The Acai Berry (pronounced ah-sigh-EE) has often been referred to as a “Superfood”, but has only in recent years has it grown in popularity. Until just a few years ago it was virtually unknown to people outside of South America.

The Health Benefits of Acai

Although Acai berries was used by health insiders previously most people bacame aware of it originally due largely in part to anti-aging expert Dr. Nicolas Perricone who was featured on the Oprah Winfrey show, now other Rachael Ray nd other Hollywood celebrities have also begun to endorse it.

The Acai berry also known as Acai palm, Assai palm or cabbage palm grows only in South Amarica in the Amazon rainforest high atop palm trees that reach 15 – 25 meters in height, it ripens from a green color to a dark purple color. And it starts to deteriorate and lose it’s potency soon after being harvested. Thus it wasn’t feasible to export it until lately. And although the local natives have known about it’s healing and health benefits for centries it remained virtually unknown to the rest of the world. While the fresh fruit still remains out of our reach modern technology by pastuerizing or flash freeze drying has made it available worldwide.

Acai Berry Health Benefits

Cardiovascular Disease

One of the reasons the Acai fruit has grown in popularity it helps to prevent and protect against against cardiovascular disease which strikes 750,000 U.S. citizens alone. Those that have benefited the most with modern technology has also suffered the consequences the most, decades of junk food and quick food has taken it’s toll.

The Acai berry isn’t exclusive to antioxidents, fatty acids, fiber, phytosterols and nutritional properties, you can get it in other ways, but ounce for ounce it would be hard to find a densely vitaimin and nutrient rich food.

The omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids helps to lower the terrible cholesterol (LDL) while raising the excellent cholesterol (HDL) and helps in maintaining a healthy heart and preventing strokes and other potential health problems while helping the body to function normally.

The Acai berry is also high in dietary fiber of which most people don’t get enough of. Fiber isn’t absorbed by the human body so it just passes through and is excreted as waste. But while it passes through the body it takes along with it cholesterol and food that other wise would be stored as stout, helping to control cholesterol levels. And the reduction in weight also reduces the risk of potential cardiovascular disease and high blood pressure. Other wise known as the “silent killers”. Heart attacks and strokes a lot of times gives no prior physical warnings.

Anti-aging Antioxident

Acai berries also has an abundance of antioxidents, up to 10 times as much as red grapes, twice as much as blueberries and 10 to 30 times the anthocyanins of red wine.

Antioxidents help to protect the body against the hurts caused by oxygen free radicals, everyday life (pollution, foods, etc.) and age. The body produces oxygen free radicals that ruin and hurt the cells in your body, antioxidents help to counteract the effects, thus slowing down the aging process among other things. Free radicals have been linked to cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other diseases.

Oxygen free radicals and saturated fats also cause plaque to form on artery walls blocking the blood flow, this usually happens over time as we age, normally this takes decades to occur. But when it does it stops the blood flow and the result is a heart attack or stroke. 750,000 people in the United States suffer heart attacks and strokes a year, and about 1/3 of them die or remain permanently disabled.

In one of the early research studies involving people the acai berry diet has proven it’s ability to be absorbed in the human body when consumed as juice and pulp. Blood and urine samples at 12 and 24 hours after consumption showed a significant increase in antioxidant activity in the blood. Both acai pulp and acai juice showed significant absorption of antioxidant anthocyanins into the blood and antioxidant effects.

For now, plenty of research supports eating a diet rich in antioxidants. There’s no doubt that berries and other fruits are a key part of any healthy diet.

Acai Berry Weight Loss

Acai berries weight loss also has become well loved in many diet products because it helps your body to process foods better, burn stout more efficiently making it simpler to lose weight and helps to boost energy which many dieters complain off. The essential fatty acids enhances the weight loss by helping the body to run smoother and helping to maintain a normal metabolism, thus burning more of the excess food that eventually gets turned into stout. And fiber also helps the body to get rid of the excess food before it’s converted to body stout. It also helps to suppress the appetite.

The acai berry is a potentially powerful food, but you should know that much of the potency of the fruit may have been ruined in the processing or “commercialization”. Personally I’ve found that the acai supplements found at health food stores tend to have more of the vitamins and nutrients preserved, while those found in supermarket shelves tend to be more commercialized and much of the nutrients being ruined by processing. Some acai berry juices have been watered down or have added sugars (fructose, sucrose, glucose, artificial sweetners, etc.) added to them. Although some people say it has a “cherry/chocolate” taste I find Acai tastes kind of “tangy” or sour, commercial brands sometimes tend to add a small something to make it sweeter.

There’s been no long term studies conducted yet on the health benefits of Acai, but one has to keep in mind that it really hasn’t been around long enough (outside of South America) to be brought to our attention to do any research on it until recently. But the intial research shows a positive effect on antiaging, cancer and weight loss. The studies conducted at the University of Florida and Science Daily looks very positive.