The effect of anthocyanosides on night vision
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1Department of Ophthalmology, Assaf Harofeh Medical Center, Tel Aviv University, Israel.
Purpose:
In view of research demonstrating the ability of anthocyanosides in a single oral dose to improve night vision in normal individuals, it was decided to evaluate their effect on three night vision tests: full-field scotopic retinal threshold (SRT), dark adaptation rate (DAR) and mesopic contrast sensitivity (MCS).
Methods:
In a double-masked, placebo-controlled, cross-over study, 16 young normal volunteers were randomly assigned to one of four different regimens of single oral administrations of 12, 24 and 36 mg of anthocyanosides, and a placebo, with a 2 week washout period between doses. SRT, DAR and MCS were measured immediately before, and 4, 8 and 24 h after treatment.
Results:
No significant effect was found on any of the three night vision tests during the 24 h following a single oral administration of 12, 24 or 36 mg anthocyanosides. The study had a power of 0.95 to detect a 0.1 log unit improvement in SRT and 0.5 log unit improvement in MCS.
Conclusions:
Single oral administration of 12-36 mg of anthocyanosides appears to lack significant effect on militarily relevant night vision tests.
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