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acai
is a species of palm tree that grows in the flood plain and swampy regions of central and south America mainly in Brazil.The fruits of Acai oracai berry
are grape like fruits that form a major portion of the die of certain population as Caboclo populations on Marajó Island, Amazonia, Brazil.[Source journal:Food Consumption and Subsistence in Three Caboclo Populations on Marajó Island, Amazonia, Brazil link]
The
juice of Acai
berry is consumed in many forms like smoothies,mix,soda,ice-cream etc.In the last decade there has been an upsurge to promo acai and other related products like acai berry,acai pure
,acai juice,acai mix,freeze dried acai as a weight loss supplement.Numerous benefits have been labeled to acai like improved sleep,beneficial to hear,increased sexual performance,beneficial in diabetes and what not.This claims prompted me to conduct an extensive search to elucidate the true facts with a neutral outlook.
Here is what i got:
1.Regarding the use of various forms of acai as a weight loss supplement i could not find any controlled study.But this much i can say none of the aforementioned claims have been validated by the FDA.
2.Optiacai or the freeze-dried form of acai has a good anti-oxidant property.It has very high activity against the superoxide radicals.Other potential anti-oxidant actions are weak activity against hydroxyl and peroxy-nitrate radicals and cyclo-oxygenase 1 & cyclo-oxygenase-2 inhibition.[Journal source:Antioxidant capacity and other bioactivities of the freeze-dried Amazonian palm berry, Euterpe oleraceae mart.Schauss AG, Wu X, Prior RL, Ou B, Huang D, Owens J, Agarwal A, Jensen GS, Hart AN, Shanbrom E.link]
3.Schauss AG, Wu X, Prior RL, Ou B, Patel D, Huang D, Kababick JP in their journal Phytochemical and nutrient composition of the freeze-dried amazonian palm berry, Euterpe oleraceae mart.-link (acai) evaluated the composition of acai or freeze-dried amazinian palm-berry.some of the contents are anthocyanins,proanthocyanidins and other flavonoids,B-sitosterol, campesterol and other serols.
4.Pacheco-Palencia LA, Mertens-Talcott S, Talcott ST had suggested that as acai oil derieved from acai fruit is reach in sterols and phyto-chemicals, it may be a viable alternative to tropical oils for foods,cosmetics.[journal link]
5.In his ineresting journal Lichtenthäler R, Rodrigues RB, Maia JG, Papagiannopoulos M, Fabricius H, Marx F compared he anti-oxidant capacities of commercial and non-commercial varieties of acai.The antioxidant capacities of all purple açaí samples were found to be excellent against peroxyl radicals, good against peroxynitrite and mild against the hydroxyl radicals compared with other fruit and vegetable juices.[Journal link]
6.his was the best study,i searched out so far.Seeram NP, Aviram M, Zhang Y, Henning SM, Feng L, Dreher M, Heber D performed a comparative study on various juices available in the marke,which are claimed to have anti-oxidant properties.In this study,they tested a wide range of anti-oxidant properties.According to this study the anti-oxidant property of pomegranate juice (PJ) was he greatest,followed by others like red wine,Concord grape juice,blueberry,black-berry,acai.[journal link]
7.quackwatch.com link
NOW TO END THIS JOURNAL ,I have presented all the research papers, i could find about acai.Now i guess, it will be easier for my readers to form an informed decision.Now before embarking on
buy acai
phenomenon please check out the true facts.If you ask me,take the straight way-eat healthy,stop junk foods,exercise...exercise.
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