Healthy fats in Acai

Common name - Acai berry, palm berry, acai palm, jussara, cabbage palm are some of the common names in which Acai is known by.

Origin - They are known to originate from Amazon rainforest in Brazil.

Scientific Name - Euterpe oleracea

Appearance - Acai is a small, round, blackish purple fruit, looks alike in appearance but smaller than a grape with lesser pulp and a single big seed at the center.

Nutrients in Acai

Acai has an amazing antioxidant quality. It is very rich in antioxidants such as Vitamin C and polyphenols. Acai also haves an ample amount of iron, calcium and vitamin A with amino acid.

Fatty acid helps in the movement and absorption of fat-soluble vitamins like A, D, E and K. Acai has high caloric values and fats when compared with other berries and fruits.

Note: The content given in the table is fixed according to our calculation; hence it may not be accurate.

Healthy fats in Acai

Acai berry is very rich in healthy Omega fats. Nearly 50% of the Acai berry is fat - with 74% of the fat coming from healthy unsaturated fats such as

• Omega 3
• Omega 6
• Omega 9

19 different amino acids have been identified in Acai. Since amino acids are the basic building blocks of protein, over 8 grams of protein is there in every 100 gram of Acai. Acai berry is an excellent source of Plant Sterols. Three plant sterols (or photosterols) present in acai are

• B-sitosterol
• Campesterol
• Sigmasterol

Photosterols have numerous health benefits for maintaining healthy heart and digestive function. Acai contain as much Vitamin C as blueberries and has over 1000 IU of Vitamin A in every 100 grams.

In addition, potassium, calcium, magnesium, copper and zinc are all found in Acai. Acai has a strong fiber profile. Around 14 grams of fiber is present in every 100 grams of freeze dried Acai powder.

Acai health benefits

1. High level antioxidants in acai promotes overall body health and fight free radicals.
2. It boosts up energy levels.
3. It helps to add luster to skin and nails.
4. It strengthens our IMMUNE SYSTEM and provides greater energy and stamina.
5. It Provides better sleep and anti-allergenic support.
6. It also improves digestion and sexual function.
7. It Promotes better circulation and aids in preventing blood clots.
8. Helps in prevention and treatment of Alzheimer (brain disorder) and arteriosclerosis (stiffening of arteries).

Acai Berry Facts

• Acai palm also grows in the rainforests of South America.
• It has been used as a weight loss supplement.
• Acai berry contains plenty of omega oil substances which help to keep the blood pressure (BP) level under control.
• Acai fruit is very low in sugar content.
• Acai berry contains high levels of essential amino acids, fiber, plant sterols (controls cholesterol) and anti-oxidants.
• Acai pulp contains 10 to 30 times the anthocyanins found in red wine by equal volume.

Notes on Acai

One of the most important acai studies, conducted by the University of Florida, tells us that acai fruit has caused a “self destruct” reaction in Leukemia cells.

Antioxidants are one of the best ways to lower the chance of getting cancer and there is no other better way to get them than through acai berry juice or pills.

The fatty acid proportion of Acai looks like olive oil, which many experts believe that it might be the contributing element for the low occurrence of heart-related problems.

Fiber and Omega fatty acids are two of the biggest weapons highly used in preventing diabetes and heart diseases by lowering the blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

Acai berry is one of the most powerful anti-aging super foods. Acai fruit's anti-aging effect is a combination of high level anthocyanins and strong antioxidant vitamin content.

Acai berry is known to contain ten times as many antioxidant vitamins as grapes and twice as many as blueberries and thirty three times more antioxidant power than both red grapes and red wine.

In addition to the high levels of omega-6 and omega-9 fatty acids, acai fruit also haves a protective effect on the heart and cardiovascular system. The omega-6 and omega-9 fatty acids in acai berries play a vital role in lowering cholesterol level in the blood.

Avoid : If you have pollen allergies or have a known hypersensitivity to acai or similar berries, please avoid this fruit.

An extra tip : To get benefit out of your acai berry diet, you should be able to spot the difference between a low quality brand and a high quality brand.

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Cantaloupe

Cantaloupe fruit is also called as mushmelon, muskmelon, cantalope, rockmelon or spanspek which all together refers a variety of Cucumis melo, comes under the family Cucurbitaceae which includes nearly all melons and squashes.

Fresh cut fruit products which may contain cantaloupe from the Honduran grower Agropecuaria Montelibano, which has been identified by the FDA to have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella. Fresh Foods had previously begun to recover this product, based on a notice published.

Cantaloupe has a rough rind and its surface may easily be contaminated in the field by soil, unclean irrigation water, animal droppings or unclean water during post-harvest wash. Therefore, it is important to scrub the cantaloupe with a clean brush (used only for produce) under running water before cutting in order to prevent Salmonella from contaminating the flesh.

Use clean cutting surfaces and utensils when cutting this fruit. Wash cutting boards, countertops, dishes, and utensils with hot water and soap between the preparation of raw meat, poultry, or seafood and slicing cantaloupe. If cantaloupe skin is bruised or damaged, cut away these parts before eating. Leftover cut cantaloupe should be discarded if left at room temperature for more than two hours. Use a cooler with ice or use ice gel packs when transporting or storing cantaloupes outdoors.

Cantaloupe and other melons are tasty and nutritious, and we don't want people to stop eating them, Keene said. The most important advice for consumers is to promptly refrigerate or eat cut melons.

How to buy fresh Cantaloupe?
Cantaloupe, generally available from May through September, are produced principally in California, Arizona, and Texas. Some are also imported early in the season.

Purchase cantaloupes that are not bruised or damaged. If buying fresh-cut cantaloupe, be sure it is refrigerated or surrounded by ice.After purchase, refrigerate cantaloupes promptly. Wash hands with hot, soapy water before and after handling fresh cantaloupes. Scrub whole cantaloupes by using a clean produce brush and cool tap water immediately before eating. Don't use soap or detergents.

Look for: There are three major signs of full maturity. First, the stem should be gone, leaving a smooth symmetrical, shallow base called a “full slip.” If all or part of the stem base remains, or if the stem scar is jagged or torn, the melon is probably not fully matured. Second, the netting, or veining, should be thick, coarse, and corky, and should stand out in bold relief over some part of the surface. Third, the skin color (ground color) between the netting should have changed from green to yellowish-buff, yellowishgray, or pale yellow.

Signs of ripeness: A cantaloupe might be mature, but not ripe. A ripe cantaloupe will have a yellowish cast to the rind, have a pleasant cantaloupe aroma, and yield slightly to light thumb pressure on the blossom end of the melon. Most cantaloupe are quite firm when freshly displayed in retail stores. While some may be ripe, most have not yet reached their best eating stage. Hold them for 2 to 4 days at room temperature to allow completion of ripening. After conditioning the melons, some people like to place them in the refrigerator for a few hours before serving.

Avoid: Overripeness is indicated by a pronounced yellow rind color, a softening over the entire rind, and soft, watery, and insipid flesh. Small bruises normally will not hurt the fruit, but large bruised areas should be avoided, since they generally cause soft, watersoaked areas underneath the rind. Mold growth on the cantaloupe (particularly in the stem scar, or if the tissue under the mold is soft and wet) is a sign of decay.

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Pineapple (Ananas Comosus)

Pineapple (Ananas comosus), a tropical plant with edible multiple fruit consisting of coalesced berries, named for resemblance to the pine cone, is the most economically important plant in the Bromeliaceae family. Pineapples may be cultivated from a crown cutting of the fruit, possibly flowering in 20–24 months and fruiting in the following six months.
Pineapple may be consumed fresh, canned, juiced, and are found in a wide array of food stuffs – dessert, fruit salad, jam, yogurt, ice cream, candy, and as a complement to meat dishes. In addition to consumption, in the Philippines the pineapple's leaves are used as the source of a textile fiber called piña, and is employed as a component of wall paper and furnishings, amongst other uses.

The word "pineapple" in English was first recorded in 1398, when it was originally used to describe the reproductive organs of conifer trees (now termed pine cones). The term "pine cone" for the reproductive organ of conifer trees was first recorded in 1694. When European explorers discovered this tropical fruit, they called them "pineapples" (first so referenced in 1664 due to resemblance to what is now known as the pine cone).

In the scientific binomial Ananas comosus, ananas, the original name of the fruit, comes from the Tupi word nanas, meaning "excellent fruit", as recorded by André Thevet in 1555, and comosus, "tufted", refers to the stem of the fruit. Other members of the Ananas genus are often called "pine", as well, by laymen.
Many languages use the Tupian term ananas. In Spanish, pineapples are called piña "pine cone" in Spain and most Hispanic American countries, or ananá (ananás in Argentina) (see the piña colada drink). They have varying names in the languages of India: ananas in Marathi, anaasa in Telugu, Sapuri-PaNasa in Oriya language, annachi pazham (Tamil), anarosh (Bengali), and in Malayalam, kaitha chakka. In Malay, pineapples are known as nanas or nenas. In the Maldivian language of Dhivehi, pineapples are known as alanaasi. A large, sweet pineapple grown especially in Brazil is called abacaxi. Along the Swahili-speaking coast of East Africa, the fruit is known as nanasi.

Raw pineapple is an excellent source of manganese (76% Daily Value (DV) in a one US cup serving) and vitamin C (131% DV per cup serving). Mainly from its stem, pineapple contains a proteolytic enzyme, bromelain, which breaks down protein. If having sufficient bromelain content, raw pineapple juice may be used as a meat marinade and tenderizer. Pineapple enzymes can interfere with the preparation of some foods, such as jelly or other gelatin-based desserts, but would be destroyed during cooking and canning. The quantity of bromelain in the fruit is probably not significant, being mostly in the inedible stalk. Furthermore, an ingested enzyme like bromelain is unlikely to survive intact the proteolytic processes of digestion.

The plant is indigenous to South America and is said to originate from the area between Southern Brazil and Paraguay; however, it is important to note that little is known about the origin of the domesticated pineapple (Pickersgill, 1976). M.S. Bertoni (1919) considered the Paraná–Paraguay River drainages to be the place of origin of A. comosus. The natives of southern Brazil and Paraguay spread the pineapple throughout South America, and it eventually reached the Caribbean. Columbus discovered it in 1493 in the Indies and brought it back with him to Europe thus making the pineapple the first bromeliad to leave the New World. The Spanish introduced it into the Philippines, Hawaii (introduced in the early 19th century, first commercial plantation 1886), Zimbabwe and Guam. Many say the fruit was first introduced in Hawaii when a Spanish ship brought them there in the 1500s. The fruit was cultivated successfully in European hothouses, and pineapple pits, beginning in 1720.

Charles II presented with the first pineapple grown in England (1675 painting by Hendrik Danckerts) Although it was discovered by Captain Cook, John Kidwell is credited with the introduction of the pineapple industry in Hawaii. Large-scale pineapple cultivation by U.S. companies began in the early 1900s on Hawaii. Among the most famous and influential pineapple industrialists was James Dole who moved to Hawaii in 1899 and started a pineapple plantation in 1900. The companies Dole and Del Monte began growing pineapple on the island of Oahu in 1901 and 1917, respectively. Dole's pineapple company began with the acquisition of 60 acres (24 ha) of land in 1901, and, as previously mentioned, has grown into a major company today. Maui Pineapple Company began pineapple cultivation on the island of Maui in 1909. In 2006, Del Monte announced its withdrawal from pineapple cultivation in Hawaii, leaving only Dole and Maui Pineapple Company in Hawaii as the USA's largest growers of pineapples. Maui Pineapple Company markets its Maui Gold brand of pineapple and Dole markets its Hawaii Gold brand of pineapple.

An unripe pineapple from Nepal In the USA in 1986, the Pineapple Research Institute was dissolved and its assets were divided between Del Monte and Maui Land and Pineapple. Del Monte took variety 73–114, which it dubbed MD-2, to its plantations in Costa Rica, found it to be well-suited to growing there, and launched it publicly in 1996. (Del Monte also began marketing 73–50, dubbed CO-2, as Del Monte Gold). In 1997, Del Monte began marketing its Gold Extra Sweet pineapple, known internally as MD-2. MD-2 is a hybrid that originated in the breeding program of the now-defunct Pineapple Research Institute in Hawaii, which conducted research on behalf of Del Monte, Maui Land & Pineapple Company, and Dole.

Pineapple, raw
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy                         202 kJ (48 kcal)
Carbohydrates             12.63 g
- Sugars                        9.26 g
- Dietary fiber               1.4 g
Fat                                0.12 g
Protein                          0.54 g
Thiamine (vit. B1)          0.079 mg (7%)
Riboflavin (vit. B2)         0.031 mg (3%)
Niacin (vit. B3)              0.489 mg (3%)
Pantothenic acid (B5)    0.205 mg (4%)
Vitamin B6                    0.110 mg (8%)
Folate (vit. B9)              15 μg (4%)
Vitamin C                      36.2 mg (44%)
Calcium                         13 mg (1%)
Iron                               0.28 mg (2%)
Magnesium                   12 mg (3%)
Manganese                   0.9 mg (43%)
Phosphorus                  8 mg (1%)
Potassium                    115 mg (2%)
Zinc                             0.10 mg (1%)

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HPV Vaccine Benefits For Protection Young Women

The human papillomavirus vaccine provides a benefit to women even if they are not vaccinated, via a phenomenon known as herd immunity, a new study suggests.

Among the women in the study, there was a decrease in the percentage who were infected with the four HPV strains included in the vaccine (HPV 6, 11, 16, and 18) in the years after the vaccine was introduced, compared with earlier years.

This decrease in HPV prevalence was seen among both vaccinated and unvaccinated women, the researchers said.

The findings show that even with relatively low rates of women getting vaccinated, the vaccine produces some degree of herd immunity — protection of unvaccinated people that occurs because a critical portion of the population has been innoculated.

However, while the findings are encouraging, "This is not reason not to get vaccinated," said study researcher Dr. Jessica Kahn, a physician of adolescent medicine at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. Kahn noted that one in four unvaccinated participants in the study were infected with a high-risk strain of HPV. A woman can also protect her partner by getting vaccinated, Kahn said.

Because the study was conducted in just one community of mainly African American women, further research is needed to confirm the results and see if the findings apply to the population as a whole.

Herd immunity
The first HPV vaccine, called Gardasil and manufactured by Merck, was licensed for use in the United States in June 2006.

To study the effect of the vaccine, Kahn and colleagues analyzed information from two groups of sexually active women ages 13 to 26. One group consisted of 368 women who were not vaccinated, and who visited clinics in Cincinnati between 2006 and 2007. The second group consisted of 409 women who visited the clinics between 2009 and 2010, about 60 percent of whom had received at least one of the three shots in the HPV-vaccination series.

Overall, the percentage of women infected with one of the HPV strains included in the vaccine decreased from 31 percent in the group that visited the clinics between 2006 and 2007, to 13.4 percent in the group that visited in 2009 and 2010 — a 58 percent decrease.

Among women in the latter group, 9.9 percent of those who were vaccinated tested positive for HPV, while 15.4 percent of the unvaccinated women were infected.
The percentage of women infected with HPV strains not included in the vaccine increased after the vaccine's introduction, from about 60 percent to 75 percent, but the researchers said this finding should be interpreted with caution, because there is no biological reason this would happen so quickly.

Good news
The study is "good news that comes surprisingly soon," said Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of the department of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University. Schaffner said he would have expected a larger portion of the population needed to be vaccinated, including boys, to see herd immunity.

"It's impressive if other studies can confirm it," Schaffner said.

The study is a reminder that "vaccination is not just about the individuals getting vaccinated…it's about everyone else in the community," Schaffner said.

Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, said he would expect to see herd immunity against the strains in the vaccine starting at a vaccination rate of 40 percent, which is the national average.

The vaccine's effectiveness in reducing HPV prevalence is expected to translate into a decrease in cervical cancer in the community, Kahn said. (HPV is known to cause most cases of cervical cancer ).

Because of the high prevalence of HPV strains, the findings underscore the importance of vaccinating children before they become sexually active, when they are 11 or 12 years old. And the study shows that older women, who are recommended for "catch up" vaccination, also derive a benefit, Kahn said.

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