Açaí — Super Juice Or Super Fruit?

Some claim it as “purple gold,” health food stores stock it on their shelves, and it started in the Brazilian Amazon. Oprah Winfrey featured it on her show and health specialists endorse it. The Acai fruit is quickly catching on in the U.S., finding its way into a number of juices, smoothies, and nutrition bars The real question is, Is acai worth all the hype

The acai berry cures a number of ailments, provides energy, and increases the libido, Amazon tribes have said. Recent scientific studies agree, indicating that the acai berry is one of the most nutritional foods in the world The acai fruit starts as the fruit of Amazonian palm trees. The berry is filled with antioxidants, amino acid and fatty acids, and natural energy, and has a subtle chocolate taste. Researchers find that this combination creates a “superfood” that helps prevent high cholesterol, heart disease, and cancer Because the acai fruit destroys some cancer cells in the body, it is a leading ingredient in many alternative medicine diets.

Even though the acai fruit is a staple in the Amazonian diet, it is new to the U.S.. The U.S. phenomenon is credited to Southern California brothers who discovered the fruit on a surfing trip and returned to the U.S. to co-found the company Sambazon, which features the acai berry in a number of its products

The acai fruit is featured mostly as a main ingredient in other food products like protein bars and juice because it spoils too quicly to be distributed in its natural form. A higher concentration of antioxidants is found in pulp form rather than acai juice products and is now showing up in some health food stores as an unsweetened pulp form.

Acai offers is appealing to a society focusing more and more on sustainable development The acai fruit is a renewable resource that gives thousands of harvesters the opportunity to provide for themselves without destroying the Amazon rainforests As the popularity of acai products increases and requires more of the fruit to be harvested, new concerns arise.

Nevertheless, the acai phenomenon will only grow in the U.S., with Açaí juice and products being widely distributed in a number of food chains, like Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s Research already provides evidence that the acai fruit is worth the hype; now it’s time for Americans to fully embrace it

Tags: Sports Nutrition Vitamin Diets