Annona montana fruit and leaves improve the glycemic and lipid profiles of Wistar rats

Species of the family Annonaceae has been used traditionally as a medicinal plant in tropical regions of South and North America and in Africa. Annona montana is known popularly as false graviola and originates from tropical America and can be cultivated throughout Brazil. There are no studies in the literature that associate A. montana with the metabolic profile of animals. Therefore, the purpose of this work was to assess the effects of the consumption of pulp and leaves of this plant on the metabolic profile of Wistar rats. The animals, which were treated for 40 days, were divided into two control groups--treated with water via gavage and ad libitum, respectively, and two treated groups--one treated with leaf juice and the other with pulp juice of the fruit. Glycemia, lipids, and body weight were found to decrease and high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-c) levels to increase in the animals treated with leaf juice. The group treated with pulp juice showed a reduction in lipids and augmented HDL-c. The use of A. montana may have beneficial effects in the prevention of diabetes mellitus and dyslipidemia and may thus contribute to the prevention of cardiovascular diseases.