Perfectly purple fruit and vegetables are creating an explosion of colorful nutrition next to their groovy green friends. Greens are great for their alkalising effect on the body however new research has discovered that darker purple foods might be far richer in antioxidants and vital flavonoids than their green team mates.

The most potent purple food - Acai

Purple foods are powerful antioxidant storehouses, jam-packed with an abundance of vitamins, minerals and amino acids amongst other nutrients. They contain the important anti-ageing anthocyanin compound, that is also responsible for the wonderful colour pigments we find in plant foods and flowers ranging from pink and red through to blue, purple and indigo. Purple foods also contain resveratrol, another powerful antiageing compound. Lucky for us purple fruits and veggies are popping up everywhere!

Purple foods to include in your diet...

• acai berries
• purple carrots
• purple fleshed potatoes
• purple cabbage
• eggplant
• beetroot
• blueberries, cherries, raspberries
• red grapes and passionfruit

One purple food that stands out from the bunch is the Acai berry (pronounced ah – sigh – ee). This superfood has been described as the most potent purple food on the planet. It is the fruit from the palm tree Euterpe oleracea and grows in the rich, dark organic soils of the Amazon river basin in Brazil, South America.

Antioxidant-packed Acai

Acai is sustainable, fair trade and has a quite remarkable nutrient composition. This deep purple even black looking berry contains over 50 different nutrients including 16 types of antioxidants, 19 essential and nonessential amino acids, high levels of omegas 3, 6 and 9, plus vitamins A, C, E, B1, B2, B6, B12, folic acid and minerals including calcium, copper, inositol, iodine, magnesium, manganese, potassium, selenium, sodium and zinc. It certainly is a mouthful in more ways than one! Freeze dried acai has an ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) value of 124,000 in comparison to dried goji berry at 23,000, spirulina at 10,000 and fresh blueberries at 2,950. In other words acai has over 12 times more antioxidants than spirulina and 42 times more antioxidants than fresh blueberries. Recent studies by Dr Alexander Schauss have also revealed large amounts of flavonoids some so exotic they have never been identifi ed before. Amongst this wide array of nutrients acai is one of the richest sources of anthocyanins to be found in any food. Anthocyanin is the colour fl avonoid that makes red wine red. Remarkably freeze dried acai has been shown to contain between 10–30 times the concentration of anthocyanins in red wine.

Health benefits of Acai

Consumption of acai berries has been linked to a multitude of health benefits which explains its rise to superfood status. The high levels of anthocyanin and flavonoid compounds are thought to be responsible for many of the fruits positive effects on health and wellbeing. The combination of considerable antioxidant and anti-infl ammatory activity are the reason why many scientists are heralding acai berries as a valuable superfood in the fight against many health conditions including arthritis, cardiovascular disease, obesity and impaired cognitive function. Regular consumption may help lift your energy, slow down the ageing process and boost your immune system by helping to protect cells from oxidative damage. Eating acai berries can also stimulate detoxification processes in the body and encourage more effective weight loss when combined with a healthy diet and lifestyle.

Sustainable fair trade Acai

“Acai grows on over 6.1 million acres in the Amazon and is literally the most abundant naturally occurring food” says Dwayne Martens CEO of Amazonia, Australia’s largest supplier of acai products. “We’re very proud to have the only certified fair trade hand gathering system in place. This in turn provides real fi nancial incentive to keep these acai trees standing.” A great way to experience all the power of purple is an Amazonia Raw Food Bar which contains all the antioxidants of 40 fresh blueberries per bar. Ask at Mr Vitamins about the many different ways you can include Acai in your diet.