A Short Clip on the Cultivation of Acai Berries (Created by Innocent Drinks Ltd.)

Going to Brazil's Amazonian Rainforest to get a taste of how acai berries (Euterpe oleracea) are cultivated and a glimpse into the production process of extracting the pulp. A brief look into how acai berry picking affects the locals on both a personal level through their diets, and on a financial level, in its major role in the local economy.


(Innocent Drinks Ltd, 2008)

Historical and Traditional Uses of Acai Berries

            Acai (Ah-Sci-Ee) berries which can be dark purple or more rarely green (and known as white acai), grow on a palm tree native to coastal regions of South America including most abundantly in the Amazon Rainforest in the Brazilian state of Pará, where it flourishes in swamps and on floodplains (Del Pozo-Insfran et al., 2004). The rounded Euterpe oleracea hangs down from the top of the tree in long clusters and has reportedly been consumed by the rural indigenous natives since pre-Columbian times. (Strudwick et al., 1988).

           Due to its abundance, acai berries are a cheap source of nutrition for the low-income indigenous people who consume it fresh twice daily, comprising up to 1/3 of their total diet (Padoch, 2008; Sergio, 1999).  The pulp of the berry is separated from its large seed and mashed into various food preparations such as an acai pulp concoction with farinha (manioc flour) and sugar called “vinho de assahy” or can be prepared as a non-alcoholic liqueur, juice or ice cream (Gallori et al., 2004).

          Besides being a food staple, Euterpe oleracea was also reportedly used for medicinal purposes by the rural people through the extraction of its dark green oil as an anti-diarrheal or against scrofula (Plotkin et al., 1984). While not scientifically supported, other alleged traditional uses include using the boiled roots to make tea to fight against fever, jaundice and anemia, while the roots themselves were used to treat malaria, hepatitis, diabetes, menstrual cramping and other diseases. Even the acai’s skin was boiled and the concocted liquid was used to wash skin ulcers (Healthnotes, 2008).

Current Use of Acai Berries and What is Science Saying?

What makes acai berries part of the group of ‘superfoods’ are its antioxidant properties which help to fight off free radicals, thereby eliminating oxidative stress.  This antioxidant potential has been touted as possibly providing superior disease prevention including preventing the onset of vascular disease, but the length and extent of its effects have yet to be determined. Acai has also been claimed to boost energy and increase weight loss, both of which have not been proven scientifically, thus far.

                In Oliveira de Souza et al.’s double blind, randomized-control, longitudinal 6 week study on female rats, they were trying to determine Euterpe olacerea’s antioxidant capacity in vivo while investigating the magnitude of its cholesterol reducing effects. The study’s careful conduction was apparent, from ensuring equal baseline parameters to the four groups used: control (C); control with 2% acai (CA); hypercholesterolemic diet (H) of soy oil and cholesterol (25:1); and (HA) a hypercholesterolemic diet with 2% acai pulp (2010).

                HA rats were found to have a significantly lower food intake while that of CA rats were unaffected. Meanwhile the addition of acai significantly increased the weight of rats in both the CA and HA groups relative to the C and H groups, respectively. Thus, acai must have increased the food efficiency index as weight gain occurred despite a decrease in food consumption. To measure oxidative stress, serum carbonyl and sulfhydryl groups were evaluated and the addition of acai pulp resulted in significantly reduced number of carbonyl proteins. Meanwhile, acai pulp did lower non-HDL and total cholesterol levels, as well as the artherogenic index of HA rats. The cholesterol levels were analogous to those exhibited during dietarily-induced hypercholesterolemia, and were thus a good preliminary model.

The results were in line with the postulated outcomes , with the acai berries found to both increase antioxidant activities through the activation of antioxidant enzymes while having a hypocholesterolemic effect (Oliveira de Souza et al, 2010). While these results cannot be extrapolated to humans directly, this rat study shows great promise to replicating the results when a study will be conducted on human subjects.  

In Schauss et al.’s study, they break down the nutritional components of the acai berry, and in doing so, isolates the constituents which can explain Euterpe oleracea’s antioxidant potential and its possible role in improving human health through consumption (2006). Most importantly, it finds out which nutrients remain in the food once it has undergone the freeze-dry process, as it is in this form that most people will consume it, due to its time-limited form of 36 hours when consumed fresh.  Unfortunately, in direct conflict with other papers cited, the levels of anthocyanins are lower than hypothesized, leading to direct implications in terms of effectiveness and dosing outcomes that will have to be altered in light of this (Schauss et al., 2006.)

Active Components and Preparations

Acai berries are comprised of a high quantity of antioxidants which is the foundational basis of the berries’ goodness for our health. Rich in polyphenols, specifically the anthocyanins: cyanidin 3-rutinoside and cyanidin 3-glucoside, it also has plenty of unsaturated oleic and linoleic fatty acids as well as dietary fiber and β-sitosterol, a phytosterol. (Oliveira de Souza, 2010).

Cyanidin structure



Cyanidin-3-glucoside's R1 group structure and Cyanidin-3-rutinoside R1 group structure (see Figure above)



Acai is acquired by the Brazilians by climbing up the tree and pulling off bunches of acai berries. The thin edible layer is then separated from its pit and is macerated using either one’s hands or their grinding machine to produce a thick pulp that has the consistency of a paste. It can either be ingested in this manner or it can be mixed with water and sugar as desired to produce a beverage (Gallori et al., 2004).

Cautions and Adverse Effects

While caution is always needed when ingesting food, to date no rigorously conducted study has released safety advisories against the consumption of acai berries in North America. Nonetheless, while no information has been released on any interaction with pharmaceutical drugs either, this is attributable to the lack of investigative studies pairing acai berries with other products and testing its combined effects. Thus people who choose to indulge in Euterpe oleracea should pay attention to the development of any adverse effects that may arise and take appropriate action if needed.

While there have been no studies outside of South America that have implicated acai berries as causing any side effects, in Brazil, oral consumption of acai has been linked to Chagas’ disease, a parasitic illness. From January to November of 2006, in Brazil’s Pará state, 178 new cases of Chaga’s disease were reported (Nobrega et al., 2009). Brazil’s Ministry of Health conducted a study in 2006 which implicated the consumption of acai berries as the cause of the cases of Chagas’ disease. While this disease has been positively linked to Euterpe oleracea, it is due to the unhygienic nature of its harvest and not because of its actual components (Nobrega et al., 2009). Thus, the berries’ effects remain unknown.

Sources

Del Pozo-Insfran, D., Brenes, C.H., & Talcott, S.T. (2004). Phytochemical composition

and pigment stability of açai (Euterpe oleracea Mart.). Journal of Agricultural

and Food Chemistry 52, 1539-1545. doi: 10.1021/jf035189n

Healthnotes, Inc. (2007). Healthwise knowledgebase: Acai. University of Michigan

            Health System. Retrieved from http://health.med.umich.edu/healthcontent.

cfm?xyzpdqabc=0&id=6&action=detail&AEProductID=hw_cam&AEArticleID=

hn-4538007#hn-453800

Nobrega, A.A., Garcia, M.H., Tatto, E., Costa, E., Sobel, J., & Araujo, W.N. (2009).

            Oral transmission of Chagas disease by consumption of acai palm fruit, Brazil.

            Emerging Infectious Diseases, 15(4), 653-655. PMID: 19331764

Oliveira de Souza, M., Silva, M., Silva, M.E., de Paula Oliveira, R., & Pedrosa, M.L.

            (2010). Diet supplementation with acai (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) pulp improves

            biomarkers of oxidative stress and the serum lipid profile in rats. Nutrition,

26(7), 804-810.

Padoch, C.E., Brondizio, S.C., Pinedo-Vaxquez, M., Sears, R.R., & Siqueira, A. (2008).

            Urban forest and rural cities: Multi-sited households, consumption patterns, and

            forest resources in Amazonia. Ecology and Society, 13(2): 2. Retrieved from

            http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol13/iss2/art2/

Plotkin, M.J., & Balick, M.J. (1984). Medicinal uses of South American palms. Journal

            Of Ethnopharmacology, 10, 157-179.

Schauss, A.G., Wu, X., Prior, R.L., Ou, B., Patel, D., Huang, D., & Kababick, J.P.

(2006). Phytochemical and nutrient composition of the freeze-dried Amazonian

palm berry, Euterpe oleraceae Mart. (acai). Journal of Agricultural and Food

Chemistry, 55(22), 8598-8603. doi: 10.1021/jf060976g

Sergio, R., Murrieta, S., Dufour, D.L., & Siqueira, A.D. (1999). Food consumption and

            Subsistence in three Caboclo populations on Marajó Island, Amazonia, Brazil.

            Human Ecology 27(3), 455-475.

Strudwick, J., & Sobel, G.L. (1988). Uses of Euterpe oleraceae Mart. In the Amazon

            estuary, Brazil. Advances in Economic Botany, 6, 225-253.  

Interesting Revelation - Is the Internet the Most Reliable Source for Information?

When researching the term "acai berries" on Google search engine, 3 of the first 5 results are websites selling acai berry products (allegedly) with the other 2 results being Wikipedia and another suspect website that may or may not be trying to sell me a product.

In fact, clicking on any of these websites may in fact lead to a virus infecting your computer (trust me, it happened).

With the internet chock-full of advertising, scams and "trojan horse" viruses waiting to happen, few websites can be found with truly informative facts and insightful knowledge. So instead of offering additional links, I am offering a word of caution when clicking onto any website.

While webpages affiliated with university sites may provide basic information, the lack of concrete data is indicative of the areas of research that need to be furthered in regards to Euterpe oleracea.