Velutin, a novel flavone was recently found in Acai fruit (Euterpe oleraceae) and appears to have some very useful anti-inflammatory properties. It was first named and discovered in a pentane extract from Ceanothus velutinus (Family: Rhamnaceae, Buckthorn) by the University of Washington in Seattle (Das et al., 1970). This fruit in its own right has a very high antioxidant potential (Schauss et al., 2006a; Kang et al., 2010) amongst other nutritional benefits (Schauss et al., 2006b) and is a favourite of product developers seeking novel fruit pulps with great attributes.

Velutin appears to be a more potent inhibitor of inflammation than other flavonoids such as apigenin, based on in-vitro cell studies. The anti-inflammatory attribute of velutin was assayed using the secreted embryonic alkaline phosphatase (SEAP) reporter assay which measures the activation of an important inflammation marker NK-κB (Kang et al., 2011). It appears also to have a benefit in atherosclerotic conditions by inhibiting SEAP secretion promoted by oxidised LDL (low-density lipoprotein) in a dose-dependent manner. It has also been found to inhibit other related inflammation pathways by reducing the activation of a cytokine tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and interleukin (IL)-6 in two types of macrophages (Xie et al., 2011).

References

Das, K.C., Farmer, W.J., Weinstein, B. (1970). Phytochemical studies, IX. A new flavone, velutine. J. Org. Chem., 35(11) pp. 3989-3990.
Kang, J., Li, Z., Wu, T., Jensen, G.S., Schauss, A.G., Wu, X. (2010 ). Antioxidant capacities of flavonoid compounds isolated from Acai pulp (Euterpe oleracea Mart.). Food Chem., 122 pp. 610-617
_____., Xie, C., Li, Z., Nagarajan, S., Schauss, A.G., Wu, T., Wu, X. (2011) Flavonoids from acai (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) pulp and their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. Food Chem., 128(1) pp. 152-157
Schauss, A.G., Wu, X., Prior, R.L., Ou, B., Huang, D., Owens, J., Agarwal, A., Jensen, G.S., Hart, A.N., Shanbrom, E. (2006a) Antioxidant Capacity and Other Bioactivities of the Freeze-Dried Amazonian Palm Berry, Euterpe oleraceae Mart. (Acai). J. Agric. Food Chem., 54 pp. 8604-8610
________________________________Patel, D., Huang, D., Kababick, J. (2006b) Phytochemical and nutrient composition of the freeze-dried Amazonian palm berry, Euterpe oleraceae Mart.
(Acai). J. Agric. Food Chem. 54, pp. 8598-8603.
Xie, C., Kang, J., Li, A., Schauss, A.G., Badger, T.M., Nagarajan, S., Wu, T., Wu, X. (2011) The açaí flavonoid velutin is a potent anti-inflammatory agent: blockade of LPS-mediated TNF-α and IL-6 production through inhibiting NF-κB activation and MAPK pathway. J. Nutr. Biochem. doi:10.1016/j.jnutbio.2011.06.013 Accessed: 02/12/12