The Berry Fruit Açai (Euterpe oleracea Mart): Bringing Health Benefits and Exotism to the Modern Table.
Açai is a valuable functional food for healthcare. Likewise for resveratrol, considered as the most potent antioxidant, the nanoencapsulation of açai extracts, açai blends or pure açai-based alkaloids might improve the clinical outcome in patients with specific health conditions. Nano-açai products may also be valuable for the development of innovative cosmetics.
Metabolic syndrome (e.g. amelioration of the lipid profile such as reduction of LDL-cholesterol (i.e. “bad” cholesterol) and improvement of the post-prandial increase in plasma glucose following the standardized meal in humans; possible prevention and control of Type-2 Diabetes (T2D) via Fenofibrate drug-like molecular mechanism involving Phosphoenolpyruvate Carboxykinase (PEPCK) down-expression in flies).
An explanation is that, in terms of evolution, large mammals display a lower mass-specific basal metabolic rate (m-BMR in g/ml of O2 per h) when allometrically compared with small ones (e.g. human species showed a 93.6% decrease in mass-specific basal metabolic rate compared with the mouse species). Therefore, rather than over-relying on animal models to understand what happens in humans, isn’t time to embrace the human ‘model’ to move forward.
Aging (i.e. increased longevity in flies submitted to a high Saturated Fatty Acid (SFA) diet
or deficient in enzymatic anti-oxidants such Superoxide Dismutase 1 (SOD1); dermatological
care against disorders such as psoriasis, atopic dermatitis; cosmetic care).
Cardiovascular disease (i.e. vasodilatation effect mediated by Nitric Oxide (NO)/cyclic Guanosine Monophosphate (cGMP)/Endothelium-Derived Hyper Polarizing Factor (EDHF) pathway; improvement of the lipid profile and attenuation of atherosclerosis).
Adv Food Technol Nutr Sci Open J. 2014; 1(1): 1-4. doi: 10.17140/AFTNSOJ-1-101