Acai Health Watch

With so many packaged foods like cereals being fortified with vitamins and probiotics, it only makes sense that research find ways to nutritionalize favorites like ice cream.  This would transform regular ice cream a “functional food,” or a food that offers essential vitamins and minerals.

A study at the University of Missouri is researching ways to make ice cream both satisfying and healthy through the use of natural foods.  The acai berry and grapes are two ingredients they’re using to prototype a healthy ice cream.  We’ve enjoyed an acai berry flavored ice cream in Rio de Janeiro and it was absolutely delicious and commonplace.  Not sure how healthy it was, but we enjoy the acai berry just the same.

Turning Ice Cream into a Functional Food, Food Nutrition.

You’ll often see acai berry products described as having an ORAC value.  ORAC (or Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) is a way to measure antioxidant capacity in fruits and vegetables.  As you may know, the acai berry is known to contain high levels of antioxidants and thus, a high ORAC value.

Marketers of acai berry and other products suggest that because of the high ORAC level present in the food or drink, it has disease fighting properties.  Chicago Tribune health expert Julie Deardorf reveals the truth behind the claims of some acai berry product marketers.

“It is true that plant-based foods contain phytochemicals with antioxidant properties, and people who eat large amounts have a lower risk of developing chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease and cancer.

However, “just because a food or beverage scores well with the ORAC test doesn’t guarantee that it can cure, treat or even prevent disease, though it certainly warrants further investigation,” said Diane McKay, an antioxidant researcher at the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University.”

Julie’s Health Club: Health claims: Antioxidant drinks.

Are you sometimes skeptical when you’re reading the health benefits of acai berry juice put forth by the juicemakers themselves?  You should be!  As you know, false claims (lose 10 pounds in 10 minutes!) abound when it comes to antioxidant-rich superfoods like the acai berry, pomegranates, mangosteens, etc.

Here’s a more impartial article from WebMD that gives it to you straight on the health benefits of the acai berry.

“Some studies show that acai fruit pulp has a very high antioxidant capacity with even more antioxidant content than cranberry, raspberry, blackberry, strawberry, or blueberry. Studies are ongoing, though, and the jury is still out.

People eat acai berries to address various health conditions. But so far, acai berries have no known health benefit that’s any different than that of other similar fruits.”

Acai Berries and Berry Juice — Are There Any Health Benefits?.