There is a new food group gaining in importance and notoriety called, Superfoods. One of the most talked about Superfoods these days is the acai berry from Brazil. The acai (ah-sigh-EE) berry, is a tiny, round and blackish violet berry. It looks similar to a grape, but is smaller and darker. Acai has a large seed and less skin than a grape.
Acai is widely used, especially in America, in ice cream, smoothies, energy bars, and now it’s available in one of our most popular therapy juices, Acai Max. The acai in our Acai Max is USDA certified organic making it the most versatile and absorbable form available.
The most significant component in guaranteeing a nutritious acai product is in ensuring the quickness in the time between the harvest and the processing. The acai berry is very rich in anthocyanin, an antioxidant substance that helps to fight bad cholesterol and destroy harmful free radicals. Have you ever heard that drinking a glass of red wine daily is good for the heart? That’s because of the anthocyanins in the skins of red grapes. The color of the acai berry is similar to that of the color of red grapes, although the acai berry has 33 times more health promoting anthocyanins than the red grape.
In addition to being considered one of the “richest foods in iron” the acai is also rich in fiber which makes it strongly recommended for the elderly with problems in the digestive organs. For its microbiological characteristics, the acai berry is considered one of the most nutritious fruits in the Amazon, and possibly in the world!
|
Content per 100 grams of acai berry |
|
|
Acid |
0.13% |
|
Brix |
45.90 g |
|
Protein |
6% |
|
Fiber |
16.90 g |
|
Niacin |
0.40 mg |
|
Phosphorous |
58.0 mg |
|
Iron |
11.80 mg |
|
Vitamin B1 |
0.36 mg |
|
Vitamin B2 |
0.01 mg |
|
Calcium |
9.0 mg |
|
Vitamin C |
9.0 mg |
|
pH |
5.21 |
|
Calories |
247 |
The acai berry can be considered one of the most nutritional fruits from Amazon. Each year, the agricultural food industry researches sources of natural colorants. Among these, anthocyanins are of particular interest due to the large range of colors that they have (orange, red, blue) and their very important nutritional properties. In effect, anthocyanins are pigments belonging to the flavonoid group and have very high antioxidant levels.
Works Cited:
1. Rogez H. Acai: Preparo, Composicao, Melhormento da Converacao. Belem: EDUFPA; 2000.
