OURO PRETO, Brazil—Consumption of acai pulp lowered cholesterol and in rats who ate a high-fat diet in a study published in Nutrition journal (2009 Dec 17). Researchers also found acai improved antioxidant status of the rats.
Female Fischer rats were divided into four groups: two groups consumed a high-fat diet that contained 25 percent soy oil and 1 percent cholesterol and two groups ate a standard diet. One high-fat diet and one standard diet group also received a supplement of 2-percent acai pulp (dry wt/wt) for six weeks.
At the end of the trial, rats fed the high-fat diet presented increased levels of total and non–high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and decreased levels of HDL cholesterol. Supplementing with acai reduced total and non-HDL cholesterol. Serum levels of carbonyl proteins and total, free, and protein sulfhydryl groups (indicators of oxidative damage) were reduced by acai ingestion in animals receiving both the standard or high-fat diet. Acai supplementation also induced a significant reduction in superoxide dismutase (SOD) (enzymes that act as an antioxidant defense) activity only in the rats on the high-fat diet, indicating an association between diet and acai treatment.