Acai: A Little Berry With Big Powers
You may have heard of the Acai berry – most of us have probably received spam emails promising weight loss miracles with Acai pills, and while there’s no magic bullet for weight loss, Acai has risen to prominence in the top rank of superfoods. But what is Acai?
Acai (pronounced a-sigh-ee) is the name of a palm tree which grows in South America and the Caribbean. It gives its name to the small black berries which grow on it. These are a staple food in the Amazon River delta, along with the hearts of palm which come from the same tree. In recent years, ‘acai bowls’ have become popular in health food circles – these usually contain a whole host of healthy wholefoods such as nuts and fruit along with a good helping of acai berry powder or pulp.
So what’s the truth about the health benefits of Acai? Let’s have a detailed look….
A splendid nutritional profile
Freeze-Dried Acai Powder is over 8% protein, and contains Omega 3, 6 and 9 essential fatty acids. There’s also a good amount of iron, potassium, magnesium, manganese, calcium, phosphorous and copper. It’s rich in Vitamin A and C, and around one third fibre by weight. Best of all, Acai is a super source of the plant compounds orientin, isoorientin and vanillic acid, as well as various anthocyanins and flavonoids. These substances are excellent for many aspects of human health, and American scientists published research in 2011 showing that the polysaccharides in Acai prompted an immune response when consumed that could be extremely helpful in the fight against infectious diseases.
Researchers found in 2006 that Freeze-Dried Acai had the highest ORAC level of any food (ORAC means ‘Oxygen radical absorbance capacity’ and is a measure used to indicate antioxidant level). In a 2020 study of overweight patients with high cholesterol, Brazilian scientists concluded that acai reduced oxidative stress and improved inflammation markers across the board, while another South American medical trial in 2019 found that eating acai led to an overall improvement in the aerobic capacity of male cyclists. Oxidative damage in the body leads to an increase in signs of ageing, so acai – with its wealth of antioxidants – is a great choice if you want to look and feel young!
A great ally in the fight against cancer
A 2018 review of the medical literature concluded that acai reduces the incidence, cell proliferation, multiplicity and size of cancerous tumours, while scientists in Florida discovered in 2006 that the bioactive polyphenols in acai led leukemia cells to kill themselves. In another study, from Texas in 2013, researchers proved that acai encourages colon cancer cells to kill themselves too, while the Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology published a report in 2017 showing that acai also counteracts the formation of tumours in breast cancer patients.
Research by South American scientists in 2018 showed acai had a marked beneficial effect on good (HDL) cholesterol levels, could play an important overall role against heart disease, and should therefore be considered as a functional food. This paper from 2020 also demonstrated a marked improvement in HDL levels when Acai Berry Juice was consumed daily for 4 weeks. Another research paper published in Food Research International in 2018 discovered that acai supplementation reduces problems associated with obesity by speeding up cholesterol excretion, thereby improving ‘good’ cholesterol levels.
Because Acai is so loaded with antioxidants, it can significantly reduce inflammation and hugely lower oxidative stress in brain cells. One of the effects of this is that it can lead to improved cognition. Researchers working in the Amazon region noted that acai has fantastic neuromodulatory effects in critical brain regions involved in memory, cognition and overall brain function.
