Extract may be berry good for kidneys

New research suggests that bilberry extract may prove particularly effective in protecting the body from renal damage caused by potassium bromate - an environmental pollutant formed as a by-product in the process of ozone purification of water.

Bilberry extract, by virtue of its antioxidant properties, proved effective in reducing the kidney levels of various oxidative stress markers and increasing the capacity to absorb damaging free radicals in renal tissue.

The study was conducted by the Chinese Universities of Shenyang and Jinan, in collaboration with south east Asian food firm Cerebos Pacific.

Various parameters of renal toxicity from potassium bromate were analysed before and after the administration of Mirtoselect, a bilberry extract supplied by botanical extracts firm Indena. In-vivo tests showed how the administration of Mirtoselect over five days could limit renal damage provoked by bromate.