What is acai?

Acai (ah-sigh-EE) is the high-energy berry of a special Amazon palm tree. Harvested in the rainforests of Brazil, acai tastes like a vibrant blend of berries and chocolate. Hidden within its royal purple pigment is the magic that makes it nature's perfect energy fruit. Acai is packed full of antioxidants, amino acids and essential fatty acids.

Why buy Amazon Thunder™ acai?

Everything we create is organic certified or made from organic ingredients and is manufactured in quality controlled USDA organic certified facilities. This is to ensure only the freshest and highest quality acai products.

Amazon Thunder™ products have no added sugar. Acai is an anti-inflammatory¹ and antioxidant^1-2 so, we choose to not add sugar because sugar has been know to cause inflammation¹⁰. Also, unlike many acai distributors, we do not add caffeine to our acai.

Why acai?

In a study done by the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition it, “acai was recognized for its functional properties for use in food and nutraceutical products.” Sure, there are other antioxidant wellness fruits such as Goji, Noni and Mangosteen; but, they simply do not compare to acai. Unlike acai, they do not contain the essential fatty acids known as Omega 3, 6 and 9. Also, 99% of these other fruits (as well as some acai fruits) are refined in China where they spray everything with harsh chemicals and preservatives and have the lowest form of quality control and have virtually no organic program.

Amazon Thunder™ contains:

1. Essential Fatty Acids, Omegas 3, 6 and 9: These are the "good" fats of the human body and are very important to our health. These are considered "essential" because our body does not manufacture large quantities of them, in spite of being substances involved in the vital functions of a human being, especially in building the structure of cell membranes and in the synthesis of prostaglandin, lecithin and melanin. These essential fatty acids play an important role in maintaining low levels of cholesterol and triglycerides, in the stabilization of the heart rhythm, in cleaning the arteries and to normalize arterial pressure. They regulate the hormone prostaglandin, which helps the body in cleansing the walls of the blood vessels and to diminish the formation of blood clots. Some scientists do not consider Omega 9 as essential, because our body can produce it in small quantities, either way, it is associated in the reduction of the arterioscleroses, reduces resistance to insulin, which balances the glucose. Essential Fatty Acids improve the immune system.¹
   
   
2. Anthocyanins and Polyphenols (Antioxidants): These antioxidants are the substances that protect the cells against the damage from oxidation caused by "free radical" molecules.⁷ These chemical products can damage you by splitting important cells, including proteins, damage membranes and to create mutations in the DNA. This cell deterioration, caused by the radicals, is a cause in the development of cancer, in the loss of mental capacity, loss of memory, degenerative illnesses and premature aging.
   
   According to a study by the Departmet of Food Science and Human Nutrition³, “acai pulp was found to have a relatively high antioxidant  content with respect to other anthocyanin-rich fruits such as highbush blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, cranberries, and muscadine grape juice."
   
   The acai berries high concentrations of antioxidant polyphenolics, primarily from anthocyanin, provide it excellent potential as a functional food ingredient.^4-6
   
   The public is highly aware of the term “antioxidant”, which has been defined by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences as follows: “a substance in foods that significantly decreases the adverse effects of reactive species, such as reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, on normal physiologic function in humans.”
   
   The findings in one study may have significant value as to [acai’s] antioxidant role in aging and disease.¹
   
   
3. Essential Amino Acid: Muscle regeneration, giving strength and resistance.
   
   
4. Sterols (beta-sitosterol): These phytosterols have very special properties. Its formula is very similar to that of cholesterol and due to this it masks cholesterol and it avoids the body’s ability to absorb cholesterol. For many years it has been used for lowering the levels of cholesterol in the blood and for problems of the prostate, balancing the level of sugar and help to control type II diabetes (caused by aging). Also anti-mutagenic effects have been reported, along with the fortification of the immune system.¹
    
5. Vitamins A and C: These are antioxidant vitamins produced by nature. They fortify the immune system, the skin, eyesight and the formation of red blood cells. The absence of vitamin A produces blurry vision, bad nails, dry skin, and hair loss. The absence of vitamin C diminishes our defenses, causes premature wrinkles to appear, a delay in the healing of injuries, inflammation, bloody sores and sets a general abatement. If you suffer from one of these symptoms, it may be that your body does not have enough of these vitamins.

"Edible berries, a potential source of natural anthocyanin antioxidants, have demonstrated a broad spectrum of biomedical functions. These include cardiovascular disorders, advancing age-induced oxidative stress, inflammatory responses, and diverse degenerative diseases. Berry anthocyanins also improve neuronal and cognitive brain functions, ocular health as well as protect genomic DNA integrity."⁸

"Acai's health benefits are astounding, and scientists are touting the fruits high level of proteins, fiber, vitamin E, minerals, and important essential fatty acids. Acai's antioxidant concentration surpasses even blueberries, and it is also a valuable, natural cholesterol controller. Additional studies on Acai have also discovered that it builds the immune system, fights infection, protects the heart, and can control prostate enlargement."⁹

The Acai fruit and ORAC value

ORAC, short for Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity, is a test tube analysis that measures the total antioxidant power of foods and other chemical substances.

In 1992, the ORAC test was developed by Dr. Guohua Cao, a chemist and physician at the National Institute on Aging in Baltimore, Maryland. Early findings suggest that eating plenty of high-ORAC fruits and vegetables, such as spinach and blueberries, may help slow the processes associated with aging in both body and brain. According to Suzanne Dixon (MPH, MS, RD), ORAC is just a fancy way of saying, "How well does a certain food help my body fight diseases like cancer and heart disease?"

What is a normal ORAC for daily consumption?

For the average person they need a minimum of 1670 ORAC per day. To give this perspective 80% - 90% of people in the world do not consume even half of the daily-required ORAC. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) researchers in healthy eating at Tufts University have found that in order to provide meaningful antioxidant health benefits in a nutritional supplement you need at least 2400 to 3000 ORAC, or Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity, in your daily diet.

According to recent studies, in the diet of an average human being, we are consuming 1000 units ORAC daily, as you can see, we are consuming considerably less ORAC than we should be, consequently leading to degenerative illnesses (cancer, arthritis, loss of the memory, etc.), that are the illnesses that have gone proliferating in the last decades.

Check out the USDA's Determined ORAC Value of Select Foods.
Amazon Thunder has above average ORAC values. Check out the ORAC rating for Amazon Thunder Acai.

Click here for more research projects supported by the USDA.

Click here for more quick facts about Amazon Thunder™ acai.

Check out these testimonials about Amazon Thunder™ acai products!

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¹ Schauss, A. G.; Wu, X.; Prior, R. L.; Ou, B.; Patel, D.; Huang, D.; Owens, John.; Agarwal, Amit.; Jensen, Gitte S.; Hart, Aaron N.; Shanbrom, Edward. “Antioxidant Capacity and Other Bioactivities of the Freeze-Dried Amazonian Palm Berry, Euterpe oleraceae Mart. (Acai)” J. Agric. Food Chem. 2006, 54, 8598–8603.

² Hassitmotto, Neuza Mariko Aymoto. Inea S Genevese, Maria. Lajolo, Franco Maria. “Antioxidant Activity of Dietary Fruits, Vegetables, and Commercial Frozen Fruit Pulps." Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 53.8 (2005): 29282935. Print.

³ Del Pozo-Insfran, David. Brenes, Carmen H. Talcott, Stephen T. “Phytochemical Composition and Pigment Stability of Acai (Euterpe oleracea Mart.)" Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 52.6 (2004): 1539-1545. Print.

⁴ Lichtenthaler, R.; Rodrigues, R. B.; Maia, J. G.; Papagiannopoulos, M.; Fabricius, H.; Marx, F. Total oxidant scavenging capacities of Euterpe oleracea Mart. (Acai) fruits. Int. J. Food Sci. Nutr. 2005, 56, 53–64.

⁵ Hassimotto, N. M.; Genovese, M. I.; Lajolo, F. M. Antioxidant activity of dietary fruits, vegetables, and commercial frozen fruit pulps. J. Agric. Food Chem. 2005, 53, 2928–2935.

⁶ Schauss, A. G.; Wu, X.; Prior, R. L.; Ou, B.; Patel, D.; Huang, D.; Kababick, J. P. Phytochemical and nutrient composition of the freeze-dried Amazonian palm berry, Euterpe oleraceae Mart. (Acai). J. Agric. Food Chem. 2006, 54, 8598–8603.

⁷ Mertens-Talcott, Susanne U.; Rios, Jolian.; Jilma-Stohlawetz, Petra.; Pacheco-Pelencia, Lisbeth A.; Meibohm, Bernd.; Talcott, Stephen T.; Derendorf, Hartmut. Pharmacokinetics of Anthocyanins and Antioxidant Effects after the Consumption of Anthocyanin-Rich Acai Juice and Pulp (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) in Human Healthy Volunteers. J. Agric. Food Chem. 2008, 56.17, 7796–7802.

⁸ Zafra-Stone, Shirley.; Yasmin, Taharat. Berry anthocyanins as novel antioxidants in human health and disease prevention. Mol. Nutr. Food Res. 2007, 51, 675 – 683

⁹ Childs, Matthew. Amazon Acai Fruit: - Brazil's Antioxidant-Rich Superfood. New Life Journal. April/May 2005. 25.

¹⁰ Click here to see article.