Determination of the qualitative and quantitative composition of antocyan pigments as components of dietary supplements and drugs for vision

Bilberry has been long used in folk medicine and credited for an ability to improve vision, primarily night vision. The major active ingredients of bilberries are antocyans. Experimental and clinical studies confirmed the ability of bilberry antocyans to accelerate the regeneration of the photosensitive pigment rhodopsin, to improve nutrition of the retina, and to restore the tissue mechanisms of its protection. The authors studied the level of bilberry antocyans in 5 samples of dietary supplements and medicines for eyes, which had been bought in Moscow drugstores. The total content of antocyans was determined by pH-differential spectrophotometry. All the test samples were shown to contain antocyan pigments; however, their concentration in different samples varied in a wide range of 0.01 to 4.2%. The maximum content was found in the drug "Focus". The qualitative composition of antocyan pigments was estimated by reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography. All the test samples other than Vitrum vision forte turned out to contain just bilberry antocyans. The chromatographic profile of a Vitrum vision forte sample was inconsistent with bilberry antocyan pigments and the agent was likely to have another source.