Bilberry Guide — Notified in Components, Ordered in Extract: 36% vs 25%

The notified figure is not the extract weight

Aggregating the Consumer Affairs Agency’s notifications by functional ingredient name gives bilberry 147 notifications. Counting the content per daily intake reference produces oddly specific numbers at the top.

• 57.6 mg — 42 notifications
• 43.2 mg — 41 notifications
• 40 mg — 29
• 60 mg (3) / 50 mg (1) / 140 mg (1)

57.6 and 43.2 are not round figures, because they are an extract weight multiplied by a content percentage. Calculated at a 36% anthocyanin specification:

• Extract 120 mg × 36% = 43.2 mg
• Extract 160 mg × 36% = 57.6 mg

They match exactly. The two most common notified values are therefore “120 mg of extract” and “160 mg of extract” designs, expressed as an anthocyanin amount. Published notifications do state both, in the form “daily intake reference 40 mg (as 120 mg of extract)”.

This is what bites in sourcing. The notification is written in component terms; the purchase order goes out in extract terms. A content percentage sits between them, and when that factor changes, the extract quantity changes with it.

Anthocyanins and anthocyanidins are different figures

Bilberry extract powder is usually specified on two lines.

• Anthocyanins 36.0% min. — the amount as glycosides, with the sugar attached
• Anthocyanidins 25.0% min. — the amount as aglycones, with the sugar removed
• A line such as “free anthocyanidins 1.0% max.” may also appear

Two different numbers are simultaneously correct for the same lot of the same material. The glycoside carries the sugar’s molecular weight, so the anthocyanin basis gives the larger figure.

The notified functional ingredient is “bilberry-derived anthocyanins“. So you calculate with the 36% figure. Divide by 25% (the anthocyanidin basis) instead and you overestimate the extract needed by about 1.4×. Conversely, order a 25% grade believing it to be 36% and you fall short of the notified value.

Structurally this is the same problem as “as the salt” versus “as L-carnitine”, and as lutein’s free versus ester basis. In each case, unless the specification pins down what the percentage is a percentage of, the conversation about weight does not line up.

A high withdrawal rate — 73 of 147

Of bilberry’s 147 notifications, 73 have been withdrawn. That is a withdrawal rate of about 50%, higher than lutein (35%) or zeaxanthin (34%).

Reading the count of 147 as “a material with a long track record” misses the picture. Only 74 notifications are currently live. When you are looking for research reviews or comparable notifications to build a design on, it is worth recounting with the withdrawn ones excluded.

The research base is worth checking too. Searching J-STAGE for “bilberry” returns 86 papers (12 from 2020 onward). Against lutein’s 1,499 that is an order of magnitude apart. Notification count and research accumulation are separate measures.

Do not mix the neighbours — cassis and blueberry

Materials that look adjacent are treated as distinct in the notification world.

• Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) — 147 notifications. Wording runs to focus-adjustment function and VDT work
• Cassis (Ribes nigrum, blackcurrant) — 2 notifications, 50 mg each. Dominated by delphinidin-type anthocyanins, a different profile. The wording runs in another direction: visual function in the evening and at night, in dark places
• Blueberry (Vaccinium spp.) — zero notifications as a named functional ingredient. A different species, with its own anthocyanin content and specification

The popular association is “blueberry equals eyes”, but the notification record sits with bilberry. Decide which species and which component will be the functional ingredient before you design the claim.

Within the same eye and vision field, eyebright and megusurinoki have no notifications at all. They carry a history of traditional use, but that is a separate matter from a basis for a function claim.

What to confirm on the specification

• Both the anthocyanin % and the anthocyanidin % — and which one a given figure is. Settle this first
• Analytical method — how the content is measured; a different method moves the number
• Species — that it is Vaccinium myrtillus, distinct from blueberry species
• Origin and manufacture — European fruit; the plant’s certification
• Stability — anthocyanins are affected by heat, light and pH. Storage conditions and shelf life
• Dosage-form fit — particle size and hygroscopicity; what suits differs between tableting and powder filling

Discussing your requirement

For specifications, samples or a quotation, use the contact form and include the target anthocyanin amount (as the component) and the dosage form. If your target is expressed as an extract weight, tell us that and the content percentage you are assuming, and we will convert it.

Related: eye & vision materials / extracts