for your body. Butwhen considering tolerability ansd safety, some situations prove that anthocyanin supplementation has led to some unfavorable effects. Recently there were some animal studies on anthocyanin supplement side effects. According to those studies scientists found the following results,
- There is an anthocyanin toxicity risk if the dietary consumption of phenols including the anthocyanins is high. But Its occurrence is so much low because their absorption levels are low. However, if you keep increasing the intake of supplements of anthocyanins with related phenolic compounds, then there can be problematic situations.
- When considering the LD50 values( A lethal dose which is capable of killing half of the considered species population in a specific time period.)There were no mutagenic effects or toxic effects. Except there were darkening effects on urine and feces. In that sense, you can consider it safe, because of no adverse effects. But for your information, it is important to know that LD50 values are usually above 2000mg/kg. Therefore there are fewer chances for the health problems
- In terms of humans, for the ones who take 160mg of extracts twice a day, there is nearly a 4% risk for adverse effects. Especially these effects are related to your skin, nervous system, and gastrointestinal systems. However, the levels of adverse effects are very low compared to potential health benefits.
What are commercial anthocyanin supplement products??
There are plenty of supplements to anthocyanin in the market. If your anthocyanin intake is low and you need to improve that, you can easily go for these options.
- Healthberry® – An anthocyanin powder you can get more information on this given link.[13]
- Sambucus – Standardized Elderberry
- Sambucus – Standardized Elderberry organic syrup
- Naturebell – Blueberry concentrate
- Monin Blueberry syrup
- Suro organic elderberry syrup
- Zazzee blueberry extract
- Blueberry eye support drink
What are the cheap anthocyanin supplements available ??
You can support your diet with these natural foods which are rich in anthocyanins. So that you can get all benefits related to anthocyanin at a very low cost. On other hand, compared to commercial extracts they are better in nutrition and phytochemical profiles.Usually fruits like grapes and pomegranates many antioxidant compounds along with anthocyanins .Therefore consumption of these fruits will help to boost your health more.[14]
- Bilberry
- Raspberry
- Blueberry
- pomegranate
- Black current
- red cabbage
- purple potato
- Grapes
- Elderberry
- Black rice
- Black soybean
In addition to these fruits and vegetables, there are grains like purple rice, which you can include into your diet as main meals.
Hope you enjoy this article and you got your problems cleared regarding anthocyanin supplementation. If you have any questions please leave a comment!!
