Açai (pronounced ah-sigh-ee) is an antioxidant rich, dark purple berry, that is the fruit of a wild palm found growing in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. This ‘super food’ was featured on the Oprah Winfrey show which highlighted not only its antioxidant activity, high nutritional content and anti-ageing properties, but also its benefit as a means to boost low metabolism. Although the term ‘super food’ is perhaps over –used with Açai the term is truly justified.
Açai’s deep purple coloration is an indicator of its high content of antioxidants called anthocyanins – other foods in this category include most berries, beetroot, pomegranate, plums, red cabbage and red wine grapes. Açai provides up to 33 x higher levels of anthocyanins than red wine grapes.
