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Agricultural Research ServiceUnited States Department of Agriculture
 
Research Project: DIETARY FACTORS EARLY IN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT: HEALTH CONSEQUENCES OF PHYTOCHEMICAL INTAKE

Location: Arkansas Children's Nutrition Center

Title: Antioxidant capacity and other bioactivities of the freeze-dried Amazonian palm berry, Euterpe oleraceae mart. (acai).

Authors
item Schauss, Alexander - AIMBR LIFE SCIENCES
item Wu, Xianli - ACNC/UAMS
item Prior, Ronald
item Ou, Boxin - AIMBR LIFE SCIENCES
item Huang, Dejian - AIMBR LIFE SCIENCES
item Owens, John - AIMBR LIFE SCIENCES
item Agarwal, Amit - AIMBR LIFE SCIENCES
item Jensen, Gitte - AIMBR LIFE SCIENCES
item Hart, Aaron - AIMBR LIFE SCIENCES
item Shanbrom, Edward - AIMBR LIFE SCIENCES

Submitted to: Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: August 15, 2007
Publication Date: November 15, 2006
Citation: Schauss, A.G., Wu, X., Prior, R.L., Ou, B., Huang, D., Owens, J., Agarwal, A., Jensen, G.S., Hart, A.N., Shanbrom, E. 2006. Antioxidant capacity and other bioactivities of the freeze-dried Amazonian palm berry, Euterpe oleraceae mart. (acai). Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry. 54(22):8604-8610.

Interpretive Summary: Tissue damage can be caused by a process known as oxidation. Compounds know as antioxidants are thought to help prevent tissue damage, and thus reduce disease states caused by oxidation. A fruit known as acai has been demonstrated to exhibit significantly high antioxidant capacity and, therefore, may have possible health benefits. In this study, the antioxidant capacities of freeze-dried acai fruit was evaluated and found to have the highest antioxidant activity of any food reported to date. These results suggest that this fruit would be an excellent food to study for potential disease prevention effects in the future.

Technical Abstract: The fruit of Euterpe oleraceae, commonly known as acai, has been demonstrated to exhibit significantly high antioxidant capacity in vitro, especially for superoxide and peroxyl scavenging, and, therefore, may have possible health benefits. In this study, the antioxidant capacities of freeze-dried acai fruit pulp/skin powder (OptiAcai) were evaluated by different assays with various free radical sources. It was found to have exceptional activity against superoxide in the superoxide scavenging (SOD) assay, the highest of any food reported to date against the peroxyl radical as measured by the oxygen radical absorbance capacity assay with fluorescein as the fluorescent probe (ORACFL), and mild activity against both the peroxynitrite and hydroxyl radical by the peroxynitrite averting capacity (NORAC) and hydroxyl radical averting capacity (HORAC) assays, respectively. The SOD of acai was 1614 units/g, an extremely high scavenging capacity for O2*-, by far the highest of any fruit or vegetable tested to date. Total phenolics were also tested as comparison. In the total antioxidant (TAO) assay, antioxidants in acai were differentiated into "slow-acting" and "fast-acting" components. An assay measuring inhibition of reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation in freshly purified human neutrophils showed that antioxidants in acai are able to enter human cells in a fully functional form and to perform an oxygen quenching function at very low doses. Furthermore, other bioactivities related to anti-inflammation and immune functions were also investigated. Acai was found to be a potential cyclooxygenase (COX)-1 and COX-2 inhibitor. It also showed a weak effect on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced nitric oxide but no effect on either lymphocyte proliferation and phagocytic capacity.

     
Last Modified: 05/26/2010
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