The acai (ah-sigh-ee) berry has been around for thousands of years and not until the 1990's was it introduced to the western world. The acai berry was found to possess tremendous health properties and was first used by the tribes of the Amazon jungle as a cure for various ailments. It is estimated that the indigenous people routinely use up to 2,000 of the 3,000 known rainforest fruits for medicinal purposes.

Map Amazon Rainforest A Shuar/Uwishin Healer

The Amazon borders eight different countries and has the world's largest river basin. Not only does the Amazon supply one fifth of the worlds freshwater, it has the highest diversity of birds and freshwater fish. The Amazon is the largest rainforest in the world where one third of all animal and plant species live. The acai berry is just one of these fruits that has been discovered in this vast region. The Shuar tribes are one of these Amazonian tribes that have for centuries, through tradition, kept the use of plants (acai berry) for medicinal purposes. Shuar medicine men or women are called uwishin (oo-wee-sheen') a healer that works with medicinal plants, somebody who knows all the secrets of the rainforests. Uwishin, have a great deal of knowledge of medicinal plants and their cures, they learn from others, and through experiments from the plants themselves. It is the work of the uwishin to research and find solutions to illness. The researches soon got hold of this magic acai berry and realized that it would be of great importance in the well-being and health of the western world, our diets are often over filled with fat and fast food, acai is naturally full with energy, it has a vibrant taste of berries with a hint of chocolate, is rich in proteins, fiber, vitamin E, minerals and essential Omega oils to reduce our bad cholesterol caused by our western diets.

Acai helps build the immune system, fights infection, protects the heart, and control prostate enlargement (nature's viagra). The acai berry was also discovered to fight schistosomosis, which is transmitted by snails. Schistosomosis affects more than 10 million Brazilians. The acaí berry is also used to produce an antibiotic that helps to fight against 'Staphylococcus aureus,' a common infection contracted mainly in hospitals.

Belém with a population of 1.3 million is the main city in the Amazon estuary and world center of acai. More than 200,000 liters of the purple liquid is consumed per day making it even more consumed than milk.

Acaí is highly perishable and the only way it gets to Rio is in frozen packages. In Belém, the fruit is always consumed fresh. Since it is harvested and eaten within 24 hours, in order to service the population with fresh acai on a daily basis an enormous infrastructure has grown in Belém that employs an estimated 30,000 people. In Belém, you are never more than a block away from an acai point. Wherever you look, your eye always finds a red acai sign. It is served like soup. Acai is not a versatile fruit since it can only be stored frozen and cannot be cooked, so for the most part, it continues to be consumed just as the indians have consumed it for centuries.

Carlos Gracie

For acai to catch on outside the Amazon, it needed a pioneer. That man was Carlos Gracie, the great-grandson of Scottish immigrants from Dumfries, who was born in Belém in 1902. In his early teens, a chance meeting with a Japanese immigrant led to his obsession with the martial art jujitsu. In 1922 the Gracies moved to Rio and Carlos opened Brazil's first jujitsu academy. When a shop near his Copacabana home specializing in obscure foods started to import frozen acai, he began to incorporate it into his diet and also to encourage all his jujitsu students to drink it. The jujitsu boys were pin-ups with the best bodies: everyone wanted to know what 'miracle' potion they were drinking. Soon Rio's surfers became fans, and gradually the drink crossed over to become part of beach culture. By the early 1990s, no juice bar could exist without selling it.

The boom in acai over the last decade has had more effects than changing the eating habits of Rio's body-obsessed men (and women). Scientists have discovered that acai is rich in anthocyanins, the group of chemicals in red wine that are believed to lower the risk of heart disease. Swig per swig, acai contains over 10 times more of them than red wine. It is also rich in essential fatty acids, calcium and vitamins. Acaí's recent success is also changing the nature of agriculture in the Amazon estuary. Agronomists have been successful in developing ways of cultivating acai sustainability with high yield. In the last five years acai production has tripled and brought work to poor rural areas. Belém, now has more than 60 factories that export. Acaí is the most promising product we have here for development,' says de Jesus.

Acai berries also helps in preventing cancer due to it's antioxidant properties that are five times more potent than gingko biloba, a commonly used herbal therapy product.

In Brazil, people are used to consume acai in different manners. Preferentially in summer, Brazilian youngsters and teenagers like to consume acai with granola, oat flakes, cereal, banana and honey.

People eat acai before going to the gym due to its high energy, improving their availability to exercise more and physical condition.

Acai can be found as juice, ice cream, mixed with other fruits and milk as a ready to drink beverage.

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