SmartHealthForLife.com

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.

Scientific teams have discovered that the acai berries are a wonderfully rich source of an antioxidant nutrient called anthocyanins. This is the exact same substance that provides red wine with it’s the antioxidants. Acai Berries are also rich in protein and fiber and also provide essential fatty acids, vitamins B and A, and omega-9 and omega-6.

Acai has enjoyed a great deal of publicity and attention since being introduced to the world by Dr. Nicholas Perricone in his book The Perricone Promise. It has caught the attention of many celebrities. Rachel Ray uses acai regularly and speaks about it on her show. The book unabashedly calls the acai berry the most perfect food on the planet. He rates the Acai Berry among his top ten superfoods that if taken regularly are supposed to make a person look and feel younger within 10 days.

Healthy lifestyle information is becoming more common. We are regularly hearing that we should eat more foods rich in healthy oils and antioxidants.. It is commonly known that antioxidants are absolutely critical to enjoying good health. Antioxidants help us fight the ongoing threat of illness and disease and the deteriorating and debilitating effects of aging. Antioxidants are well recognized as an essential and critical part of a healthy lifestyle.

I think highly of Rachel Ray and her opinions on wellness, drink and food. As a science oriented person myself, I was interested in learning about Rachel Ray and acai berry. As you can imagine, I was thrilled to read that recently a team of researchers decided to investigate just how much antioxidant benefit was actually in commonly available acai juices. Three store bought and readily available acai juice blends containing unspecified and presumably varied concentrations of a?a? juice and/or acai pulp were compared for in vitro antioxidant capacity against other commonly known antioxidants including tea, six types of pure fruit juice, red wine and pomegranate juice. The results are surprising at first glance. The antioxidant capacity of the acai juice blends was approximately equal to that of black cherry or cranberry juice, and was higher than that of apple juice, tea and orange juice. The antioxidant capacity of the acai juice blends was actually ranked poorer than that of Concord grape juice, pomegranate juice, blueberry juice, and red wine. How does this make me feel about Rachel Ray and acai? Acai juice blends are significantly better for you than orange or apple juices, but not as good antioxidant-wise as either red wine or pomegranate juice. Simply put it still means that readily available acai juice blends provide a health benefit.

The problem with this study is that it uses juices with unspecified quantities of acai. I have seen these blends and there is no telling whether they are 90% acai or simply apple juice with a splash of acai. In fairness to Rachel Ray and acai she generally touts a specific acai juice and the above experiment was done on commercially available acai berry juices.

Keep reading by visiting this blog called “I Love Acai Berry”. Here you’ll find acai articles, including more information about Rachel Ray’s show on acai berry

Possibly Related Posts:

• Healthy Exercise Tip: Drink Plenty Of Water
• Six Pack Workout – 3 Reasons Your Six Pack Workout Is Worthless
• How To Get Rid Of Your Love Handles
• Discovering Healthy Diets For Weight Loss
• The Broccoli Diet