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Acai antioxidant benefit lost by commercial preparationAcai antioxidant levels are the highest of any known food. But many brands on the market do not provide the naturally occurring levels - nutrients are lost in preparation.A brief summary of acai benefits follows (more details available in a link below). And - if you're wondering what an antioxidant is - another link describes how antioxidants protect the body. Acai antioxidantsThe major groups of acai antioxidants are:Plant pigments called anthocyanins. These give the berries their deep purple color. They are the same kind of plant chemicals that give the red color to red wine, red, purple and black grapes, blueberries, cherries, plums, damsons, sloes and other deep red and purple fruits ... vegetables, too (red cabbage and purple sweet potatoes). The effects of these nutrients on the cardiovascular system were reviewed in 2002 (note this was not carried out on specifically acai antioxidant compounds) - but the same kind of substances found in red wine). Healthy oils The reason why the fruit has such a high level of calories is its high oil content. But - fear not - these are 'good oils.' We need them. If you're on some kind of low fat diet - please don't deprive yourself of essential oils ... they are exactly what the name suggests ... essential in a healthy diet! Oleic acid, which is a monounsaturated omega-9 acid Linoleic acid, a polyunsaturated omega-6 acid These have a particular benefit to the health of cell membranes. All nutrients that enter cells must cross the cell membrane (the 'wall' that separates one cell from another). This is an active process, meaning the cell membrane has to work to carry nutrients in to the place inside the cell where they are needed. These two substances help cells to absorb other nutrients. Your body benefits more from the vitamins you take in when cell membranes are healthy. The deterioration of cell membranes may also contribute to illnesses like Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's. Your body will make better use of vitamins A, E, D, K (from other sources in your diet) when cell walls are in good shape. This can be seen as a secondary acai antioxidant benefit. It also contains less, but significant amounts of palmitiric acid - a saturated oil. Vitamins, minerals and other phytonutrient content Acai supplies significant amounts of the water-soluble vitamin C (another of the acai antioxidants) and fat-soluble vitamins A and E. Plant phenols and dietary fibre are also present. At 30+% fibre - this is an excellent source. And it's possible that the high quality nutrients are bound on the the fibre, helping to deliver them to the digestive system in a form that is easily 'recognized' and digested (I speculate, based on other studies). Large amounts of the essential nutrients calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and zinc are also present. Synergistic effects of acai antioxidantsTests on one form of freeze dried acai fruit pulp showed an extraordinary acai benefit: its antioxidant activity was far greater than the measured levels of known antioxidants would suggest.There are two explanations: There are as yet unknown acai antioxidants that contribute to the effect. The acai antioxidant effect is enhanced synergistically - that is, that the whole soup of nutrients works far more effectively together than they do independently. This is quite a common effect in nutrition. It simply means the body is much more likely to benefit from naturally occurring nutrient rich foods than it will from manufactured single vitamins, or manufactured complexes. We need to know what evidence there is that this level of benefit is preserved in commercial preparations. Preserving the acai antioxidant effectAre these important health benefits still present in the preparations of acai that are commercially available?Acai is widely used - fresh or frozen - in Brazil. My previous article (see link below) argued that frozen pulp is likely to be the best form to retain the benefits. Since then I've seen some statistics about the impact of different preservation methods used by different suppliers. So first, I'm going to discount the various drinks, beverages and smoothies that are available - a lot of these are simply trading on the good reputation of acai benefits, and are charging a premium price for doing so. Check for yourself. What concentration of acai freeze-dried pulp does the beverage contain? If any product contains spray dried acai - again, it's best avoided. Spray drying needs high temperatures that destroy nutrients - and also requires that the pulp is packaged with carriers like starch (for increased shelf-life). This dilutes the acai content of the product Look for frozen acai pulp or freeze-dried acai. Cold temperatures tend to preserve nutrient quality and therefore the important acai antioxidant benefits. Comparisons of freeze-dried acai Even with freeze-dried acai, great differences have been found. I base that statement on research published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. It found that some commercial food preparations might destroy a greater part of the health benefit of acai. The studies were carried out by a team led by Alex Schauss from AIBMR Life Sciences (founded in 1978, this company carries out high quality research on behalf of nutraceutical companies). The team included people from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the University of California and other institutions. Basically, the research, even though commissioned by a commercially interested party, looks sound. Essential finding was that OptiAcai™ product had a 1026.9 ORAC (a measure of the acai antioxidant activity) score, compared to an ORAC score of 155 for other commercially available freeze-dried acai samples. Nutrient loss of transported frozen pulp may account for this. Where the pulp is freeze dried and how long it takes to get from harvesting to the freeze drying process are likely to be critical factors. This makes em OptiAcai™ a great source of acai antioxidants. However, I'm going to change mt recommendation of frozen pulp (because of nutrient losses during transportation) to freeze dried acai manufactured at source and shipped in its stable, freeze dried form. There's a company based in Brazil, in the rain forest itself, that is pursuing an ethically strong policy of working with local people and preserving the rain forest. They have the only certified organic source of acai on the market - traditional methods of harvesting mean that the product is the only certified organic source on the market. Their product has recently tested as up to 50 times more potent (ORAC score: 50,000 per 100g) than competitors. If you're interested in the health benefits of acai antioxidants for you and your family, you may want to check out organic Acai from Sambazon. This page explains more about the health benefits of acai antioxidant nutrients and this links to a page describing the general health benefits of antioxidants. Referencesdel Pozo-Insfran D, Brenes CH, Talcott STPhytochemical composition and pigment stability of Acai (Euterpe oleracea Mart.). J Agric Food Chem Mar 24; 52(6): 1539-45, 2004. Hassimotto NM, Genovese MI, Lajolo FM Antioxidant activity of dietary fruits, vegetables, and commercial frozen fruit pulps. J Agric Food Chem. 53 (8): 2928-35, 20 April 2005. Lichtenthäler R, Rodrigues RB, Maia JG, Papagiannopoulos M, Fabricius H, Marx F. Total oxidant scavenging capacities of Euterpe oleracea Mart. (Açaí) fruits. Int J Food Sci Nutr: 56 (1): 53-64, 2005. Schauss AG, Wu, X, Prior RL, Ou B, Patel D, Huang D and Kababick JP. Phytochemical and nutrient composition of the freeze-dried Amazonian palm berry, Euterpe oleraceae Mart. (Acai). Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry: 54 (22); 8598-8603, 2006. Schauss AG, Wu X, Prior RL, Ou B, Huang D, Owens J, Agarwal A, Jensen GS, Hart AN and Shanbrom E. Antioxidant capacity and other bioactivities of the freeze-dried Amazonian palm berry, Euterpe oleraceae Mart. (Acai). Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry; 54 (22); 8604-8610, 2006. Zenebe W, Pechanova O Effects of red wine polyphenolic compounds on the cardiovascular system Bratisl Lek Listy: 103 (4-5): 159-165, 2002.
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