Açaí palms (Euterpe oleracea Mart.), Brazil

pronunciation of açaí: "ah-sah-ee"

[click on the Wikipedia links for more information]

Expectations about açaí are high.

Preliminary reports showed exceptional nutrient and antioxidant qualities, with two studies in 2006-7 giving scientific evidence for activity of açaí phytochemicals against cancer and cardiovascular disease mechanisms in laboratory experiments.

But overall research on açaí has been conspicuous by its absence, with only a total of 12 medical research studies published since 2004, the first year it was recorded in the US National Library of Medicine publication database.

Over all of 2007 and so far in 2008, only three papers were published on açaí:

• extracts from açaí seeds dilate blood vessels in vitro click!
• content of nutrients and antioxidants, reported by a research group in Venezuela
• mutagenic (alters genes) activity in vitro (possible evidence for an anti-cancer mechanism)

This is a disappointing lack of scientific content and interest

for a fruit acclaimed as one of the leading antioxidant foods on the planet.

What's going on?

Meanwhile, just in 2007, were the following numbers of research publications on other berries:

• grape -- 471 studies, the "Berry King"
• strawberry -- 114
• blueberry and cranberry -- more than 50 each
• red raspberry -- 33
• goji (wolfberry), blackcurrant and seabuckthorn -- around 20 studies each

Find reports in the Berry Doctor's Journal on each of these berries by clicking here!

As a newcomer to medical research, açaí must meet high standards:

1. years of research steps reported by different scientists
2. publication in highly regarded journals requiring reviews by skeptical peers
3. confirmation and cross-fertilization of ideas by independent research teams
4. thorough testing of disease models in the laboratory using both in vitro and animal (in vivo) experiments
5. proof that anti-disease properties apply in humans

Those first four steps typically take a minimum total of 10 years,

then another decade is needed for step 5 alone.

Açaí's status in research is mainly within steps 1 and 2, i.e., at the very beginning of its development as a research subject.

açaí (Euterpe oleraceae Mart.) -- such highly pigmented dark fruit invites more research about its

botanical, phytochemical and anti-disease properties

Why might açaí be so slow to mature in medical research?

1. research materials may be difficult to obtain or standardize from batch to batch
2. research materials may be difficult to prevent from spoiling due to the high fat content of açaí and its exposure post-harvest to heat and humidity
3. prepared or preserved research materials may be very expensive, such as those requiring freeze-drying
4. special transportation may be required to get açaí samples from the remote tropics where the fruit is harvested to modern laboratories long distances away
5. other common dark berries (purple grapes, blueberries, cranberries) are easily and inexpensively obtained, and have the same phytochemicals for analysis in research models
6. science may be following mainstream consumer interest, i.e., common berries are familiar and available most of the year, often as fresh fruit, making them more interesting for science to relate to consumers
7. resulting from its high susceptibility for becoming rancid, we are likely safe to conclude that açaí will not soon (maybe never?) be available as a fresh fruit

CONCLUSION: The Short and Long of It

• although a rare berry unique with interesting nutrient and phytochemical features, açaí remains poorly studied and is short on attracting scientific investigation

• açaí does not seem to be drawing on many scientists to study it

• by comparison to well-studied berries like grape, strawberry, blueberry and cranberry, açaí has a long way to go to achieve research-confirmed properties applying to human physiology or diseases

Click on the image to launch Amazon.com

An excellent, inexpensive booklet (62 pages) about the açaí berry

and its nutrients, phytochemicals and origin

Reading

* Heber D. What Color Is Your Diet?, 2001, ReganBooks, New York.

* Joseph JA, Nadeau DA, Underwood A. The Color Code, 2002, Hyperion, New York.

(good used copies can be ordered inexpensively from Amazon.com)

* Linus Pauling Institute, Prescription for Health

* Philipp W. Simon, Plant Pigments for Color and Nutrition, published in HortScience 32(1):12-13. 1997.

* Free radicals and antioxidants in normal physiological functions and human disease.

Int J Biochem Cell Biol. 2007;39(1):44-84. Valko M, Leibfritz D, Moncol J, Cronin MT, Mazur M, Telser J. Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology, Slovak Technical University, Bratislava, Slovakia.