Amazonian Berry: The New Super Food
The world’s largest rainforest, the Amazon’s borders extend into eight countries. The Amazon River basin contains one fifth of the world’s fresh water supply and the area is teeming with wildlife of all sorts. One third of all animal and plant species on Earth may be found in the Amazon.
It is in this lush, flourishing environment that the acai berry grows. According to sources, the native Amazon tribes use almost 2,000 of the 3,000 known rainforest fruits for remedial purposes. The acai berry is one of the most potent and powerful of these fruits.
Despite its use in the treatment of ailments for thousands of years, the acai berry remained virtually unknown to the western world before around 1990. But at last, we too are able to tap into the amazing health benefits that the acai berry possesses.
Naturally rich in antioxidants, the acai berry contains ten times as many if these compounds as do grapes and twice as many as do blueberries. They also contain fibre, protein and minerals.
Another benefit of the acai berry is its high level of anthocyanins. These compounds are said to be responsible for some of the health benefits of red wine. The acai berry however, contains higher levels of anthocyanins and eliminates other risks associated with alcohol.
And there’s yet more benefits to this amazing tropical fruit; the acai berry is believes to be one of the most effective anti-aging foods. It is believed among health food enthusiasts that the anthocyanins and the antioxidants found in the acai berry are responsible for these anti-aging benefits.
Acai berries have been used in making wine with a higher nutritional value, to fight the disease schistosomosis (which is transmitted by snails) and in manufacturing an antibiotic to combat staph infections - this is a berry which has a wealth of nutritional benefits and a lot of different applications.
The acai berry is a little, round, black-purple drupe about 1 inch in diameter. There is a similarity between this and grapes in look and feel. Whilst the immense popularity of this fruit lies in the fact that it provides incredible health benefits the flavour is also simply superb. Perhaps the easiest way to enjoy the benefits of the acai berry is by drinking it as a juice or in smoothies.