Thursday, January 17, 2008

Is Açaí the Next "Superfood"?

Açaí Palm (pronounced [asaˈi]) grows in tropical Central and South America. Its fruit is a small, round, black-purple drupe, similar in appearance and size to a grape and supposedly contains 10 times more antioxidants than red grapes and 10-30 times the anthocyanins of red wine.

Dr. Perricone's calls Açaí superfood No. 1 on Oprah Winfrey's website. There are few studies in the peer-reviewed literature which seem to confirm the high antioxidant content of the berries.

The anonymous author of the Happy Hospitalist blog have tried taking Acai-based juice for 4 weeks and seems very happy with the result (or may be he was happy to begin with it?).

A colleague of mine was intrigued and took "Standardized Açaí, 60 Vcaps" by Nature's Way for 2 weeks but he did not report any significant difference. For now, I will stick to my cup of green tea in the morning.

References:
Mona Vie Diary Week 4. The Happy Hospitalist.
Superfood No. 1: Açaí. Nature's Energy Fruit. Oprah.com.
Açaí Palm from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Image source: Wikipedia, public domain.

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