CONKA Formula Name: (ChC5+1)
ChC5+1: CONKA Formula Component no5. Explanation: CONKA Herbal Complex (5 key herbs + 1 supplementary) Component 5 - Vaccinium Myrtillus
Pronunciation: Vac·cini·um Myr·tillus
Vaccinium Myrtillus (Bilberry or European Blueberry) is one of the 6 components in the CONKA formula, the component holds potent antioxidant properties with the active component Resveratrol (Lyons et al., 2003).
So where do we get Resveratrol from naturally? Like all components in the CONKA formula they have been used for thousands of years in isolation but never been used collectively for the synergistic effect. Mankind has most famously consumed resveratrol in red wine and use of red wine dates back to the Neolithic period when carbon dating confirmed wine has been drunk sometime between 5400-5000 B.C.
You cannot make resveratrol in your body, but you can get it from your diet if you eat the right fruits including red grapes that are squashed to form red wine. So this is a naturally occurring compound with several known sources two of which are Redwine and Bilberry.
Resveratrol is unique as it can cross the "Blood Brain Barrier" (BBB) which acts as a fortress to protect your brain from toxins. One of the reasons Bilberry might be so effective at improving brain function is because of the natural shield of antioxidants and polyphenols that protect the active component Resveratol as it passes through your digestive system. Its not only the digestive system that impacts the bioavailability of nootropics but also the BBB. The BBB has an important role in protecting the brain but it does make it difficult to get nutrients into the brain to affect its function. Resveratrol doesn’t have any trouble with navigating past the BBB which makes it unique and can therefore get to work assisting your brains defense against reactive oxygen and nitrogen species that build as fatigue mounts daily but also if you take a head impact (Sakata et al., 2010).
How Does it Make you Feel?
The CONKA members report the effects of Bilberry and Resveratrol to be consciously quite subtle but you may experience improved mood and motivation, increased ability to study, increased ability to retain information, and improved long-term memory.
So What?
How Does Bilberry (Resveratol) Help Your Brain?
Helps You Grow Your Brain
Let's talk about Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) a naturally occurring protein that is responsible for brain growth, the maintenance, and survival of neurons. Higher levels of BDNF are associated with increased intelligence, mood, productivity, and memory. And decreased risks of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Resveratrol increases BDNF in your hippocampus which is a part of the brain that plays a major role in learning and memory. Resveratrol has a boosting effect on BDNF and is an essential ingredient to improving your longevity and ability to reach your next goal.
Helps You Shield Your Brain
Resveratrol shields mitochondria (the power/battery part of your brain cells) from injury during interruptions in blood flow such as head impact. Allowing you to keep fuelling the brain when it is most vulnerable, which is key to the first aid response to concussions of any severity (Agrawal et al., 2011).
Bilberry prevents the excess release of glutamate which is a neurotransmitter that when in excess supply is toxic, this is one of the acute responses of a head impact. (Li et al., 2010)
It is therefore notable that when resveratrol entered the brain after a period of blood flow restriction like a head impact it protected the brain when administered up to 6 hours after (Shin et al., 2010).
Helps You Train The Brain To Cope With Stress (Pre-Conditioning)
Preconditioning the brain means training the brain to help it adapt to moments of stress. This can help limit cell death and the neuronal damage that mounts following a period of oxygen and blood flow restriction, like following a head impact (Deryagin et al., 2017).
Resveratrol induces a pre-conditioning effect on the brain to prevent neuronal damage resulting from blood flow and oxygen-restricted brain injury (Koronowski et al., 2015). Bilberry is a key neuroprotective agent in the CONKA formula helping the brain prep for unavoidable stressor events.
This means that by design you take CONKA daily in preparation for stressors meaning that you can train the brain to deal with larger stressor effects that are unavoidable in sports and life.
Use Bilberry to boost your genius by increasing the circulating levels of BDNF in your brain and keep yourself neuroprotected so you can keep conquering for longer in your life.
Lyons, M.M., Yu, C., Toma, R.B., Cho, S.Y., Reiboldt, W., Lee, J. and van Breemen, R.B. (2003). Resveratrol in Raw and Baked Blueberries and Bilberries. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 51(20), pp.5867–5870. doi:10.1021/jf034150f.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/13129286/
Sakata, Y., Zhuang, H., Kwansa, H., Koehler, R.C. and Doré, S. (2010). Resveratrol protects against experimental stroke: Putative neuroprotective role of heme oxygenase 1. Experimental Neurology, 224(1), pp.325–329. doi:10.1016/j.expneurol.2010.03.032.
Agrawal, M., Kumar, V., Kashyap, M.P., Khanna, V.K., Randhawa, G.S. and Pant, A.B. (2011). Ischemic insult induced apoptotic changes in PC12 cells: Protection by trans resveratrol. European Journal of Pharmacology, 666(1-3), pp.5–11. doi:10.1016/j.ejphar.2011.05.015.
Li, C., Yan, Z., Yang, J., Chen, H., Li, H., Jiang, Y. and Zhang, Z. (2010). Neuroprotective effects of resveratrol on ischemic injury mediated by modulating the release of neurotransmitter and neuromodulator in rats. Neurochemistry International, [online] 56(3), pp.495–500. doi:10.1016/j.neuint.2009.12.009.
Shin, J.A., Lee, H., Lim, Y.-K., Koh, Y., Choi, J.H. and Park, E.-M. (2010). Therapeutic effects of resveratrol during acute periods following experimental ischemic stroke. Journal of Neuroimmunology, [online] 227(1-2), pp.93–100. doi:10.1016/j.jneuroim.2010.06.017.
Deryagin, O.G., Gavrilova, S.A., Gainutdinov, K.L., Golubeva, A.V., Andrianov, V.V., Yafarova, G.G., Buravkov, S.V. and Koshelev, V.B. (2017). Molecular Bases of Brain Preconditioning. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 11. doi:10.3389/fnins.2017.00427.
www.arenaflowers.com. (n.d.). The History of Wine | Flowers, wine and gifts | Arena Flowers. [online] Available at: https://www.arenaflowers.com/pages/history-of-wine/#:~:text=The%20earliest%20remnants%20of%20wine [Accessed 28 Nov. 2022].