Vitamin Information Center

“Super-Fruits” are all the rage these days, promising the added health benefit of free-radical-destroying antioxidants. Blueberries, pomegranate, acai berries, blackberries — all have been shown in studies to reduce the risk of certain physical maladies. However, what these uber-fruits also have in common — apart from their high phytonutrient and antioxidant concentration — is a hefty price tag.

Enter the plum. And the peach and nectarine. According to a published report on FoxNews.com, these three, shall we say, regular fruits matched or exceeded blueberries in antioxidants and phytonutrients that are associated with preventing diseases.

The report is based on a recent study at Texas AgriLife Research, where researchers judged more than 100 varieties of plums, peaches and nectarines.

These findings are of particular importance in today’s economy, when the goal of eating healthy is oftentimes overridden by financial realities. Even with the best intentions to feed our body the good, healthful foods it needs, sometimes it’s just not in the budget.

Thankfully, it appears to be quite possible to obtain the disease-fighting antioxidants found in high-priced “super-fruits” from more budget-friendly produce options.

Nowadays many people are asking themselves the same question, if the Acai Berries really help them lose weight or not.
Though there are a lot of uses of Acai Berries, the first and most known feature is that it helps you to cleans your intestines. It not only clears you intestines but if you eat it regularly it also enlivens your body and gives it high energy levels because it acts like an anti-toxidant in that it kills all the harmful substances within your body, such as small viruses and bad cells.
If you are looking for the fruit with the most antioxidants then most people would say blueberries since they are full of antioxidants. But with Acai Berries, the amount of anti-toxidants is far more numerous. In addition to that, thanks to the nutrients the Acai Berries include, consuming acai berry is a natural shield against many kinds of illnesses and disorders, from blood clotting to diabetes.
It is as well another known fact that acai helps those people who want to lose weight thanks to its attribute in helping fat burning happen more effectively. As a result of its composition which contains fatty acids, fiber, phytsterols and amino acids, it is a lot easier to get rid of your excessive fats.
The last but not the least of the features of Acai Berries are that, provided you consume a worthwhile amount, it helps you to develop muscles and turns your digestion into a far more regular process. And both of these processes are necessary in order to lose weight. Due to the fiber and fatty acids in the acai berry you feel full longer and your body accelerates the metabolism, and so burns calories far quicker. Lastly, thanks to phytsterols, your digestion becomes stronger and supplies your body more nutrients from each food item you consume.

You can get Acai berry pills on a free trial. Dont pay full price before trying, Viva Caps Acai offer a 100% free trial to see if this product is for you. You can access and order free acai pills through the Natural Cures blog

Lately I’ve been worried that the olives in my martini just aren’t enough. They’re kinda old-fashioned, after all, and the jar says nothing about polyphenols or flavonoids.

So where am I supposed to get the essentials, like antioxidants and anthocyanins, without sacrificing alcohol content?

Acai berries to the rescue, distilled by a marketing-savvy visionary into hard liquor. The alcoholic answer to green tea is launching in Dallas under the brand name VeeV on Feb. 22, with a campaign focused on the drink’s healthy ingredients. While not making any specific claims, they aren’t exactly shy either, reminding us that acai berries are “the world’s preeminent superfruit,” and that people can “enjoy themselves while doing some good at the same time.” (Isn’t this how we justified tequila shots before class during college? Um, so I’ve heard)

It’s tough to find any information on acai berries that doesn’t quickly devolve into a breathless recounting of their nutritional benefits (ZOMG! Acai berries contain 57 percent more antioxidants than pomegranates!) Even if the berries are, as Oprah puts it, “one of the most powerful foods in the world,” is there any reason to believe this liquor will confer health benefits on consumers?

Nutrients don’t survive the distillation process unscathed. But that’s OK. This is the land of health fads–someone tried the same tactic with quinoa vodka, too–and are we really prepared to argue with the all-knowing Oprah?

Xoçai Healthy Chocolate is being sold by Karen J. Rankin of Bedford through a direct-marketing sales approach. Made with unprocessed cacao powder and combined with açai berries and blueberries, the combination of these ingredients in their natural state provides a tasty product packed with powerful antioxidants.

The chocolate products include power squares, nuggets, cookies, an antioxidant beverage and protein bars.

Also, the company is selling Xobiotic Squares, which contain probiotics for intestinal health. The chocolates contain no caffeine, preservatives, fillers, waxes, processed sugar or trans fats.

Rankin points to 22 reasons why people should incorporate dark chocolate and açai into their health regimens, including that the chocolate is more nutritious, contains fiber, balances cholesterol, may aid in weight loss, scavenges free radicals, is full of antioxidants, fights pathogens, cleanses and detoxifies and boosts a person’s sense of well-being.

According to a company brochure, “Xoçai products are the perfect delivery system for the antioxidants your body needs while eliminating almost all of the fat and sugar typically found in other chocolate products.”

Rankin will sponsor “chocolate tastings” in Bedford for those interested in joining the business or buying the products. The first will be at 7 p.m. Friday at The Company Concourse, 14th and H streets, and the second is slated for 7 p.m. Monday at The Company Concourse.

Acai juice is originated from the Acai berry that is harvest from the Acai palm. The Acai palm is originated in South America and a local product from many Amazons and especially Brazilians. While many think that these Acai juices and blends are made right from the berries as their picked that is not true. While this can be true when your in South America it is not in the United States. The Acai berry needs to be frozen and processed to keep its beneficial qualities up to par. Once the berry is picked because of its high fatty acids it starts breaking down the antioxidants and fibers that are inside of it.

So how do we get a beneficial Acai berry here in the United States? The better products will have the Acai berry frozen immediately and broken down into a freeze dried product and then used in their product. So many of the smoothies and juices are actually artificially flavored not natural drinks, you must check the label to find out. Since the berry contains at least 10 times more antioxidants than grapes and even blueberries many companies are using this as a marketing ploy to sell a drink. Especially since the berry is similar in look to a grape as it is about an inch large and purple with a seed in the middle.

The facts are that the Acai juice that is on the market can have less helpful qualities than many of the pills that are available. If you enjoy the Acai juice products then they are for you. But many times these Acai juice products are higher priced than their pill substitutes and it can be harder to know exactly the levels of antioxidants you are getting. Either way the Acai berry is helpful to your body and should be part of everyone’s diet.

Any food that contains high levels of antioxidants is always a good thing, but that does not mean that the antioxidants are the very property that makes the food a good tool for dieting. That is the most common misconception surrounding acai berry and all acai berry based products. As many people already know, this small, innocuous-looking, dark purple berry has been praised by the western world as the super food to top all super foods. It seems that the acai berry has 12 times the antioxidants as compared to the blueberry. Antioxidants help preserve the cells of the body by encouraging faster cell renewal. This helps keep the skin clear and young looking. This also contributes to the overall feeling on youth and stamina. However, antioxidants do not directly help in shedding off those unwanted pounds.

So why is the acai berry (and all other products based on the fruit) being hailed as the best tool for dieting? The answer lies in its two lesser known properties. To be more precise, acai berry contains high levels of fiber and omega fatty acids.

High levels of fiber in itself can be used as a tool for dieting since it flushes out the toxins and most other unwanted materials from the body. Fiber is especially helpful in binding to the fat deposits in some food. In which case, the fats gets expelled out of the body with the fiber. This lessens the incidence of the body actually absorbing such fats.

On the other hand, omega fatty acids almost have the same toxin flushing property. These essential acids help increase blood flow by keeping the bad cholesterol and glycerine at a comfortable level. If a person has high levels of bad cholesterol and glycerine in his or her bloodstream, chances are the vessels of the carotid arteries will constrict. So much so that the constriction will make the blood move in a more sluggish manner. This will make digestion (among all bodily functions) slow down as well. If digestion is slowed down, then the process of eliminating waste from the body is likewise stalled. So high levels of omega fatty acids ensure that the body keeps bad cholesterol at bay; in turn, this speed up the digestive process considerably, making waste expelling relatively faster and easier.

Fiber is also known to be a natural appetite suppressant. Fiber rich foods tend to keep the body satiated from hunger for longer periods of time. It allows the stomach to feel like it is always “full” even when there are less calories being taken in by the person. This tends to curb most unwanted tendencies to binge or eat beyond the scope of the recommended diet.

Likewise, omega fatty acids lower down the glycerine or blood sugar level in the lymphatic system. If a person has very high levels of blood sugar, the body feels the need to eat and eat some more. The bad news to this scenario is that once a person eats, the blood sugar increases as well, making the person’s need to eat more food even more urgent. This cycle does not stop, even several hours after digestion. By helping control the levels of glycerine in the system, omega fatty acids also help curb the appetite, making the person less prone to seek calorie rich foods particularly carbohydrate-based sweets.

The ORAC, or Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity, is an index that shows the amount of antioxidants in a single food source. It has become an important indicator of a fruit or vegetable’s ability to eliminate free radicals that damage cells in the human body.

Free radicals
Imagine rust forming on metal. As rust eats away the surface, the metal erodes and eventually becomes unusable. This is how free radicals attack our body - they weaken our cells, organs, tissue and other important parts, leading to diseases such as cancer, heart ailments, osteoarthritis and dementia.

The ORAC scale
The ORAC test identifies and measures important antioxidants in a food source. Foods with a high ORAC score can raise the antioxidant levels in the blood by up to 25 percent. Doctors recommend that we consume fruits and vegetables with a total ORAC score of 1,750 per day.

Different plants have different levels of antioxidants. You may consume five kinds of fruits and get only 1,300 ORAC units. Yet a handful of blueberries can give you an ORAC score of 9,000 per 100 grams. The USDA’s recommended level of ORAC units is 3,000 to 5,000 daily.

Acai tops the ORAC list
Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, cranberries and pomegranates score high on the ORAC index. But no single food source comes close to the ORAC score of the acai berry from Brazil.

A new research published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry shows that the acai has the highest ORAC antioxidant value of any food.

Compared to blackberries (53), pomegranates (105), and blueberries (92), acai has an amazing ORAC score of 1,027 per gram. Some samples of freeze-dried acai even turned out ORAC results of up to 50,000.

While these figures are impressive, they do not apply to all acai. Acai berries that have been frozen, spray dried or air dried have a lower ORAC score because many of the phytochemicals, enzymes and nutrients of the acai fruit are lost in the procedure.

To achieve the highest ORAC values, buy only acai products that are properly freeze-dried.

Açai Machine juice smoothie and Pomegranate juice are joining the Naked Juice line-up. Both are antioxidant rich and all-natural, 100% juice containing no added sugar or preservatives.

These two new products are loaded with antioxidants which naturally help defend and protect the body against free radicals – molecules that can attack and damage cells. The latest addition to the popular line of ‘Machine’ smoothies, Açai Machine includes 178 açai berries in every 15.2oz bottle. Açai Machine also includes added antioxidant benefits of vitamin A, C, and E, as well as elderberry, beet, black currant, and grape seed extracts.

Naked Juice Pomegranate joins the brand’s Antioxidant Family alongside Pomegranate Açai, Pomegranate Blueberry, and Cherry Pomegranate Power. With four California pomegranates in each 15.2oz bottle, Naked Juice Pomegranate is a hefty antioxidant attack against free radicals.

Açai Machine and Pomegranate are made from fruits, with no added sugar or preservatives. Each 15.2oz bottle contains over three servings of fruit. Both products will be available nationwide later this month for suggested retail prices of $3.79 (Açai Machine) and $4.49 (Pomegranate).

The acai berry is a native of the Amazon rainforests in the land of Brazil. It is a small, grape-like fruit that contains more seed than pulp and is highly valued for its very high nutritional content. Also, it contains a high level of antioxidants, the free-radical fighting compounds that fights cancer, among other illnesses. While it contains more antioxidants than any other fruit in the world, it is also said to contain more kinds of different antioxidants in any one fruit and more amount of any of these types in a single fruit.

The acai berry is increasingly becoming more popular for its fat burning properties. Many weight loss products are now claiming to be acai berry based. Online, you will find several offers and risk-free trials that uses acai berry as the main constituent of their product for fast and efficient weight loss.

The truth is, acai berry weight loss products are not a “magic pills” that can make people lose 25 pounds in a week. Such claims are not supported by scientific studies, and there is wisdom in the old adage that when something is too good to be true, then it probably is.

However, the acai berry does indeed contain elements that can aid in weight loss, especially if the use of such products is combined with proper diet and exercise. First, the acai berry contains what is called the omega fatty acids, a kind of fat that is medically proven to improve metabolism. These fatty acids are usually found in fish oil. It cannot be produced by the body so we have to get it from the food we eat. So having these added fatty acids in the diet can make a person have a faster metabolism, which aids in weight loss and dieting. Also, the acai berry contains a lot of fiber and we know that fiber aids in digestion and helps in detoxifying the system and flushing out fats. Because of the fiber content, it also helps in making a person feeling fuller, thus suppressing one’s appetite. In turn, it aids in avoiding eating too much and thus helps in dieting.

What’s more, it also helps in improving the muscle tone. This is because the acai berry contains a good amount of amino acids. Amino acids help the muscles to work properly during exercise, so more amino acids on the diet helps in increasing the muscle mass. The increase in muscle mass, on the other hand, is proportional to the increase in the amount of calories the body burns, which, in turn, makes one lose weight faster. Also, the acai berry is a good source of energy, as many athletes, specifically Jiu-Jitsu fighters, in Brazil has been using it to provide an energy boost before any major tournament. The increase in stamina and energy is definitely a big plus because for those trying to lose weight, increased energy level means increased ability top perform cardiovascular exercises, such as running or working out in a treadmill. Thus, the acai berry is a good and efficient aid in losing weight.

The acai berry is a fruit about as small as a grape and can be found predominantly in Brazil, particularly in the Amazon rainforest. The acai berry has slightly less pulp than a grape. In fact, only 10% of the fruit can be considered as berry; the other 90% of it are mostly seed and pit. The berries are being harvested by people in the Brazil region and are being used as food, most especially as part of their breakfast. It is a large part of the diet of people living in the Amazon area. More than that, the acai berry is also an important medicinal plant. For hundred of years, people of the Amazon have used this fruit to cure the more common ailments; it is even said to be part of the region’s folklore.

The acai berry first started to gain popularity in of Rio de Janeiro, a country that is thousands of miles away from the Amazon rainforest. The acai berry and its derivatives can be used to augment workouts and is particularly helpful in athletic activities. This is because the acai fruit is known to be a very effective energy booster. Just recently, the acai berry has also been gaining popularity in many other countries as well. In America, interest in this fruit has been increasing in the media, supported by medical professionals, scientists, and nutritionists. They have been raving about the many health benefits of the acai berry, its nutritional qualities, and its weight loss aiding properties.

The acai berry has been dubbed as a “superfruit” or a “superfood.” This is because the antioxidant properties of the acai berry are unsurpassed by any other fruit in the world. In truth, no fruit ever comes close to the free radical fighting ability and the total nutritional value of the acai berry. It is said to contain not only the largest amount of antioxidants than any other given fruit, but the acai berry reportedly contains the most number of different types of antioxidants and the most amount of percentage of some given antioxidant in one fruit. Besides the antioxidant elements, the acai fruit also contains the healthy fats (monounsaturated fats), iron, fiber, and amino acids.

However, there is one problem with the distribution of the acai berry, despite its increasingly high demand worldwide. The fruit spoils very easily - mostly just one day after harvesting. As the berry spends time off the tree after harvesting, the rapid decline of the fruit makes it lose much of its nutritional content and the antioxidant contents. This is basically the reason why you can’t find it on groceries in the United States or anywhere else. However, the manufacturers are now increasingly finding ways of packing and selling acai berry products, specifically for those weight loss watchers. One of the processes that is being used today to preserve the acai berry is to do freeze-drying of the fruit right on the site of harvest. It is then kept on a frozen state until it is delivered to the processing plant or other markets. This process still does not retain all the important nutritional qualities of the fruit but at least it is making it marketable. Much still needs to be studied about the acai berry and it will surely be scrutinized on a much larger scale these coming years.