Acai Research
The latest acai research that has been gathered. Acai has been available outside of Brazil for about five years, which has not afforded much time for researchers to study it. Traditionally, the berries and their juice are consumed immediately after picking. Since acai is extremely perishable, it has also been difficult to store it long enough to use in controlled clinical situations, particularly when a matching placebo is needed. However, preservation technologies are now being applied that will make acai extracts more stable and will enable future double-blind studies to go forth. In spite of these obstacles, much preliminary scientific research has been done on acai, mostly in Brazil and Belgium.
Antioxidants in Acai Berry
In a 2005 study published in the International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition, the antioxidant capacities of eleven commercial and noncommercial samples of acai fruit pulp were studied. The authors reported that the antioxidant capacities of all purple acai samples were found to be “excellent against peroxyl radicals, good against peroxynitrite and poor against hydroxyl radicals” when compared with common European fruit and vegetable juices. As powerful as these anthocyanins were, the authors estimated that they were only responsible for about 10 percent of the overall antioxidant capacities of acai. Thus, compounds not yet identified appear to be responsible for the majority of the antioxidant activity of acai fruit pulp.
Results of Acai Fighting Cancer
Acai research is now getting started in the United States as well. In 2006, the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Florida conducted one of the first studies to investigate the benefits of acai-berry extract. Published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, the study showed that acai extracts destroyed human cancer cells in vitro (i.e., in a test tube). Specifically, anthocyanins in acai triggered apoptosis (pronounced APP-o-TOE-sis), a normal and often desirable process by which the body self-destructs certain of its cells, particularly those that have undergone malignant transformation. Thus, apoptosis is a critical mechanism underlying cancer prevention.
The researchers prepared six different extracts from the pulp of acai fruit, and each extract was tested at seven different concentrations. Four of the six extracts induced cell death in significant numbers of leukemia cells. Depending on the extract and concentration, between 35 percent and 86 percent of the cells underwent apoptosis. Another study by the same group is planned that will explore the effects of acai’s antioxidants on healthy human volunteers. Researchers will study the absorption of key compounds in acai, as well as its effects on blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and other cardiovascular risk factors. Stay tuned for more amazing acai research.
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