Acai May Improve Cholesterol Profiles

Acai has been touted in the media by reputable experts for its nutritional density and antioxidant content. It is hard to believe what a nutritional punch this diminutive fruit packs.

Unfortunately, it has also gotten a "black eye" in the past year due to outrageous claims and dishonest business practices of some Internet scammers and disreputable companies. Thus, it was nice to see some positive research-based news on this fruit, as preliminary as the research may be.

This new animal study published in the prestigious journal Nutrition has found that acai may improve lipid profiles by reducing non-HDL cholesterol. HDL is the so-called "good cholesterol." This study showed that acai reduced all cholesterol except the good cholesterol. Remarkable, to say the least. To our knowledge, this is a first-of-its-kind study; no other studies have looked at the direct effects of acai on cholesterol profiles.

Generally speaking, antioxidants reduce the oxidation of LDL ("bad") cholesterol, which directly improves cardiovascular health. That is because oxidation of LDL cholesterol damages arterial walls and leads to the development of arterial plaques which may ultimately lead to arteriosclerosis and heart disease. Notably, acai does not only reduce oxidation of cholesterol, it lowers LDL and all other lipoprotein levels (such as very-low-density lipoprotein), except the beneficial HDL cholesterol.

In the study, the researchers divided female Fischer rats into one of four treatment groups: standard diet; standard diet plus acai; high fat diet; or high fat diet plus acai. The high fat diet was designed to induce high cholesterol and contained 25 percent soy oil and 1 percent cholesterol. After feeding the mice these diets for six weeks, the rats that received the high fat diet showed an increase in total cholesterol and non-HDL cholesterol blood levels, and a decrease in levels of HDL cholesterol.

The rats that were fed high fat diet plus acai had very different results. These rats saw a decrease total cholesterol and non-HDL cholesterol blood levels while HDL cholesterol levels were unchanged. Additionally, the rats in both groups that were fed acai had an increase in paraoxonase activity--a group of enzymes that are believed to lower the risk of developing some cardiovascular diseases including hardening of the arteries.

In conclusion, the researchers stated that the "results suggest that the consumption of acai improves antioxidant status and has a hypocholesterolemic [cholesterol lowering] effect in an animal model of dietary-induced hypercholesterolemia."

Learn more about acai and our organic Acai Palmberry capsules here.

1. Oliveira de Souza, M., M. Silva, et al. (2009). "Diet supplementation with acai (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) pulp improves biomarkers of oxidative stress and the serum lipid profile in rats." Nutrition.