NUTRITIONAL FACTS OF BERRIES
What are berries?
Berries are a type of fruits smaller in size but filled with fibrous pulp inside along with a stone or a pit or a seed at the centre and they are popular all over the world for their abundance of nutritional values. Strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, cranberries, raspberries, mulberries, red and black currants are some of the popular berries found across the globe. Apart from these, there are different types of wild berries that are found in some deep tropical or rainforests. The Açai (pronounced as A-sigh-e) all over, is a type of a wild palm tree that is predominantly found in the Amazon rainforest areas of Brazil, few parts of Trinidad and in some plains of South America. It is deep purple in colour, smaller in size but filled with lot of juicy pulp that is highly nutritious for the antioxidants present in them. It makes this kind of a wild berry an amazing fruit used in beverages and in some types of cooking as well.
The Açai / Acai Berry:
The Açai (a-sigh-e) or simply acai berry is found to be highly nutritious by nature, packed with many antioxidants that can fight some dreadful disease like cancer, control cholesterol as well as type-2 diabetes. The Acai Powderis usually found to be more common in the markets than the natural berries themselves as they cannot be transported for their easy perishing nature. These acai berries, as soon as they fall from the tree naturally or as soon as they are harvested, start losing the nutritional values as it starts to degrade immediately. Hence we can find only the acai berries in the form of frozen and packed or as an organic freeze dried powder. Whichever form it is in, its nutritional values are kept intact. This acai powder is packed with nutrients, antioxidants, proteins, vitamins and minerals and hence it is of high nutritional as well as medicinal value.
Uses of Acai berry:
This wonder berry is full of pigments called anthocyanin that gives the deep purple colour. They are very highly potent antioxidants and hence they can help in anti-aging of the cells. It helps to treat inflammation, cardio-vascular disorders, to control type-2 diabetes mellitus and also possess anti-cancer effects. People also use this to reduce body fat, to control and manage osteoarthritis, to lose weight,and to have generally fit and sound health overall.
Powdered form of Acai berry:
The freeze dried acai berry powder is equally nutritional as the natural fruit itself. Since this fruit can easily perish and loose its antioxidants, it is always preserved immediately and made into the powdered form and shipped to the markets. The powdered berry can be added to juices, beverages, or cooked by adding it as an ingredient. It is found to be delicious as a salad topping as well. It has natural fat burning properties and hence aids in the loss of fat and extra piled up kilos around the body. It is very helpful in controlling inflammation, rheumatoid as well as osteoarthritis efficiently.
