Acai berries, the more famous of the the two superfruits so far that are NOT found in Southern Asia, are quite likely the most powerful of all superfruits. The speculation in scientific communities about why that is so leans towards the fact that the Acai palm is suffering the harshest environment of all superfruit trees. Pronounced 'ah-sigh-EE' by the local Brasilians, this remarkable purple berry actually has a long and interesting history before it was discovered by the outside world around the year 2001.

It's now the pride of Brazil and it's frozen pulp and juice products are shipped in mass quantities all over the world.

Why is Acai so popular these days? It's simple. All tests on it have shown higher Antioxidant levels than any other naturally-occurring substances, gram for gram. -And I'm not talking about just the ORAC test for antioxidants, but other tests too, including the S-ORAC and others that measure other types of antioxidant than just the Anthocyanins.

To sum up, it has been shown that Acai possesses:

• 30 TIMES the Anthocyanins of Red Wine (without the hangover)
• Many other types of Antioxidants, not just 1 or 2 like you find in most fruits
• At least Sixteen types of polyphenolic compounds
• As much Protien as an Egg, gram for gram
• Generous amounts of most every major vitamin and mineral that you need to be healthy, including all known trace elements that your body uses
• A very large amount of plant sterols, especially Beta Sitosterol, which the US FDA has even proclaimed as being very helpful in lowering cholesterol

It is very interesting to think that one could survive on nothing but Acai berries in their diet. I haven't yet seen an account where that is proven, but it appears that this small berry does offer everything that a body will ever need to sustain itself, making it truly the king of superfruits.

It's such a shame that we can't yet grow it outside of the Amazonian region of South America. Oh well, at least there is plenty of it at your local health food store for now.