Most people have heard of the acai berry or acai juice of some sort. They may have heard it in the news, on YouTube, on Oprah, or even by reading books and magazines such as the best selling book by Dr. Nicholas Perricone. They might have seen ads on the web about products that are trying to capitalize on the benefits of the acai. There is certainly a lot of hype all around acai these days.
Most people already know that the acai is healthy but many do not know how healthy exactly or what it contains. Some people think that it is similar to blueberry or other berries which have high antioxidants. If they are more serious about healthy foods, they may learn about the ORAC value and find that the acai berry is supposed to have the highest ORAC value among fruits and berries.
Although people have heard of the acai, some of them think that it is some kind of fruit or even vegetable. Some think that is not neither fruit nor vegetable. In fact, the acai that most people refer to is the acai berry, although some may refer to acai pulp or acai juice. An acai berry is a little berry that is the size of a grape.
Another thing people might not know is that the type of trees that grow the acai berries are palm trees. These are large and tall trees deep in the rain forests. The name for this type of palm tree is Euterpe oleracea. Each acai palm tree can product up to 20kg of acai fruits a year.
What people usually look for in fruits and berries is antioxidants. In the acai berry, there are many potent antioxidants. In 2005, a well known research finding was published that says that the acai antioxidants were excellent against hydroxyl radicals. The research compared the effects of acai antioxidants against other fruits and vegetable juices an found that the acai antioxidants are far superior than others.
If you are worried about cancer, in 2006, the University of Florida published a research finding that says that the acai berry extract may lead to scientists finding a cure to cancer. The research caught a lot of attention in the media and it was published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. There need to be more research on the effect of acai berry on cancer cells.
Although, there is much to be done before people can truly benefit from the acai berry, it does not stop people from trying to get some acai juice and other products to try in hope that they will live a with better health today. Companies also profit by including the acai in their products hoping to capture the market share of the many acai lovers.
