Acai berry
nutrition facts
Does acai berry has highest anti-oxidant levels
than
some commonly used fruits like pomegranate, blueberries etc?
Recent revelations establish that it has no extra
beneficial nutrients than some of commonly used fruits like mango,
blueberry, pomegranate etc. This berry has been traditional staple food
of Amzon basin tribes but recently has gained recognition in
the United States as so called "super food". Nonetheless, this
wonderful berry has very good levels of anti-oxidants, minerals, and
vitamins that would benefit overall health and fitness.
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Acai berries (Euterpe oleracea)
Note dark purple , round berries
Photo courtesy: borderlys
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Acai
pulp exract. Note dark brown, creamy texture dense liquid. Photo
courtesy: foxmuld3r |
Acai berry is a small, round, dark purple fruit
obtained from acai palm tree.
Botanically, acai belongs to palm or Arecaceae family of
trees in the
genus Euterpe
and known as Euterpe
oleracea.
Each berry
measures about the size of small sized grape, 2-3 cm in diameter. They
are dark green
initially then turns to dark purple color once reach maturity.
Technically, the
fruit is a drupe, consists of outer edible pulp surrounding a central
large seed. Only the outer pulp, comprising about 10-15% of berry
weight, is edible.
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 bear
3-5 bunches with each bunch holding about hundreds of berries in a way
similar to areca palm or coconut palm.
Health
benefits of acai berry
-
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 cal depending up on the preparation and serving methods.
In fact, fresh acai berry has been the staple nutritious diet
of
native amazonians for centuries. There is no research evidence that the
use of these berries will help you lose weight.
-
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 on these compounds suggests 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.
-
Preliminary research studies suggest that
ellagic
acid in acai has anti-proliferative properties due to its
ability to directly inhibit the DNA binding of certain carcinogens,
including nitrosamines toxins in the food.
-
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 rise good HDL cholesterol levels in the body,
prevent skin dryness as well as help prevent heart disease.
-
Acai pulp has good levels of dietary fiber.
Good fiber in the diet helps remove cholesterol in 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.
-
Acai berries contain good
amount of minerals like potassium, manganese, copper, iron and
magnesium. Potassium in 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.
-
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
-
Acai extracts has been used by Amazon basin
tribes as 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 |
Fresh acai are only available near their
plantation. In general, acai
fruits harvested twice a year. People expert in climbing trees collect
the whole mature bunch from the top of the acai palm tree.
Acai are 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 available
over shores; however, they are nutritionally much inferior to fresh
berries.
Preparation
and serving methods
The outer peel or pulp has been the main edible content in
acai. Seeds are either discarded or used as animal fodder.
<-Photo by: gurucrusher
Here are some serving tips:
-
Acai juice is a refreshening drink commonly
obtained from macerating ripe fruits. To prepare the juice
the ripe fruits are soaked in lukewarm water to soften the 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.
-
Acai drinks, either freeze-dried or powdered
juice preparations, are
quite popular in the Americas.
-
Traditionally, in tribal amazon belt, acai
extract commonly mixed with a starchy root vegetable called
manioc and is eaten as a purple
porridge.
-
It 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.
-
Also 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 vegetable
worldwide. They are
obtained by cutting down the stem and removing the outer layers of bark
leaving center core or palm heart. Palm 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 so far. (Medical
disclaimer)
True facts about Acai
-
Acai berry is the fruit from 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 are no established studies to show eating or drinking acai
products results in weight loss.
-
Acai has been staple food of
amazonians for centuries. So it is treated more like a food item than a
novel fitness fruit unlike blueberry, pomegranates etc which are, in
fact, very low in calories.
-
Anti-oxidants levels are moderately
present in acai in contrast to claims made by certain companies,
websites, articles etc. USDA has so far not even botherd to find out
its nutritional profile and ORAC value. Nobody knows its exact ORAC
strength. But there are
countless herbs, fruits, berries and vegetables in nature that have
antioxidants higher than acai (for 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.
-
Acai is high in
calories and hence gives immediate strength and stamina. There are no
known food items in nature which are high in calories and fats yet
known to reduce weight.
-
Acai berry has so far has no documented evidences
to
be used as aphrodisiac. (Medical
disclaimer)
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