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Acai Berry

Specific Recommendations:

• Acai berry products at Amazon.com

News & Research:

• Acai counteracts oxidative stress, lengthens lifespan in fruit flies - Science Daily, 8/21/12 - "a commercially available acai berry product can lengthen the lives of fruit flies, when the flies' lives are made short through additional oxidative stress. Under certain conditions (a simple sugar diet) acai supplementation could triple flies' lifespans, from eight to 24 days. Acai could also counteract the neurotoxic effects of the herbicide paraquat on the flies ... Acai berries contain a variety of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds, such as anthocyanins"
• Açai lowers cholesterol and attenuates atherosclerosis, rabbit study - Nutra USA, 1/11/12
• Acai juice shows joint health potential: Monavie study - Nutra USA, 4/13/11 - "At the end of the study, results showed a decline in pain measures, as well as improvements in the range of motion in the spine and other extremities" - [Abstract]
• Amazing acai alleviates atherosclerosis: Study - Nutra USA, 4/6/11 - "The study, published in Atherosclerosis , presents evidence to suggest that the athero-protective effect of the açaí juice is in part due to reduced break down of lipids (lipid peroxidation) – which may be due to increasing the levels and activity of two antioxidant enzymes ... Markers of oxidative stress were found to be significantly lower in the serum and liver of açaí juice fed animals ... Results from analysis of 17 genes related to oxidation/antioxidant enzymes also showed that expression of two antioxidant enzyme genes glutathione peroxidase (GPX) and glutathione reductase (GSR) – considered important antioxidant enzymes in vascular systems – were significantly up-regulated in the aorta of açaí juice fed mice ... The activities of GSR in serum and liver and GPX in serum were also reported to increase in açaí juice fed mice ... Hence, these two antioxidant enzymes may act synergistically to reduce lipid peroxidation ... In further experiments, mice fed açaí juice for 5 weeks were reported to have significantly lower serum levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and TNF-α" -[Abstract]
• ‘Insufficient and unconvincing’ scientific evidence to promote acai, says review - Nutra USA, 3/16/11
• Acai extracts show brain health potential - Nutra USA, 11/30/10
• Acai may boost survival, for fruit flies at least: NIH Study - Nutra USA, 2/4/10
• Rooibus extract may boost acai's health punch - Nutra USA, 10/29/09

Abstracts:

• Consumption of a flavonoid-rich açai meal is associated with acute improvements in vascular function and a reduction in total oxidative status in healthy overweight men - Am J Clin Nutr. 2016 Sep 28 - "The acute consumption of an AS containing 694 mg total phenolics improved vascular function, with postprandial increases in FMD from baseline of 1.4% at 2 h compared with 0.4% after consumption of the PS" - Note:  The Nutra USA article says a 1% improvement in FMD is reported to reduce the risk of a cardiovascular even by 13%.  See acai berry products at Amazon.com.
• Euterpe Oleracea (Açai) Modifies Sterol Metabolism and Attenuates Experimentally-Induced Atherosclerosis - J Atheroscler Thromb. 2011 Dec 3
• Açaí juice attenuates atherosclerosis in ApoE deficient mice through antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities - Atherosclerosis. 2011 Feb 24 - "ApoE(-/-) mice were fed AIN-93G diet (CD) or CD formulated to contain 5% freeze-dried açaí juice powder (AJ) for 20 weeks. The mean lesion areas in the aorta for apoE(-/-) mice fed AJ were 58% less (P<0.001) compared to that for CD fed mice. HDL-cholesterol was higher in AJ fed mice. Biomarkers of lipid peroxidation, including F(2)-isoprostanes and isomers of hydroxyoctadecadienoic acids and hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acids were significantly lower in serum and in liver of AJ fed mice. Expression of the two antioxidant enzyme genes, Gpx3 and Gsr, were significantly up-regulated in the aorta from AJ fed mice. The activity of GPX, GSR and PON1 increased in serum and/or liver of mice fed AJ. In the second experiment, ApoE(-/-) mice were fed CD or AJ for 5 weeks. Serum levels, gene expression and protein levels of the two proinflammatory cytokines TNF-α and IL-6 in the resident macrophages with or without LPS stimulation were lower in mice fed AJ. SEAP reporter assay determined that AJ reduced NF-κB activation"