The Açaí Berry

The acai palm is native to tropical Central and South America, from Belize south to Brazil and Peru, growing mainly in floodplains and swamps.

The fruit, a small, round, black-purple drupe about 1 inch (25 mm) in diameter, similar in appearance and size to a grape but with less pulp, is produced in branched panicles of 700 to 900 fruits. Two crops of fruit are produced each year.

Possible Benefits:

• energizer
  
  
• acai has an exceptional content of fats
  including oleic acid (56.2% of total), palmitic acid (24.1% of total), and linoleic acid (12.5% of total),[2] and also contains a high amount of beta-sitosterol (78-91% of total sterols).
  
  
• antioxidant
  A comparative analysis reported that acai had intermediate antioxidant potency among a variety of frozen juice pulps tested. Antioxidant potency was: acerola > mango > strawberry > grapes > acai > guava > mulberry > graviola > passion fruit > cupuaçu > pineapple.
  
  Studies have demonstrated that blood antioxidant capacity increases within two hours of consuming a commercial acai juice.
  
  
• mild inhibitory effects
  on cyclooxygenase enzymes COX-1 and COX-2,[7] and chemically-extracted polyphenolic-rich fractions from acai were reported to reduce the proliferation of HL-60 (experimental leukemia) cells in vitro.[11] Similar anti-cancer effects in vitro were demonstrated with extracts from acai pulp oil.