Acai berry - Information

Acai Fruit Information

What is the health benefit of Acai Juice?

Common Names: Acai Palm, Assai Palm, Cabbage Palm
Synonyms : Euterpe badiocarpa
Related species : Eturpe edulis
Conservation Status: Not threatened

Distribution & Habitat: The Acai Palm is widely distributed and is very common throughout northern South America. The natural habit of the Acai Palm tends to be along river edges and seasonal flood plains and is mostly found along water courses of Brazil. Acai Palm is also cultivated extensively in the vast Amazon River estuary. Acai is a widely distributed, prolific palm and very widely grown because of the properties of the Acai fruit and the use of the heart of the palm for as a staple food in Brazil.

Background information: The Acai Palm belongs to a family of over 1200 species comprising 32 distinct generic groups and are widely regarded as one of the most useful plant families in the world. Palm trees have provided a range of food and products used by man for eons. Uses include food, clothing, oil for cooking, drinks, clothing, weapons, building materials, and containers.


Acai is an extremely common, slender, yet very tall palm and grows 15 to 25 m in height. Most mature Acai palm trees in the wild develop 4-8 stems from a single seed and root system. It isn't uncommon for the Acai palm to sprout up to 25 or more shoots all growing as individual Acai palms. Acai palm has adapted well to live and thrive in seasonally flooded areas in soils often waterlogged for months.

The Acai Palm produces quite small male and female flowers of a brown to purple color. The Acai Palm produces a highly nutritious edible berry which grows in dense bunches typical of many palms. The fruit is round and 1-2 cm in diameter, has an oily coating over a fibrous sheath covering a single large seed. Acai fruit ripens from a green color to a dark rich purple. Each Acai stem normally produces four to eight bunches of fruit throughout the year making it one of the most prolific fruiting palms in the forest. The bunches of ripe fruits are heaviest in the dry season (July to December) with individual bunches weighing up to 6 kg. One Acai palm stem usually yields an average of 24 kgs plus of fruit per year. The fruit is a favorite of rain forest animals and is actively sought out by birds and rodents. Seed disbursement from their droppings ensures continual propagation of the species. Found throughout the Amazon, Acai is very common in the Brazilian state of Pará. The Acai palm is perhaps the most common palm found throughout the lowland flood areas of northern South America.


Acai Berry: In Brazilian herbal medicine, the oil of the Acai fruit is used to treat diarrhea; an infusion of the grated fruit rind is used as a topical wash for skin ulcers; and, the fruit seeds are crushed and prepared in an infusion for fevers. In the Peruvian Amazon, an infusion of the toasted crushed seeds is used for fever. In Colombia, where the trees grow along the Pacific coast line, it is called naidí and the fruit is turned into a common and popular drink.


Acai Juice: Easily the most common use of the Acai fruit by Amazonians is the dark purple juice. The juice is extracted from the small round fruit by soaking the seeds in water to soften the thin outer shell and then squeezing and straining them to produce a very tasty, dense purple liquid. Acai liquid is served fresh and ice cold with (or sometimes without) sugar and tapioca flour. It is a nourishing and refreshing drink that is also used to produce ice cream, liquor, mousses and sweets in general. Consumption of up to 2 liters per day of this highly nutritious juice has been recorded amongst indigenous populations. Acai juice has been and remains, an extremely important part of northern native Sth American diets and has become very popular throughout all socio economic levels.


Acai Health Benefits: What is known about the Acai berry fruit health benefits, backed by scientific research into the fruits properties, is quite substantial. Acai is a rich source of anthocyanins and other phenolics and phyto-nutrients. Acai berries are amongst the most nutritious foods of the Amazon, rich in B vitamins, minerals, fiber, protein and omega-3 fatty acids. Acai also contain oleic acid (omega-9), a beneficial fatty acid (often mistakenly referred to as essential).

Minerals found in Acai Berry: Potassium is the mineral most abundant in the Acai, but it is also rich in copper, and unusually high in manganese. Only a small portion supplies far more than the body needs of this ultra-trace mineral.


Acai Phytonutrients: Anthocyanins are compounds that have potent antioxidant activity, allowing for the neutralization of potentially harmful free radicals. The famous research regarding the "French Paradox" attributes anthocyanins as being the antioxidant that protects the French from heart disease. The French are known to consume large amounts of coffee, nicotine, sugar, white flour and cheese and yet they have a very low rate of heart disease compared to neighboring countries like the UK and Denmark. The red wine grape, due to its anthocyanins is what is believed to be responsible for the very low incidence of heart disease. While red wine has good quantities of anthocyanins, the Acai berry has been show to contain up to 30 times the anthocyanins levels of red wine.
By neutralizing these free radicals, anthocyanins from the Acai berry may actually serve to maintain the healthy function of numerous systems and organs. Some of the anthocyanins that have been found in Acai include cyanidin-3-glucoside and cyanidin-3-glucoside-coumarate. Other phenolics include catechin and epi-catechin (the same compounds in green tea), quercetin derivatives and other flavonoids. It is likely that the synergistic effects of these compounds, as present in Acai fruit are responsible for its potent antioxidant activities.


ORAC Scale: The Oxygen Radical Absorption Capacity (ORAC) assay measures the total antioxidant activity of a biological sample. It’s a test developed for the USDA by scientists at Tufts University to measure the antioxidant speed and power of foods and supplements. The ORAC scale is used in human, agricultural, food and pharmaceutical products, as well as food ingredients and is quickly becoming the accepted standard for comparing antioxidant potential in foods and supplements.


Acai Antioxidant Benefits: For the average person to cope with all the reactive oxygen species they will encounter, foods and beverages totaling an ORAC value of about 1,670 per day are needed. It’s been estimated that 80-90 percent of the world’s population fails to consume even half of this level. At 3,800 ORAC value per gram, Acai is reputed to be extremely high on the ORAC scale and provides levels multiple times that of other anthocyanin-rich fruits and vegetables, such as cherries, cranberries and mulberries.



Aging Population: As the population ages, 80% of older people in Western countries will develop at least one chronic metabolic disease. If the USDA says that high-ORAC foods may slow aging and prevent metabolic disease from occurring, isn't it about time you increased the amount of high ORAC foods in your diet to prevent this process from occurring in the first place?