Antioxidant activity and health effects from Malpighia emarginata fruit – a systematic review

Abstract

Acerola (Malpighia emarginata) is considered a superfruit due to high vitamin C content and the presence of phenolics that confer antioxidant potential. Increasing of chronic disorders and results of oxidative stress-related diseases has encouraged the search of new pharmacological strategies to face them. The present review discusses the available knowledge on health effects of Malpighia emarginata, including both in vivo and in vitro studies. Records in 1945–2022 were extracted from Web of Science and Scopus databases to get the bibliometric index of the published articles. In spite of bibliometric analysis advantages to knowing about the trends in a subject, this research requires methods to support the investigation process through the selection of a relevant bibliographic portfolio. This study also applied the Methodi Ordinatio which provides an approach to rank 29 relevant publications. Fifty-one research articles were reviewed. Much knowledge comes from in vitro explorations, such as chemical assays evaluating radical scavenging properties, glycemic and lipid oxidation inhibition, and reducing capacity of acerola fruit; similarly, research on cellular substrates and animal models generally measures antioxidant enzymes levels and other antioxidant markers, such as α-glycosidase and advanced glycation end products. Reviewed data suggest that some acerola fruit compounds are deserving of further investigation and more useful understanding of their antioxidant and neuroprotective potentials.