Crack The Fat Loss Code Ebook

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

More About the Rachel Ray Acai Berry Hype

By Jane Moore

We all know Rachel Ray drinks acai juice. Acai is a berry promoted by Rachel Ray amongst other celebrities such as Oprah and celebrity doctors such as Dr. Oz and Dr. Perricone. Acai berry is dark purple or green in color and grows atop palm trees in the Amazon rainforests of Brazil. For centuries the local population used the berries to make a fruity pulp that was used as a food flavoring ingredient. Acai is a relatively new concept in Europe and North America but it is really catching on and is now commonly found in most health food stores. and Europe.

Scientific teams have discovered that the acai berries are a wonderfully rich source of an antioxidant nutrient called anthocyanins. This is the exact same substance that provides red wine with it's the antioxidants. Acai Berries are also rich in protein and fiber and also provide essential fatty acids, vitamins B and A, and omega-9 and omega-6.

Since being introduced to us by Dr. Perricone, acai has garnered a lot of attention. The internet is now full of acai promotions. Acai Berry ranks among Dr. Perricone's top ten superfoods. These superfoods if consumed regularly are supposed to make us look significantly more youthful in a short period of time. Acai berry has captured the eye, attention and imagination of many television celebrities. Rachel Ray drinks a type of acai berry juice daily and claims it makes her feel great.

It is commonly known that antioxidants are essential for good health. They help us fight the on-going threat of disease and the deteriorating effects of aging. We are regularly hearing that we should eat more foods rich in antioxidants such as raspberries and blueberries and spinach. Antioxidants have long been recognized as an essential and critical part of a healthy diet.

I think highly of Rachel Ray and her opinions on wellness, drink and food. As a science oriented person myself, I was interested in learning about Rachel Ray and acai berry. As you can imagine, I was thrilled to read that recently a team of researchers decided to investigate just how much antioxidant benefit was actually in commonly available acai juices. Three store bought and readily available acai juice blends containing unspecified and presumably varied concentrations of a?a? juice and/or acai pulp were compared for in vitro antioxidant capacity against other commonly known antioxidants including tea, six types of pure fruit juice, red wine and pomegranate juice. The results are surprising at first glance. The antioxidant capacity of the acai juice blends was approximately equal to that of black cherry or cranberry juice, and was higher than that of apple juice, tea and orange juice. The antioxidant capacity of the acai juice blends was actually ranked poorer than that of Concord grape juice, pomegranate juice, blueberry juice, and red wine. How does this make me feel about Rachel Ray and acai? Acai juice blends are significantly better for you than orange or apple juices, but not as good antioxidant-wise as either red wine or pomegranate juice. Simply put it still means that readily available acai juice blends provide a health benefit.

The problem with this study is that it uses juices with unspecified quantities of acai. I have seen these blends and there is no telling whether they are 90% acai or simply apple juice with a splash of acai. In fairness to Rachel Ray and acai she generally touts a specific acai juice and the above experiment was done on commercially available acai berry juices. - 17268

About the Author:

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home