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These results show the antioxidant benefit of dietary açai for the healthy women included in the present study, and may increase understanding of the beneficial health properties of this fruit.

Background: Clusters of cardiovascular risk (CVR) factors are associated with an increased risk of developing cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). This cross-sectional study assessed the associations between classic CVR factor clusters and inflammatory markers in Brazilian adolescents. Methods: Measurements included anthropometric, clinical and biochemical parameters and selected inflammatory markers in 487 adolescents (236 boys/251 girls; 12.06 ± 1.41 years). Results: After stratifying the population by gender and adjusting for potential confounding variables, principal component analysis was performed and it produced 5 independent components in both genders: adiposity, glucose metabolism, blood pressure, high-density lipoprotein (HDL)/triacylglycerols (TG), and cholesterol/low-density lipoprotein. Glucose metabolism was inversely associated with interleukin-1β (IL-1β) in both genders (r = -0.026; r = -0.021); blood pressure was inversely associated with tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) in girls (r = -0.046); HDL/TG was positively associated with interleukin-6 in girls (r = 0.012), with IL-1β (r = 0.010) TNF-α (r = 0.045) in boys, and inversely associated with adiponectin in both genders (r = -0.015; r = -0.013). Conclusion: The results suggest that lipid metabolism alterations, as potential early events in the development of CVDs, have a strong link to the inflammatory process, in contrast to other clusters of risk factors.