The Amazing New Super-fruit Sports Champions are Raving About
Wednesday, June 16th, 2010Layne Beachley, as many readers may already know, is a woman from the Manly suburb of Sydney, Australia who is regarded by most as the greatest female surfer of all time. She has won the Association of Surfing Professionals’ World Surfing Championship seven times.
One of the secrets to her success, like that of any champion athlete, is her diet. And one of the core components of Layne Beachley’s diet is the Acai fruit.
Now regarded as one of the most nutritious fruits found in the Amazon Rain Forest, Acai berries contain the highest ORAC value of any edible berry in the world. The ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) rating is a standard method of comparing the level of antioxidants present in food products.
Antioxidants are substances, including vitamin E, vitamin C, beta carotene, and active substances in green tea among many others, which protect the body’s cells from the damaging effects of oxidation, or the “rusting” of the arteries and tissues of the body. Oxidation naturally occurs whenever we eat any food, but left unchecked it leads to premature aging and early death.
The Acai berry also contains an abundance of Oleic (omega 9) monounsaturated essential fatty acid, which helps in lowering the “bad cholesterol” LDL and with maintaining the “good cholesterol” or HDL, and Linoleic (omega 6) polyunsaturated essential fatty acid which does the same thing. Thus the fruit provides very healthy fats, essential for strengthening the heart, which lives on fat, something which, of course, all great athletes need.
The Acai berry also contains phytosterols, or plant-derived sterols; these are compounds of plant cell membranes which are highly beneficial to our bodies in numerous ways, but foremost in the reduction of blood plasma cholesterol and sourcing dietary fibre.
And there is still more to the Acai berry, for this special fruit is abundant with a particular class of flavonoids called anthocyanins. These are ubiquitous plant colorants which impart the red, purple, and blue hues found many fruits, vegetables, cereal grains, and flowers.
Represented by over 600 molecular structures, research has found the properties of the Acai berry to boast benefits including: protection from liver damage; significant blood pressure reduction; eyesight improvement; powerful anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial activities; the inhibition of mutations caused by mutagens that arise in cooked food; and the suppression of human cancer cell growth.
Clearly, the Acai berry and its fresh, all natural juice should be considered a “superfood” and “superdrink”. Health conscious Aussies as well as those who may want to follow in Layne Beachley’s bare footsteps and become champion athletes should incorporate Acai berries and products into their diets.

