Why Açai?
You hear about ‘this fruit’ and ‘that vegetable’ being
the latest and greatest superfood, but this is the one you really need to
hear about. The Acai berry grows wild in the Amazon, is the most powerful
natural antioxidant known, and delivers such significant health benefits that
it is called the ‘Tree of Life’ by the Amazonian people.
The anti-oxidant properties of Acai can deliver such benefits as reduced
risk or prevention of cancer, diabetes, chronic inflammation, heart and vascular
disease, Alzheimer's disease and other types of neuro-degeneration, high blood
cholesterol, stroke, bacterial infections, urinary tract infections, age-related
visual deterioration and premature aging.
Where is it found?
It is distributed widely in the northern South America with its greatest occurrence in the flood plains of the Brazilian Amazonian state of Para. The Amazon estuary extends from the mouths of the Amazon and Para rivers which merge on the eastern flank of the Marajo, a 50k km square island. Most of the estuary is within the Marajo Varzea eco region, an intertwined network of rivers and streams which undergoes seasonal tidal flooding and poorly drained dry soils. It has to be harvested by hand because there are no mechanical ways to harvest it in such a flood plain.
We source our Acai berries from a Fair Trade programme that is committed to sustainable resources, is recognised by The World Wildlife Fund, and won the Ashoka Award for ‘Market-Based Solution to Low Income Communities’ in recognition that the participant families earn income that is 48% higher than the local average. We are very proud to be associated with such a wonderful scheme.
What does it look like?
The palm is a slender multi-stemmed, monoecious palm that can reach the height of 30m. Ethnobotanists have recorded no less than 22 different uses for all parts of the tree. They fell the tree and eat the palm heart, turn the fruit into a juice drink, and use the mature palm fronds for thatch for their house roofs. They then urinate on the rest of the felled tree to attract a species Rhynchophorus palm beetle to lay its eggs inside the felled tree. Several weeks later, they return to harvest 3-4 pounds of beetle grub larvae which are an important source of protein (62%) and fat (4.5%) in their diet.
What does the fruit look like?
Each palm tree produces 3 to 4 bunches of fruit with each bunch providing
3 to 6 kg of fruit. The round-shaped fruit appears in green clusters when
immature and ripen to a dark purple-coloured fruit that range from 1 to
1.5 cm in diameter.
The seed accounts for most of the fruit size and the fruit is covered by
thin fibrous fibres under which there is a small edible layer. The fruit
needs to be processed within 24 hours otherwise the fruit oxidizes and
loses its nutritional value. Acai palm (E. oleracea) is now the
world's main source of palm hearts. To prepare the liquid the ripe fruits
are soaked in water to soften the thin outer shell. The fruits are then
squeezed and the large seeds strained out to produce a dense purple liquid
with a distinctive flavour.
What do they taste like?
A viscous juice is typically prepared by macerating the edible pulp, it has an astringent mouth feel and has a taste of a vibrant blend of berries and chocolate with a creamy texture and oily appearance. In some areas, individual consumption of up to 2 litres daily has been recorded. It is so popular, there is usually a small special establishment called an acailandia in most Amazon river towns and villages that prepare the acai juice and sell it in small plastic bags.
Benefits of the Fruit
Antioxidant – anthocyanins:
The dark purple colour of the fruit is due to the polyphenolic compounds present. Anthocyanins are a group of flavonoids widely distributed in plants and lending a red to purple colour to fruits like grapes, blackberries, and raspberries. As a well-known anti-oxidant, anthocyanin-rich foods and fruits have been marketed as cancer preventative and anti-aging products.
Acai likely imparts important health benefits associated with consumption of antioxidants, such as reduced risk or prevention of cancer, diabetes, chronic inflammation, heart and vascular disease, Alzheimer's disease and other types of neuro-degeneration, high blood cholesterol, stroke, bacterial infections, urinary tract infections, age-related visual deterioration and premature aging.
Anti-oxidants: Vitamin E
Vitamin E at 45 mg per 100 grams, is an extraordinary content for fruits.
Dietary Fibre:
Having nearly one-third of its mass as dietary fibre, it is an exceptional source for this valuable macronutrient. A 100 gram serving of fruit pulp would provide all the recommended fibre needs for adults (30 grams per day). The fibre components are both insoluble (from skin) and soluble (pulp polysaccharides).
Omega 6 and 9:
It is particularly rich in oleic acid (60% of total fats, an omega-9 fat), palmitic acid (22%) and linoleic acid (12%, an omega-6 fat), fat sources most commonly found in fruit seeds. β-sitosterol (beta-sitosterol), a phytosterol that competes with cholesterol for absorption, is also unusually rich (78% of total sterols).
Micronutrients:
It shows a richness of vitamins and minerals. Vitamins B1, B2, B3, C and E are present. Potassium content is high in Acai (932 mg per 100 grams). Other minerals isolated included sodium, calcium, magnesium, iron, copper, zinc, phosphorus and sulphur.
Sixteen amino acids are found in Acai pulp, with especially high contents of aspartic acid and glutamic acid (the main plant chemicals in acai fruit include epicatechin, p-hydroxy-benzoic acid, gallic acid, (+)-catechin, protocatechuic acid, ellagic acid, p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, vanillic acid, cyanidin, and pelaronidin 3-glucoside).
Other uses
Acai has even been used topically for its astringent and anti-bacterial properties. Due to its rich content of anthocyanin pigments (especially cyanidin-3-glucoside and cyanidin-3-rutinoside) that give it the characteristic deep purple colour, Acai likely imparts important health benefits associated with consumption of antioxidant pigments, such as reduced risk or prevention of cancer, diabetes, chronic inflammation, heart and vascular disease, Alzheimer's disease and other types of neuro-degeneration, high blood cholesterol, stroke, bacterial infections, urinary tract infections, age-related visual deterioration and premature aging.
What are the health benefit of the ingredients?
Anti-aging and degenerative diseases:
Anti-oxidants, which include the vitamins C and E and anthocyanins that are found in the Acai fruit, help to neutralize oxygen-free radicals, which are an unhealthy by product of the process the body uses to turn food into energy. Oxygen-free radical molecules can react with other molecules in the body, causing potential changes in genetic material, accelerating the aging process and leading the way for degenerative diseases. Though the body does produce its own anti-oxidants, as we age we tend to produce less and less, thus promoting the aging process even further. With the high concentrations of anti-oxidants the Acai berry juice could help slow the aging process. It could also help prevent or slow the progression of such degenerative diseases as arthritis and diabetes. Other potential physiological benefits of anthocyanins include radiation protective and chemo-protection.
Skin and inflammation:
An infusion of the grated fruit rind is used as a topical wash for skin ulcers and the Acai juices when drunk may have a role in reducing joint and blood vessel inflammation.
Cholesterol:
The Omega 6 and Omega 9 fatty acids can help fight the build up of LDL, or bad cholesterol, in the body while also helping maintain HDL, or good cholesterol to which can also be added the high concentration of phytosterols, which reduce blood plasma cholesterol.
Diarrhoea:
In Brazilian herbal medicine, the oil of the fruit is used to treat diarrhoea.