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Cubiu is a vegetable of Solanaceae family, native to the Amazon, which is widely distributed through Brazil, Peru, and Colombia. It is used in food, medicine, and cosmetics by native populations. Research has shown that cubiu extracts have antioxidant activities with great biological relevance. We performed a phytochemical screening to identify the main chemical groups that could confer antioxidant activity to this extract. Several tests and qualitative precipitation specific staining for major classes of secondary metabolites were used. Antioxidant capacity in vitro tests (DPPH and ABTS) were also used to assess the extract’s ability to sequester free radicals of 70% hydroethanolic and aqueous extracts of cubiu flour. Alkaloids, organic acids, phenols, flavonoid glycosides, and coumarins were found in the hydroethanolic extract while the aqueous extract presented anthocyanins, gums, tannins and mucilage, amino groups, and volatile and fixed acids. For in vitro tests, the IC50 value obtained in the DPPH assay was 606.3 ± 3.5 μg/mL while that for the ABTS assay was 290.3 ± 10.7 µg/mL. Although cubiu extracts present chemical compounds directly related to antioxidant activity, our results show that it has a low antioxidant activity. Additional studies will be needed to isolate and characterize specific compounds to further assess antioxidant activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An in vivo study was conducted to assess the effects of the consumption of Astrocaryum aculeatum Amazon Meyer (tucumã) in the treatment of diet-induced dyslipidemia in sedentary and exercised Wistar rats. With an average weight of 350 grams, 40 male rats were divided into 4 subgroups of 10. The sedentary control group (SCG) was fed with commercial feed, while the sedentary treatment group (STG) was fed with a ration of tucumã. In addition to the sedentary groups, two exercise groups were formed. The Exercised control group (ECG) was fed with commercial food and the exercised treatment group (ETG) was fed with a ration of tucumã. Body weight gain and food intake were monitored during the experiment. Plasma was analyzed for cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL-C, LDL-C, VLDL, total protein, glucose, insulin, and leptin concentrations. Our results show that the ECG group tended to consume more food, while the groups that were fed with tucumã pulp (STG and ETG) presented a greater tendency to gain body mass. ECG group showed a tendency towards a higher concentration of cholesterol in plasma, while STG and ETG presented higher absolute values for triglycerides and VLDL. No hypolipiemic effect was observed related to tucuma ingestion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]