The Acai Berry

Antioxidants are substances or nutrients in our foods which can prevent or slow the oxidative damage to our body. When our body cells use oxygen, they naturally produce free radicals (by-products) which can cause damage to our cells. Plus, every day we are exposed to lots of harmful substances (polluted air, junk foods we eat) that produce free-radicals inside our bodies.  Health problems such as heart disease, macular degeneration, diabetes, and cancer as well as short-term damage to our immune systems are all contributed by oxidative damage caused by free-radicals. 

Antioxidants act as “free radical scavengers” and hence prevent and repair damage done by these free radicals.  Antioxidants safely interact with and neutralize free-radicals, slowing and preventing the oxidative stress they can cause to our cells. 

      
Yellow sphere represents the space-filling properties of an antioxidant

So which foods provide us the antioxidants we need to maintain healthy cells?  The most commonly used antioxidant capacity test is the ORAC (oxygen radical absorbance capacity) and consistently the food with the highest ORAC scores is the Acai berry.  Acai has an incredibly diverse set of antioxidants, including anthocyanins, flavonoids, proanthocyanidins, plant sterols (proven to lower the risk of heart disease) and other phytonutrients.  It is the ultimate antioxidant super food. 

Every morning and evening, I drink a small glass of Acai juice from a great product called MonaVie.  It uses 100% unfiltered pure Acai sourced directly from the Amazon and surrounds the Acai with 18 other high-antioxidant fruits giving us the strongest and most diverse set of antioxidants out there.  Where can you get some MonaVie?  Email me at superacaijuice@gmail.com to find out. 

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