GorillaOffTopic, Everything But Gorilla Trades

Americans are always looking for their new health fix and hey, you really can’t blame us, after all, we are one of the unhealthiest countries in the world! It is recommended that we eat at least 5-7 servings daily of fruit and vegetables. If you are one of the majority who does not, raise your hand! The Gorilla admits that he certainly does not get his daily intake of fruit or veggies (and HE is a gorilla!). The simple reason for this recommendation is that fruits and vegetables are high in disease preventing antioxidants. People use antioxidants to help treat or prevent some medical conditions, such as coronary artery disease, some cancers, macular degeneration,  Alzheimer’s disease, and some arthritis-related conditions. So, what has the health community buzzing these days? Well, it’s a tiny little berry found deep in the heart of the Amazonian jungles of Brazil called the Acai berry. This powerful little berry packs a punch and is just loaded with antioxidants. The berry grows at the tops of palm trees in Amazonian Brazil. The purple berry, with a significant pit, has been made into pulp and eaten by the natives for a millennia. But it is only beginning to become known to the American consumer, desperate for ways to stave off aging and early death.

But what about the recent studies on blueberries and pomegranates? You may have heard that these foods are extremely rich in antioxidants as well, and this is still true. In fact to date, the pomegranate was thought to have the highest levels, but since the introduction of the acai berry, that is no longer true. You see, the U.S. Department of Agriculture measures those levels with something called an ORAC score (or Oxygen Radical Absorbence Capacity). The acai berry has nearly an eight times higher ORAC scores than the glorified pomegranate, which until now, has been at the top of the published charts. 

Dr. Nicholas Perricone even appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in 2005 to list the acai as one of his top 10 superfoods. Alexander G. Schauss, PhD, who has been studying the berries for more than a decade, recently presented findings at an international symposium on the health benefits of fruits and vegetables from a series of human trials that used a retail acai juice called Mona-Vie. He said that more than 80% of people were able to get antioxidants into their cells, and that more than 90% showed evidence that they were reducing the effects of cholesterol.

So how can we get some of this sweet nectar of the Gods? Well, it is not exactly as if you can go to the store and find them on the shelves at your local grocer. The reason? Once the acai berry falls from the tree, it starts to decay, losing most of it’s beneficial properties.  here are however, many ways to get acai out of the jungle, but Schauss said consumers should look for products that use berries that were freeze-dried in the Amazon, since it preserves all of its beneficial attributes. The Gorilla did his research and found that several companies actually perform this exact process and sell it in the form of a tasty bottled drink. So is it worth trying? With results like this, the Gorilla feels it certainly can’t hurt. After all, we all want to live longer, don’t we?