Monday, June 15, 2009

Nutritional Benefits Of Acai

By Dana Hawkes

Most of the research that has been done to date regarding the Acai berry, pronounced as ah-sigh-ee, has focused on a specific type of freeze dried Acai berry that is known as Opti-Acai, but there are various other forms of this berry out there, especially as it relates to the Acai berry diet. Opti-Acai is a powdered or freeze dried form of the fruit pulp from this berry, which is been said to contain the following nutritional information:

100 grams of extract yields:

533.9 calories 52.2 g of carbohydrates 8.1 g of protein 32.5 g of total fat 44.2 g of fiber 260 mg of calcium 4.4 mg of iron 1002 U vitamin A 7.59 % aspartic acid, glutamic acid, amino acids.

The 32.5 g of total fat content is broken down into oleic acid, making up 56.2 % of the total fat content, palmitic acid, making up 24.1 % and finally linoleic acid, making up 12.5 %.

Its pulp also contained beta-sitosterol, making up between 78 % and 91 % of total sterols.

The oil compartments found in the Acai fruit contained a number of polyphenols, including vanillic acid, procyanidin oligmers, syringic acid, protocatechuic acid, p-hydroxybenzoic acid as well as ferulic acid. These polyphenols have shown to degrade on a substantial level during exposure to heat or long term storage.

The Acai berry is a berry that is rich in antioxidants, meaning that the Acai berry diet is a really healthy diet that is filled with nutrients and nutritional benefits. There are a wide variety of health benefits associated with the Acai berry and the corresponding Acai berry diet, including an increase in stamina and energy, the ability to fight off heart disease, improving your cholesterol, stabilizing your blood sugar levels, inducing the ability to sleep better, supplying you with all kinds of vitamins and minerals and so much more.

When you understand the nutritional makeup of this berry, it should make understanding the Acai berry diet information a little easier, because you will understand how you are benefiting nutritionally rather than simply that you are.

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