Tropical fruit
camu-camu (Myrciaria dubia) has anti-oxidative
and anti-inflammatory properties.
Inoue T, Komoda H, Uchida T, Node K.
Department of
Cardiovascular and Renal Medicine, Saga
University Faculty of Medicine, 5-1-1 Nabeshima,
Saga 849-8501, Japan.
BACKGROUND: Oxidative stress as well as
inflammation plays a pivotal role in the
pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Although,
various anti-oxidative dietary supplements have
been evaluated for their ability to prevent
atherosclerosis, no effective ones have been
determined at present. "Camu-camu" (Myrciaria
dubia) is an Amazonian fruit that offers high
vitamin C content. However, its anti-oxidative
property has not been evaluated in vivo in
humans. METHODS: To assess the anti-oxidative
and anti-inflammatory properties of camu-camu in
humans, 20 male smoking volunteers, considered
to have an accelerated oxidative stress state,
were recruited and randomly assigned to take
daily 70ml of 100% camu-camu juice,
corresponding to 1050mg of vitamin C (camu-camu
group; n=10) or 1050mg of vitamin C tablets
(vitamin C group; n=10) for 7 days. RESULTS:
After 7 days, oxidative stress markers such as
the levels of urinary 8-hydroxy-deoxyguanosine
(P<0.05) and total reactive oxygen species
(P<0.01) and inflammatory markers such as serum
levels of high sensitivity C reactive protein
(P<0.05), interleukin (IL)-6 (P<0.05), and IL-8
(P<0.01) decreased significantly in the
camu-camu group, while there was no change in
the vitamin C group. CONCLUSIONS: Our results
suggest that camu-camu juice may have powerful
anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory properties,
compared to vitamin C tablets containing
equivalent vitamin C content. These effects may
be due to the existence of unknown anti-oxidant
substances besides vitamin C or unknown
substances modulating in vivo vitamin C kinetics
in camu-camu.
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Department of Cardiovascular and Renal
Medicine, Saga University Faculty of Medicine, 5-1-1
Nabeshima, Saga 849-8501, Japan.
PMID: 18922386 [PubMed - in process]
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