 Acai
Palm
(
Eturpe oleracea)
Common Names:
Acai Palm, Assai Palm, Cabbage Palm
Synonyms: Euterpe badiocarpa
Related species: Eturpe
edulis
Conservation Status: Not threatened
Distribution & Habitat:
The Acai Palm is widely distributed and is very common throughout northern
South America. The natural habit of the Acai Palm tends to be along river
edges and seasonal flood plains and is mostly found along water courses of
Brazil. Acai Palm is also cultivated extensively in the vast Amazon River
estuary. Acai is a widely distributed, prolific palm and very widely grown
because of the
properties of the Acai fruit and the use of the
heart of the palm for as a staple food in Sth American countries.
Background information:
The Acai Palm belongs to a family of over 1200 species comprising 32
distinct generic groups and are widely regarded as one of the most useful
plant families in the world. Palm trees have provided a range of food and
products used by man for eons. Uses include food, clothing, oil for cooking,
drinks, clothing, weapons, building materials, and containers.
Acai is an extremely common, slender, yet very tall palm and grows 15 to 25
m in height. Most mature Acai palm trees in the wild develop 4-8 stems from
a single seed and root system. It isn't uncommon for the Acai palm to sprout
up to 25 or more shoots all growing as individual Acai palms. Acai palm has
adapted well to live and thrive in seasonally flooded areas in soils often
waterlogged for months. The Acai Palm produces quite small male and female
flowers of a brown to purple color.
The Acai Palm produces a highly nutritious edible berry which grows in dense
bunches typical of many palms. The fruit is round and 1-2 cm in diameter,
has an oily coating over a fibrous sheath covering a single large seed. Acai
fruit ripens from a green color to a dark rich purple. Each Acai stem
normally produces four to eight bunches of fruit throughout the year making
it one of the most prolific fruiting palms in the forest. The bunches of
ripe fruits are heaviest in the dry season (July to December) with
individual bunches weighing up to 6 kg. One Acai palm stem usually yields an
average of 24 kgs plus of fruit per year. The fruit is a favorite of
rain forest animals and is actively sought out by birds and rodents. Seed
disbursement from their droppings ensures continual propagation of the
species. Found throughout the Amazon, Acai is very common in the Brazilian
state of Pará. The Acai palm is perhaps the most common palm found throughout the
lowland flood areas of northern South America.
Commercial Exploitation
Palm Hearts: Acai and other Euterpe palm
trees are the subject of commercial exploitation in South America. Palm
hearts, eaten worldwide as a vegetable, are obtained by cutting the palm and
removing the crown shaft, in which the heart is found. Palm hearts are the
tender, whitish immature leaves of the palm frond just above the growing
point on each stem. Although is has almost no nutritious value, palm hearts
have been a staple food enjoyed by the local populations for generations and
have also become a economic resource and export product for many rainforest
countries. France, followed by the U.S. are the largest importers of palm
hearts. There are over 120 registered palm heart processors operating in the
Amazon, with a multitude of smaller unregistered family operations selling
their harvests to the larger facilities with onsite canning operations.
Originally, much of the commercial palm heart production in South America
beginning in the 1960's came from a different palm tree, Euterpe edulis,
which only produces a single trunk. (However, one large tree can yield up to
50 pounds of palm hearts.) Because the tree must be felled to extract the
palm heart, palm heart exploitation without any adequate management severely
decimated the wild populations of this species at an alarming rate.
Ref: http://www.rain-tree.com/acai.htm
After many native E. edulis palm groves disappeared, harvesters began
using the acai palm as a more sustainable alternative since it produces many
stems/trunks. Unlike it's cousin, when one of the Acai's stems is cut, more
stems will grow back on the same root system and the cutting of some of the
stems encourages fruiting on the remaining stems. Acai palm (E. oleracea) is
now the world's main source of palm hearts. While Acai does offer a more
sustainable alternative, it does not ensure that the correct exploitative
harvesting methods will be used to guarantee the plant's survival. Huge
stands of Acai palm are often over-exploited and sometimes entire groves are
clear-felled for palm heart exploitation. Currently, there is a shortage of
raw materials in many locations in the Amazon River estuary due to
over-harvesting and a lack of sustainable management of native stands; palm
heart processing plants in the area generally operate only 2-3 days per
week.
Ref: http://www.rain-tree.com/acai.htm
Most botanists concur that palm heart harvesting of any palm species is
probably an unsustainable practice due to the damage done and the trees
wasted in the process. The Acai palm's future does look rosy however, due to
the rapidly growing profitable export market for the Acai fruit. Profits
gleaned from sustainable harvesting of the Acai fruit are quickly
outstripping the profits from unsustainable harvesting of the palm heart.
 Acai
Berry: In Brazilian herbal medicine, the oil of the Acai fruit is used
to treat diarrhea; an infusion of the grated fruit rind is used as a topical
wash for skin ulcers; and, the fruit seeds are crushed and prepared in an
infusion for fevers. In the Peruvian Amazon, an infusion of the toasted
crushed seeds is used for fever. In Colombia, where the trees grow along the
Pacific coast line, it is called naidí and the fruit is turned into a common
and popular drink.
Acai Juice: Easily the most common use of the Acai fruit by Amazonians is the dark
purple juice. The juice is extracted from the small round fruit by soaking
the seeds in water to soften the thin outer shell and then squeezing and
straining them to produce a very tasty, dense purple liquid. Acai liquid is
served fresh and ice cold with (or sometimes without) sugar and tapioca
flour. It is a nourishing and refreshing drink that is also used to produce
ice cream, liquor, mousses and sweets in general. Consumption of up to 2
liters per day of this highly nutritious juice has been recorded amongst
indigenous populations. Acai juice has been and remains, an extremely
important part of northern native Sth American diets and has become very
popular throughout all socio economic levels.
Acai Health Benefits: What is known about the Acai berry fruit health benefits, backed by
scientific research into the fruits properties, is quite substantial.
Acai is a rich source of anthocyanins and other phenolics and
phyto-nutrients. Acai berries are amongst the most nutritious foods
of the Amazon, rich in B vitamins, minerals, fiber, protein and omega-3
fatty acids. Acai also contains oleic acid (omega-9), a beneficial fatty acid
(often mistakenly referred to as essential).
Minerals found in Acai Berry: Potassium is the mineral most abundant in the
Acai, but it is also rich in copper, and unusually high in
manganese. Only a small portion supplies more than the body needs of this ultra-trace mineral.
Acai Phytonutrients: Anthocyanins are compounds that have potent
antioxidant activity, allowing for the neutralization of potentially harmful
free radicals. The famous research regarding the "French Paradox" attributes
anthocyanins as being the antioxidant that protects the French from heart
disease. The French are known to consume large amounts of coffee, nicotine,
sugar, white flour and cheese and yet they have a very low rate of heart
disease compared to neighboring countries like the UK and Denmark. The red
wine grape, due to its anthocyanins is what is believed to be responsible
for the very low incidence of heart disease. While red wine has good
quantities of anthocyanins, the Acai berry has been show to contain up to 30 times the
anthocyanins levels of red wine.
By neutralizing these free radicals, anthocyanins from the Acai berry may
actually serve to maintain the healthy function of numerous systems and
organs. Some of the anthocyanins that have been found in Acai include
cyanidin-3-glucoside and cyanidin-3-glucoside-coumarate. Other phenolics
include catechin and epi-catechin (the same compounds in green tea),
quercetin derivatives and other flavonoids. It is likely that the
synergistic effects of these compounds, as present in Acai fruit are
responsible for its potent antioxidant activities.
ORAC Scale: The Oxygen Radical Absorption Capacity
(ORAC) assay measures the total antioxidant activity of a biological sample.
It’s a test developed for the USDA by scientists at Tufts University to measure the antioxidant speed
and power of foods and supplements. The ORAC scale is used in human,
agricultural, food and pharmaceutical products, as well as food ingredients
and is quickly becoming the accepted standard for comparing antioxidant
potential in foods and supplements.
Acai Antioxidant Benefits: For the average person to cope with all the reactive oxygen species
they will encounter, foods and beverages totaling an ORAC value of
about 1,670 per day are needed. It’s been estimated that 80-90 percent
of the world’s population fails to consume even half of this level. At
3,800 ORAC value per gram, Acai is reputed to be extremely high on the
ORAC scale and provides levels multiple times that of other
anthocyanin-rich fruits and vegetables, such as cherries, cranberries
and mulberries.
Aging Population: As the population ages, 80% of older people
in Western countries will develop at least one chronic metabolic
disease. If the USDA says that high-ORAC foods may slow aging and
prevent metabolic disease from occurring, isn't it about time you increased the amount of high
ORAC foods in your diet to prevent this process from occurring in the
first place?
WARNING
Dubious Marketing Practices: In recent times a new Acai fruit
drink demand in the USA and several other countries, has resulted from slick
marketing campaigns surrounding a number of new Acai product launches. It
almost seems that the U.S. is in the grip of an "Acai craze" due to a number
of intensive and very expensive marketing programs, touting Acai as the new,
wonder fruit of the Amazon.
Some of the claims being made for Acai drink by distribution outlets are
quite extraordinary ...
including weight loss and the lowering of cholesterol and curing of cancer.
Although scientific studies do tend to indicate Acai may play a role in
reversal of metabolic disease due to the very high ORAC score and
antioxidant properties, no concrete evidence is available to back up some of
the more spurious claims made by companies promoting Acai juice.
Dubiously, Acai juice, is joining those other common plant products that have
produced the most millionaires in the United States network marketing fraternity, Aloe Vera, Mangosteen
and Noni. Thanks to Acai's increasing name recognition and to the lack of
testing methods to determine its quality and amount of active ingredient,
greedy suppliers, brokers and manufacturers frequently stretch small amounts
of genuine Acai berry extract or powder to literally make tens or even
hundreds of liters of finished Acai drink, reaping substantial and outrageous
profits. The taste of the Acai juice or drink you experience could well be
mainly due to citric acid, preservatives and artificial flavors added during
the manufacturing process of the Acai drink.
This type of marketing strategy isn't new however. It's a direct result
of other "exotic" fruit products like
Goji, Noni and
Mangosteen, netting billions in U.S. sales through direct marketing and
retail sales, playing on the exotic flair of some reasonably common tropical
fruit that wasn't previously well known in the U.S. Since Noni's profitable
appearance in the U.S. market several years ago, many enterprising companies
have been searching for the next and newest (highly profitable) noni-replacement from an "exotic" tropical fruit such as the Acai berry.
To further compound the situation, most of the drinks made from Acai
berry for commercial exploitation, are reconstituted from Acai concentrate
back into a liquid,
thereby destroying much of the inherent beneficial nature of the berry due
to pasteurization and the manufacturing processes the ingredients go
through. Often flavors and preservatives are added to allow the product to
keep for indefinite periods. Actual mgs of active ingredient, the anthocyanins,
in a whole bottle of Acai juice may be far less than what the average person
would consume by eating 10 or 12 red grapes per day.
The Health-Report team have looked thoroughly into many of the so-called
wonder products out there and have come to the conclusion that most are not
worth paying anything for. You may as well eat a few red grapes, black
currants, blackberries or blueberries each day as pay for an exorbitantly
priced bottle of Acai juice drink which will have little or no effect on
your health.
However, having said that, some manufacturers that supply freeze dried
powder concentrate have been able to maintain the integrity of the original
Acai fruit. Freeze drying ensure the manufacturing process does not interfere with
the good properties nor does it involve the destructive pasteurization
needed for liquids to ensure they keep for long periods. An added benefit
often not taken into consideration is the debt placed on the environment
when shipping glass bottles containing liquid around the world. It makes
sense to use a product which is freeze dried, light and easy to ship, yet
retains the integrity of the fruit without destructive pasturisation.
The Health-Report recommended product not only contains 500mgs of
Acai per serve and there are 90
servings per container, it is also combined with two other proven
and powerful natural anti-oxidants - Goji and
Mangosteen. There's actually 500mgs of each of
the three SuperFoods in this unique and very economical
blend, giving the consumer a total of 1500mgs per day of active ingredient
for each phytonutrient.
This would be equivalent to a customer buying up to 12 bottles (or even
more) of liquid Noni/Acai/Goji products to obtain the same amount of active
ingredient.
Cancer, heart disease, diabetes are all known to be "aging" diseases.
Supplying yourself with quality "anti-aging" antioxidants along with a
healthy diet, is your first and best line of prevention against metabolic
diseases such as cancer and heart disease as well as preventing the onset of
premature aging and wrinkled skin.
 Compare the
Ten Super Foods Blend with the other suppliers.
Acai Top SuperFood
Acai Health Warning
Acai Great for Sex
Acai in the News
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