Recent revelations establish that it has no extra beneficial nutrients than some of commonly used fruits like mango, blueberry, pomegranate, etc. The berry has been a traditional staple food of Amazon basin tribes for centuries, but somehow recently gained recognition as so-called "super food” in the western world. Nonetheless, this wonderful berry has very good levels of anti-oxidants, minerals, and vitamins that would benefit overall health and fitness.
Acai berry is a small, round, dark purple fruit obtained from acai palm tree. Botanically, acai belongs to palm or Arecaceae family of tall trees in the genus Euterpe and known as Euterpe oleracea.
Acai palm is a tall, slender tree, which grows 15 to 25 m in height. The average mature plant has 3-10 well-developed stems (10-18 cm in diameter) from a single seed and root system. It grows better under waterlogged low-lying plains receiving good annual rainfall. Each stem behaves like individual tree and bears 3-5 bunches with each bunch holding about hundreds of berries in a way similar to areca palm or coconut palm.
Each acai berry measures about the size of small sized grape, 2-3 cm in diameter. They appear dark-green initially, later turn to deep-purple color on attaining maturity. Technically, the fruit is a drupe which consists of outer-edible pulp surrounding a central large seed. Only the pulp part, comprising about just 10-15% of berry weight, is edible.
Health benefits of acai berry
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Acai berry has very good levels of
anti-oxidants, minerals, and vitamins that have health benefiting and
disease preventing properties.
- Unlike other berries and fruits, acai has high caloric values and fats. 100 g of berries provide about 80-250 calories depending up on the preparation and serving methods. In fact, fresh acai berry has been the staple nutritious diet of native Amazonian for centuries. There is no solid research evidence suggesting the use of these berries will help lose weight.
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Acai berry contains many polyphenolic
anthocyanin compounds like
resveratrol, cyanidin-3-galactoside, ferulic acid, delphinidin,
petunidin as well as astringent pro-anthocyanidin tannins
like epicatechin,
protocatechuic acid and ellagic acid.
Scientific studies suggest that these compounds have been claimed to
act as anti-aging, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer functions by virtue
of their anti-free radical fighting actions. In addition, tannins are known
to have anti-infective, anti-inflammatory and anti-hemorrhagic
properties.
-
Primary research studies suggest that ellagic acid in
acai has anti-proliferative properties by virtue of its ability to
directly inhibit DNA binding of certain carcinogens (nitrosamine toxins
in the food).
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Acai berry is also rich in medium chain fatty
acids like oleic acid
(omega-9) and linoleic
acid (omega-6).
These compounds help reduce LDL-cholesterol level and raise good
HDL-cholesterol levels in the body and thus help prevent heart disease.
In addition, the essential fats help prevent skin dryness by
maintaining adequate moisture in the skin.
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Acai pulp has good levels of dietary fiber.
Adequate fiber in the diet
helps clear cholesterol through the stools.
-
ORAC
value
(oxygen radical absorbance capacity) of acai berry is thought to be at
mid-level range for fruits, higher than that of oranges but less than
pomegranate.
USDA so far not validated exact ORAC value of acai.
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Acai berries contain a good
amount of minerals like potassium, manganese, copper, iron, and
magnesium. Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids
that helps controlling heart rate and blood pressure. Manganese is used
by the body as a co-factor for the antioxidant enzyme, superoxide
dismutase.
-
Further, they are rich in
B-complex vitamins and vitamin-K. Contain very good amounts
of niacin, vitamin B-6 and riboflavin. These vitamins are
function as co-factors and help body in the metabolism of
carbohydrates, proteins, and
fats.
Acai uses in traditional medicine
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Acai extracts have been used by Amazon basin
tribes as the treatment remedy for diarrhea, parasitic infections,
hemorrhages, and ulcer treatment.
-
A
kind of decoction obtained from crushed seeds has been used in the
treatment of fever.
-
Decoction obtained from the roots has been
used
in
the treatment of menstrual pain, liver diseases, malaria in Peruvian
culture.
Selection and storage
 |
| Acai
harvesting in Amazon rain forest Photo courtesy: nsub1 |
Acai is highly perishable. Once harvested, they should either be eaten or transported to processing units.
Several commercial products from the acai extraction are available in the stores. Freeze-dried whole acai also sold in the stores; however, they are nutritionally much inferior to fresh berries.
Preparation and serving methods
 |
| Harvested acai berries put for sale. Photo courtesy: borderlys |
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Acai juice is a refreshing drink commonly
obtained from macerating ripe fruits. To prepare the juice, the
ripe-berries are soaked in lukewarm water to soften their thin outer
shell. They are then squeezed, and the large seeds strained out to
produce a dense purple creamy liquid with a distinctive nutty flavor.
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Acai drinks, either freeze-dried or powdered
juice preparations, are
quite popular in the Americas.
-
Traditionally, in the tribal Amazon belt, acai
extracts commonly mixed with starchy root vegetable called manioc and is eaten
as porridge.
-
Its extract is mixed with sugar or sugar cane
to
sweeten and drunk as
a beverage.
-
Its extract has been used
to flavor ice creams, smoothies, shakes, liquor, and other
desserts.
-
Further, the berries are being used as energy
boosting nutritional supplements or snacks in the forms of capsules,
tablets, and energy bars.
Acai palm hearts
The acai palm hearts are eaten as a vegetable worldwide. They are obtained by cutting down the stem and removing the outer layers of bark leaving center core or palm heart. Palm's hearts are the tender, whitish immature growing buds of the palm frond just above the growing point on each stem. Although they have no or little nutritious value, palm hearts have been a delicacy and priced very high.Safety profile
Acai berry has no notified contraindications. It has been used by pregnant women safely in the Amazon basin. So far, no cases of allergic or toxicity cases notified. (Medical disclaimer)True facts about Acai
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Acai berry is the fruit from a palm tree. As
the fruits from any other similar palm family like coconut, date palm,
oil palm, acai is no different in caloric and nutritional profile. It
is high in calorie and fats. There is no established studies to prove
the use of acai product help in lose weight.
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Acai has been staple food of Amazonian for
centuries. So it is treated more like a food item than a novel fitness
fruit unlike blueberry, pomegranates, etc., which are, indeed, very low
in calories.
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Anti-oxidants levels present moderately in
acai in contrast to claims made by certain companies, websites,
articles, etc. USDA has so far not even bothered to find out its
nutritional profile and ORAC value. Nobody knows its exact ORAC
strength. However, there are countless herbs, fruits, berries and
vegetables in nature that have antioxidants higher than acai (for
example, example cinnamon has highest USDA documented ORAC value of
267536 trolox equivalents (TE), which is many hundred times more than
in acai, chokeberry,
apples
etc.
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Acai berry is high in calories and hence gives
immediate strength and stamina. There are no known food items in
nature, which are rich in calories and fats, yet known to reduce weight.
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Acai berry has so far had no documented
evidence to suggest its use as an aphrodisiac.(Medical
disclaimer)
