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The Health Benefits of Acai Berry SupplementsAn exploration of the health benefits of acai supplements. What do we know? What is hard fact? What is guess work?Like many of the "Super Fruit" nutritional supplements available today, what we know about acai supplements piggy backs on research into the phytochemicals (this just means 'chemicals obtained from plants') it contains. For example, research shows that: "Phytochemical 'A' helps prevent disease 'Z' ". Provided that research is sound, we just need to find a good natural source of A. We then begin supplementing our diet and start to experience the health benefits claimed for 'A'. I'm researching and writing a page on the quality of the research on phytonutrients ('plant chemicals that have a nutritional value'), but it'll take a while. [Want to know how to find out when they're written? Please sign up for the RSS feed to stay in touch with this site. Not sure what that means? There's an explanation by the orange button.] This page focuses on the claims made for the health benefits of acai berry skins - the source that native south Americans have used for generations. The health benefits of acai berry skinsIf you've taken the warnings seriously that the destruction of the rain forests is going to deprive us of many potential sources of beneficial drugs, you won't be surprised at the acai benefits story ...Like many nutritional supplements obtained from native cultures, the Brazilian Indians call the plant "The Tree of Life". This often indicates a plant revered for its healing or vitality building benefits. Native peoples of the Amazon rain forest strip the deep purple skin from the pit/stone. They use the skins to make a puree that is usually eaten warm over grains, cereals or fruit. This deep purple skin contains phytonutrients called anthocyanins. They are the same chemicals that give red wine and blueberries their color. You may know that red wine and blue berries have both been recommended for their health benefits. The benefits of acai rest on the same reasoning - these anthocyanins have powerful antioxidant properties (click the button on the navigation bar if you're not sure about what this means). The thing is acai berry pulp contains 30 times the amount of anthocyanins that red wine contains. And that's not all ... Another of the key discoveries of nutritional science of recent years is that we may be suffering from he absence of "Essential Fatty Acids" (EFAs) in our diet. We all know we need fats and oils in our diet. Fats are hard at room temperature, oils are liquid. To get a balanced diet, we need to eat oils. For some of our needs, the body can change one form of oil into another - but it can't do this for all the oils we need. These fatty acids are called essential because it's essential our diet contains them. We can't manufacture these in the body. You may have heard of these as omega-3, omega-6 and omega-9 fatty acids Acai pulp contains nutritionally significant levels of omega-6 and omega-9 fatty acids. I'll point out which health benefits of acai supplements are due to which nutrients. Time to talk about the health benefits of this juice ... Acai supplements and the blood and circulatory systemStudies on anthocyanins show that they can help:
My father died as a result of long-term complications following a clot that shifted from his leg and lodged in his lungs ... that all started with a blood clot (a thrombosis) after a coach holiday. So - please - do those exercises they give you on the 'plane ... and do the basics: walk, use the stairs, cycle. Get you heart beating strongly for 20 - 30 minutes, several times a week. Not much time? Put a pack on your back - carrying extra weight increases the 'work out.' 'Just do it!' ... but if you've been inactive ... gradually build up the exercise levels, don't panic and rush into anything. Benefits of acai to the immune systemAnthocyanins are immune system enhancers. In common with lots of natural dietary supplements, they seem to encourage the immune system to behave 'intelligently' ... or in a more balanced wayWhat does this mean? Some immune system problems are caused by over activity of the system; some are caused by under activity of the immune system. Under activity can lead to recurring infections and - in the long run - probably contributes to risk of cancer (the immune system is responsible for recognizing changes in cells and destroying those that have changed). Over activity can lead to auto-immune diseases - where the body's immune system reacts as if the body's own (normal) cells and tissues were 'invaders'. Psoriasis and inflammatory bowel disease are two examples of this kind of problem. Over activity leads to allergies, where the immune system responds aggressively to substances that most people tolerate (egs: pollen in hay-fever; house dust and/or house dust mites in allergic rhinitis, or chronic 'cold' symptoms). Three benefits of acai, based on its anthocyanin-content, are probably:
The bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, the bug that causes "staph" infections responded to treatment with this extract. The protozoan parasite - a trematode or 'fluke' - that causes bilharzia (scientific name: schistosomiasis) also responded to this extract. Note these parasites are multi-celled organisms ... it often takes pretty nasty drugs to deal with them. I don't want to take this too far - an extract is partly along the way to identifying and concentrating a particular substance in the plant. This information supports the idea that one of the benefits of acai is in defeating infections, but this level of potency is unlikely to be available from simple acai supplements at normal nutritional levels. Health benefits of acai supplements: the EFA contentAnother of the benefits of the acai berry comes from the levels of Essential Fatty Acids it contains.Basically, it lowers 'bad' cholesterol (LDL, or 'low density lipoprotein') and increases levels of 'good' (HDL, or 'high density lipoprotein) cholesterol. Bad cholesterol causes those fatty deposits in blood vessels I talked about before. Good cholesterol helps to prevent that build-up. There's more here on HDL and LDL from the American Heart Foundation. This enhances some of the benefits to the circulatory system that are provided by the anthocyanins present in the acai berry. All-in-all the potential benefits of acai to the circulatory system are significant, so if you've had circulatory problems like high blood pressure, or perhaps have a family tendency to high levels of bad cholesterol, acai supplements may well be worth a try. As ever, do this systematically: get levels checked, change nothing else in your diet, don't start any new medications, take the acai for three months and get re-assessed by your practitioner. If your taking medication for high blood pressure and the acai "works" your blood pressure will come down. Watch out for light-headedness when you stand up as a first sign ... You may want to get a home blood pressure monitor (make sure it's checked for accuracy). Test it yourself when you have had a recent reading from your practitioner. Another benefit of the EFAs in acai supplements (especially Oleic acid) is its benefit to cell walls. Oleic acid:
Benefits of acai in men's healthAcai is a member of in the same family of plants as saw palmetto, a plant that has been used by native Americans and Mayans to treat a variety of problems, including benign prostatic enlargement (BPE).It is used in modern herbal medicine to treat BPE - and acai shares some of the same plant chemicals. There is a potential benefit to men with BPE from acai. More general benefits of acai supplementsThe pulp contains:
But it seems that the benefits of acai are not available from all supplements. My article on acai antioxidants also contains important information on the power of different kinds of products to deliver the claimed benefits of acai antioxidant nutrients. As part of a smoothie, or other proprietary drink or juice, you're just not going to be sure about concentrations. Check for percentage contents of "pure acai pulp" or something similar. This article on the health benefits refers quite often to antioxidants. You can check out the general background to antioxidants and their impact on health here.
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