More About the Rachel Ray Acai Berry Hype
For all those you have internet or a TV, we know Rachel Ray loves Acai. Acai is the new superfood promoted by Rachel Ray, Oprah, Dr. Perricone and Dr. Oz. For those who haven’t heard of it, the acai berry is dark purple or green in color. This berry grows naturally and without cultivation at the crown of fast growing palm trees which dominate the rain forests in the Amazon, particularly in parts of Brazil. Every six months, the local population harvests the berries and uses them to make a fruity pulp which flavors a variety of different foods. In its raw form this berry pulp has a short shelf life and needs to be used quickly. If not used immediately after harvest the pulp needs to be flash-frozen in order to prevent spoilage.
Acai berries are a significant source of anthocyanins which are a particular antioxidant nutrient. This nutrient is the same as that which provides red wine with it’s health benefits. Acai are also a good source protein and fiber. Lastly, acai berries also provide a good quantity of vitamins and omega fatty acids. Acai Berries provide a remarkably powerful combination of many healthy nutritional benefits.
Since being introduced to us by Dr. Perricone, acai has garnered a lot of attention. The internet is now full of acai promotions. Acai Berry ranks among Dr. Perricone’s top ten superfoods. These superfoods if consumed regularly are supposed to make us look significantly more youthful in a short period of time. Acai berry has captured the eye, attention and imagination of many television celebrities. Rachel Ray drinks a type of acai berry juice daily and claims it makes her feel great.
Healthy diets and healthy lifestyle information are becoming common knowledge these days. We are aware that we should eat more raw foods and foods that are richer in good fats whole grains. It is commonly known that antioxidants are absolutely critical to enjoying good health. Antioxidants reduce inflammation and that help us fight the ongoing threat of illness and the debilitating effects of aging.
As a science oriented person and an avid healthy lifestyle reader, I was interested in learning more about Rachel Ray and acai berry. Recently, I was very interested to learn that some food scientists had investigated the antioxidant benefits of commonly available acai juice blends. Three acai juice blends containing presumably varied and definitely unspecified concentrations of pure a?a? juice were compared for in vitro antioxidant capacity against other commonly known antioxidant beverages. These other antioxidant beverages included red wine, tea, six types of pure fruit juice and pomegranate juice. I want to note that acai juice blends were being compared to pure fruit juices so we need to be a bit skeptical about the results. The antioxidant capacity of the acai juice blends was approximately equal to that of pure cranberry juice, and was higher than that of pure apple juice, tea and pure orange juice. The antioxidant capacity of the acai juice blends was actually ranked poorer than that of pure pomegranate juice, pure blueberry juice, and the unspecified type of red wine. Is their misinformation being provided by Rachel Ray about acai? I do not think so. Acai juice blends are significantly better for you than some pure fruit juices but not as good as either red wine or pure pomegranate juice.
I have seen these blends and there is no telling whether they are 90% acai or simply apple juice with a splash of acai. The problem with this study is that it uses juices with unspecified quantities of acai. The above experiment was done on commercially available acai berry juices. In fairness to Rachel Ray and acai she promotes a specific type of acai juice which might have a greater concentration of acai.