Acai has gone from staple of the Amazon to global wonder-berry

It's been touted for its antioxidant properties and green pedigree, but now some worry that the fruit's surging popularity could spell trouble for the rain forest.

BELEM, BRAZIL — A frenzy overtakes the teeming harbor here as a wooden-hulled riverboat chugs into port.

"It's here!" cries an expectant buyer, one of many shoving his way toward the craft in a sweaty mercantile crush. "The gold! The purple gold!"

The cargo is acai (pronounced ah-sigh-EE), the unassuming fruit of a jungle palm that has gone from Amazonian staple to global wonder-berry: a much-hyped ingredient in smoothies, sorbets, nutrition bars and countless trendy treats from L.A. to London to Tokyo.

Acai's cachet derives not only from the berry's antioxidant traits and supposed Viagra-like powers of vitality, but from its green pedigree: It has been acclaimed as a renewable resource that provides a sustainable livelihood for tens of thousands of subsistence harvesters without damaging the expanses of the Amazon. Because of acai, the jungle is more valuable standing than felled.

With acai a global sensation, however, some fear the berry's runaway success may spell trouble for the rain forest -- a prospect that dismays even the Southern California brothers who are credited with launching the craze in the U.S.

International conglomerates are elbowing their way into the acai trade, while traditional cultivators are intensifying production at the expense of other trees. Conservationists worry that acai could succumb to the destructive agribusiness model: clear-cut lands, sprawling plantations and liberal application of pesticides and fertilizer.

"There's a kind of 'green deforestation' to plant acai," says Alfredo Homma, agronomist with the Brazilian Company for Agricultural Research, a publicly funded institute. "They don't bring down all the trees and leave the area deforested. They bring down diverse forests and replace them with one single culture -- acai."

An everyday food

In the stifling Amazon delta, acai is less a hip superfood than a poor man's staple: Downtown Belem even features an acai drive-in.

Many people here eat acai every day, typically as an accompaniment to river fish or sprinkled with toasted cassava, a widely consumed tuber. Fresh acai, served at room temperature, is a tart, earthier version of the frozen, pasteurized and inevitably sweetened incarnation marketed abroad.

"It makes you grow," says Vital Vieira, who owns one of the many retail storefronts where acai berries are shelled, separating the large, inedible seed from the prized pulp and purple skin.

The slender acai palm typically thrives on the margins of the forest -- along rivers and streams, where some sunlight filters through the canopy. For generations, men such as Domingos Bravo Rosa have harvested the berry in the dense forests across the river from downtown Belem, a onetime rubber boomtown that is now the capital of the Amazonian state of Para.

"We don't destroy the forest," says Rosa, 44, a lifetime acai harvester like his father before him, as he maneuvers his boat to his home on nearby Combu island. Rosa knows where to find the acai; a single palm is often hidden among a score or more of other trees. He hires two harvesters, who must shimmy up and down palms sometimes 60 feet or more in height, a dangerous job.

"Acai has allowed my family to live well," he says. An electric generator powers a stereo and two TVs in his family's two homes. This is a rain-forest clan with five cellphones.

A different model of acai harvesting is found on neighboring Murutucu island. Here, Ben-Hur Borges, a forest engineer turned acai entrepreneur, proudly displays the 1,350 acres of elegant groves that supply his firm, Amazon Fruit, a major exporter of acai to the United States and Europe.

The rows of acai trees stand in sharp contrast to the occasional palms that Rosa and others seek out in the jungle. Here, small rail cars carry harvested acai on wooden tracks to Amazon Fruit's processing and freezing plant.

'Mono-culture'

The sprawling plantation resembles the kind of acai "mono-culture" that is anathema to conservationists. But Borges argues that his success demonstrates how more than one version of acai production can thrive, with both environmental and social benefits. He says his hard work draining and reshaping the island brought back a "degraded" forest -- the fate of much of the Amazon, which has been ravaged by loggers, developers and cattle ranchers.

"When we got here, we found only riverside peoples living on an island where everything that could be reaped had already been taken away," says Borges, who began developing the island 13 years ago. "There was no acai, no timber, nothing. There were bushes and trees with no economic value. . . . We enriched and rebuilt the island, with an emphasis on acai.

"Acai," he concludes, "is the ideal native plant to help rebuild degraded forests."

California link

Acai might not be such a global sensation today were it not for a pair of Southern California brothers, Ryan and Jeremy Black, who co-founded Sambazon, based in San Clemente. The company now boasts sales of $25 million a year in juices, powders and other acai products. But it all started with a surfing trip.

Ryan Black returned from a millennium-marking surfing visit to Brazil blown away by acai. In the 1990s, acai had spread from the Amazon to become a staple in surfer shacks, juice joints and weightlifting clubs along the heavily populated Brazilian coast. Now it's a common sight at major supermarkets and health food emporiums the world over. Among the retail chains selling acai products are Whole Foods Market, Vons, Albertsons, Gelson's Markets, Jamba Juice and Juice It Up.

This year, Black says, Sambazon plans to process 11,000 tons of acai from its Brazilian production base, making it the world's leading supplier.

All of it comes from individuals such as Rosa picking the fruit from wild acai palms, according to the Black brothers, who have won praise internationally as "green" business pioneers.

"The whole idea is to protect the biodiversity of the forest," Ryan Black says. "The idea is not to clear-cut everything on the land and plant acai trees."

But a growing concentration of acai plantings amid rising demand has Black worried about a "dangerous cycle": transformation of bio-diverse forests into proliferating stretches of acai palms. That means removing other tree species to make way for acai. His hope is that consumer preference for certified organic acai, picked in the wild, will help preserve the forest and support harvesting families.

"We want to look back [in] 20 years and see that acai has been a positive force in the Amazon," Black says, "not just a fruit that became domesticated and found success at the price of the local people and their environment."

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fg-acai21-2008sep21,0,1217678.story

Acai Superfruit from the Amazon Rainforest

The nutritional breakdown of açaí is prodigious. It has high levels of iron, calcium, carbohydrates, fibre and antioxidants. And energy.

A small 100g cup has almost 300 calories. Combined with the mystique of its Amazonian origins, açaí's contents have made it the beverage of choice for Rio's sporty elite.

Açaí is indigenous to the flood plains of the Amazon estuary.

The açaí palm regenerates with ease and in areas where human development has destroyed natural vegetation the first tree that grows in its place is açaí.

(Açaí palms cover an area equivalent to half the size of Switzerland.)

In this region, its abundance and role as primary nutritional resource cannot be over-estimated: it is literally the fruit that has saved many poor families from starvation.

Açaí is the main food staple of river communities in the Amazon estuary,' says the agronomist Oscar Nogueira.

It is drunk for every meal - in much the same way as bread or rice is eaten in other cultures.

Thanks to Sambazon the benefits of Acai can now be enjoyed in the US (see illustration). Check your local health food store.

http://www.excitingbrazil.com/acai-superfruit.html

Superfruits, super powers?

Fruits from faraway lands have been showing up in a growing number of products. But will a mangosteen a day keep the doctor away?

Want a taste of the tropics? Forget the plane ticket. Go to the grocery store and take your pick: açaí sorbet, mangosteen iced tea, pomegranate granola, noni smoothies, yogurt-covered dried goji berries and more.

Fruits from faraway lands have been showing up in a growing number of products lately: bottled water, granola, powders, energy bars. With labels that evoke jungles and beaches, most promise to fight cancer, boost immunity and extend your life span, among other benefits.

But will a mangosteen a day keep the doctor away any better than an apple can? And is it worth the extra price you'll pay to get ingredients that have crossed oceans to get to you?

If you believe the companies that market these ingredients, the answer is a loud yes.

"Innumerable people across the world, including health professionals, have reported astonishing and life-changing health improvements as a result of using Noni," claims the Hilo, Hawaii-based Healing Noni company, which markets juice from the fruit of Morinda citrifolia, an Asian shrub.

Or as the San Clemente-based, açaí-focused Sambazon company puts it: "Say hello to açaí, the fruit that's making believers of world-class athletes and health-conscious people everywhere. Grown in the Amazon rain forest, açaí is truly a gift from Mother Nature."

Nutrition researchers and dietitians aren't so sure. So far, they say, there are no gold-standard-type studies to support the idea that exotic superfruits carry special health benefits. Eating a variety of fresh, colorful produce, they add, does far more good than obsessing over whatever the superfruit of the moment happens to be.

And some worry that consumers are too quick to believe in whatever's new and different.

"I hate that term 'superfruit,' like your [fruit] is somehow wearing the cape," says Jeffrey Blumberg, director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Antioxidants Research Laboratory at Tufts University in Boston. "There's no evidence that one type of fruit is better for you than any other variety. They're all good."

A handful of complaints in recent years filed by consumer advocacy groups have targeted the vague and overstated claims made by the dietary supplement industry, some of which have sparked official grievances and lawsuits. Pom Wonderful gained angry attention from the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus in 2005 for advertising that its juice could reduce arterial plaques by as much as 30%, a claim based on a small and limited pilot study.

Exotic superfruit products are the latest addition to the booming popularity of "superfoods," a marketing category (as opposed to a scientific one) that includes antioxidant-rich foods and beverages, such as red wine, dark chocolate, tea and blueberries. And for a growing number of Americans, the lure of the exotic is proving too tempting to resist.

In 2007, sales of goji berry-enhanced products were up nearly 75% from 2006 at natural-food supermarkets, according to SPINS, a natural-products market research firm based in Schaumburg, Ill. Sales of açaí (pronounced ah-SIGH-ee) products grew by more than 50% at natural-food supermarkets.

And pomegranate-related sales rose more than 60% -- perhaps no wonder, given the recent sharp growth in pomegranate offerings. A startling 350 new pomegranate beverages were introduced in 2006 alone, according to a spokeswoman at the Los Angeles-based Pom Wonderful company. (Numbers for 2007 aren't yet available.)

Superfruit companies are funneling millions of dollars into research aimed at proving that yes, the secret to longevity is a refreshingly exotic sip away. And the scientists they fund, based at major research institutions, are turning up evidence to support the health benefits of their power foods -- showing, for example, that mushed-up açaí can pummel free radicals in test tubes, and that goji berry extracts slow the growth of human cancer cells in Petri dishes.

It is only a matter of time, the companies say, before Western science catches up to a long history of traditional medicinal use in remote rain forests and mountain villages.

It's about antioxidants

Most superfoods get their "super" label from antioxidants, molecules that fight free radicals. These cell-damaging chemicals emerge from nearly everything our bodies do that involves oxygen, including digesting and breathing.

Our cells make some antioxidant defenses on their own, but plants make far more. The theory is that eating antioxidant-rich plants gives us extra help in battling our own free radical demons.

There are many thousands of plant-based antioxidants, called phytochemicals, and these compounds appear in various combinations in different types of produce. Blueberries, red wine and açaí, for example, are high in anthocyanins. Tea has lots of catechins. Mangosteens are rich in xanthones. Dark chocolate contains flavonoids.

Plenty of studies now show that eating a variety of fruits and vegetables can help reduce the risk of chronic disease and might even help us live longer. So, companies that market superfruits often tout the high antioxidant concentrations of their star ingredients. Their findings are sometimes at odds with each other.

In several studies published or presented at meetings, for example, Pom Wonderful (which has poured $23 million into researching the 'Wonderful' variety of pomegranates that the company grows on orchards in Central California's San Joaquin Valley), found that its 100% pomegranate juice had more antioxidant activity than more than a dozen other beverages, including blueberry, grape, açaí and orange juices. The next nearest competitor, red wine, had 17% fewer polyphenol antioxidants and neutralized 54 fewer free radicals than the juice did.

However, the açaí-focused Sambazon company claims on its website that açaí has 50% more antioxidants than pomegranates and 30 times as many antioxidants as red wine.

One reason for the confusion is that there's a lot of slop in tests for antioxidants.

Most of these tests involve grinding up a fruit, putting it in a test tube and seeing how many free radicals it disables. One such test spits out something called an ORAC score. According to recent USDA data, a small Red Delicious apple has 6,370 ORAC points. Half a cup of blueberries (74 grams) weighs in at 4,848. And a medium baked sweet potato has 2,411.

But basing health claims on ORAC-like tests is misleading, Blumberg says. For one thing, there is no official recommendation for how many ORAC "points" people need. For another, these tests are notoriously touchy: Different labs conducting the same test can produce widely different numbers. Results depend on which parts of the fruit you use. (An apple's ORAC score will be higher with the peel than without it, for example). Antioxidant levels can vary a lot in fruit, depending on how much water it contains, how it's been harvested and handled, and how much time has elapsed since it was picked.

And then, Blumberg says, "There is no established relationship between ORAC values and any health outcome. None." The same, he says, goes for other ORAC-like tests that have different acronyms, and measure for different free radicals.

In any case, he says, watching what a pulverized fruit does in a test tube doesn't say anything about what will happen in the human body. It is possible for one fruit to contain more antioxidant compounds than another, for example, but for antioxidants in the second fruit to be more easily absorbed by the gut.

'Complicated stuff'

Besides quantity, companies often point out that certain phytochemicals are found in their fruits and nowhere else. The implication is that these compounds are better than the phytochemicals in other fruits. But that's a problem, too, says Will McClatchey, a botanist at the University of Hawaii in Manoa.

"The industry is continually trying to make this out to be a very simple system," McClatchey says. "Having any one antioxidant is not the answer. This is very complicated stuff."

Most exotic superfruits play important roles in traditional cultures. Açaí, for one, grows only on palm trees in the Brazilian Amazon, where people have long used it to treat fevers, swollen lymph glands and skin ulcers, says Jeremy Appleton, a naturopathic doctor in Portland, Ore., who has written a book on the fruit.

Goji berries are used by healers in China and Tibet to treat inflammation and improve eyesight, circulation and sperm production. And pomegranates, which originally come from Iran and India, were prescribed by ancient Greek doctors to treat gastrointestinal distress.

Life-saving foods?

In his book, "101 Foods That Could Save Your Life," registered dietitian David Grotto cites a 2006 test-tube study in which University of Florida researchers found that antioxidants extracted from açaí berries reduced growth and encouraged death of human leukemia cells. Similar cancer cell studies, with similar findings, have been reported for extracts of other exotic fruits, such as goji berries and pomegranates.

In other studies, goji berry extracts have reduced blood glucose, total cholesterol and triglyceride levels (all signs of heart health) in rabbits, and eating the fruit improved insulin sensitivity in diabetic rats.

But even Grotto warns against reading too much into results from Petri dishes and animals. And certainly, he says, "The data are too early to say one fruit is superior over another."

Increasingly, purveyors of exotic superfruits are attempting to make the leap from lab dish to real life.

In a study funded by the Orem, Utah-based company Tahitian Noni International and conducted by researchers from the University of Illinois College of Medicine, 38 heavy smokers drank half a cup of the company's noni juice every day and 30 other smokers drank a placebo juice.

After one month, the researchers found lower levels of two types of free radicals in the blood of the noni-drinkers compared with those of the placebo juice-drinkers. The study was presented at a meeting of the Society for Free Radical Research International in 2002.

Members of the same research group published evidence last year in the journal Circulation that drinking noni juice leads to lower levels of total cholesterol and triglycerides in smokers' blood; both are risk factors for heart disease. The studies focused on smokers because smoking greatly increases the concentration of free radicals in the blood, giving the researchers something tangible to measure, says Brett West, director of research for the company. Similar studies are now underway with nonsmokers.

Tahitian Noni-funded studies have also found a boost in endurance for both mice and treadmill-running athletes after regular consumption of noni juice, though some of that work has yet to be published, West says. And some new work, he adds, suggests that the fruit can stimulate the immune system.

Published human studies sponsored by Pom Wonderful have linked the company's juice with a variety of health benefits, including increased blood flow, reduced markers of heart disease, clearer arteries, and maybe even reduced symptoms of erectile dysfunction.

Cancer is another target. In a two-year study of 46 men who had been treated for prostate cancer, UCLA researchers found evidence that drinking one cup of pomegranate juice daily slowed the increase in levels of prostate-specific antigen. Raised PSA levels are a risk factor for recurrence. The study, published in 2006, lacked a placebo group, so some experts have questioned its significance. A larger, more controlled study is now underway, says Mark Dreher, a biochemist and chief scientist at Pom Wonderful.

Better studies needed

Despite such suggestive studies, many experts remain unconvinced of the clout of superfruits because the studies are mostly small, short-term, aren't conducted on humans, lack adequate control groups, are funded by industry -- or all of the above.

They say they would like to see data from big population studies that follow people for decades and correlate what they eat with how healthy they are -- or even better, studies that objectively compare a large group of people that get the juice with a large group that doesn't.

For now, most independent experts say that exotic produce can add to the recommended variety of fruits and vegetables that most of us are lacking in our diets anyway, but only if you can handle the price -- and the taste.

http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-superfruits10mar10,1,4998369,full.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

Bell releases top ten flavor forecast for 2008

Mango has come out as the top sweet flavor trend for 2008 according to Bell Flavors and Fragrances.

The company has today released what it believes will be the top ten for sweet and savory flavors.

Compiled by its marketing and research and development departments, the lists could provide a valuable insight into what flavors will be in high demand for the rest of the year.

For sweet flavors, Bell says mango will be in pole position followed by acai, lychee, pomegranate, mint, blueberry, verbena, goji, noni and guarana. These will be in the beverage, confectionery, bakery and dairy markets, it said.

The savory top ten is listed as: achiote, sofrito, ras-al-hanout, tandoori, tea smoked, chermoula, cumac, kaffir lime, pandan and tamarind. Bell says these flavors are for the meat, condiments, sauces, soups and seasoning markets.

The firm said it compiled the data by tracking samples that have been requested over the past year and through "trend scouting."

Bell's predictions reinforce other forecasts from market analysts, which have said trends will be dominated by consumer fascination with increasingly more exotic fruits.

Flavour industry innovators are seeking inspiration from exotic superfruits in a bid to both harness their healthy reputation and present new offerings to counter consumer boredom.

Analysts at Business Insights has also highlighted exotic flavors as a category to watch.

The market researcher said that while fruits previously categorised as exotic such as coconut and pineapple are becoming more mainstream, consumers are looking for new, interesting and exotic fruits.

The examples of potential contenders it gave were guava, lychee, pomelo, yuzu, and tamarind.

http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/news/ng.asp?n=83276-bell-mango-unusual

Focus - Soft drinks makers reap superfruit dividend

Growing consumer interest in the health-enhancing properties of previously unknown fruits has proved a significant boon for the soft drinks industry. Most of these superfruits end up in juice form, writes Shane Starling, providing soft drinks producers with a constant stream of new product opportunities at premium price points.

The term 'superfruit' is relatively novel, describing as it does the stream of new fruits now flooding western markets. Yet the first commercially successful 'superjuice' was a cranberry/apple blend offered by Ocean Spray way back in 1963.

Cranberry juice has now become mainstream and is the third highest selling juice behind orange and apple in many markets including North America, many parts of Europe and elsewhere. And cranberry is showing no signs of age fatigue, as sales continue to grow in most markets where it has an established presence. Indeed, cranberry sales are being boosted by the increased interest in superjuices generated by the new wave of antioxidant and nutrient-rich superfruits. Moreover, market researchers and industry pundits are forecasting that superfruits and superjuices will attract an increasingly broader audience in the coming year and beyond.

"Superfruits haven't been defined scientifically, but it's generally agreed that they're valued in their native country for their medicinal or health-enhancing properties and that they have a high antioxidant content - usually double, triple or more than that of other fruits - as defined by their ORAC (oxygen radical absorbance capacity) score," notes Dr Wayne Geilman, a senior research officer at Utah-based Pure Food Technologies.

With an international public more interested in healthy foods and beverages than ever before, the exotic, nutrient-boosted cachet of superfruits is highly appealing, so much so that they can command significant price premiums. Superfruits from all over the world have poured into the market in recent years with most of them ending up in juice form.

The appeal of perceived health benefits also appears to outweigh environmental concerns such as food miles, in the eyes of consumers, say researchers.

Explicit health claims are not yet ratified in most jurisdictions but the healthy press antioxidants have garnered in the past ten years has created a strong link in consumer minds with heart health and free radical control.

But claims abuse remains a concern as some Australian juice makers discovered when marketing was highlighted by the consumer watchdog there recently. "It is a breach of the Food Standards Code to make health and therapeutic claims for food, but it is clear from marketing hype around superfruits that these regulations are not being effectively enforced," the watchdog, Choice, stated.

Açai, pomegranate, blueberry, goji, mangosteen, noni, tamarind, gac-chi and lychee are just some of the 'superfruits' beverage makers large and small have incorporated into various juice, soda, water, dairy and other products. More 'regular' fruits such as plum, watermelon and blueberry are also benefiting from the trend.

The unique thing about superfruits is that they are almost exclusively consumed in a processed format. In their whole state, there is usually little demand for them as they tend to taste bitter or can be fiddly and difficult to eat. As Karl Crawford, food business development leader at New Zealand-based fruit science company HortResearch, notes, pomegranate was an obscure fruit before its juice-based ascendance into the superfruit limelight. "There are five key criteria for superfruit success: novelty, health benefits, convenience, controlled supply and promotion," Crawford adds.

Research suggests these attributes appeal to under-50s, among whom fresh fruit sales are falling in many developed markets.

"Superfruits are the product of a strategy, not produce you find growing on a tree," writes Julian Mellentin, business editor of New Nutrition, in his Report, 'Ten Key Trends in Food, Health and Nutrition 2008'. "They are the result of a bringing together of science and marketing in order to create a new, value-added niche in the nutrition market. Crucially, a successful superfruit strategy is about creating niche, very low volume, very high-value brands. It is a salutary fact that in the US market, to take one example, sales of three brands of superfruit juices - mangosteen, goji and pomegranate - between them account for a massive 45% of the sales value of the mainstream brand Tropicana Orange Juice by selling just 1.5% of its volume."

Brands such as US-based PomWonderful (pomegranate), UK-based PomeGreat (pomegranate) and US-based Sambazon (acai) have quickly established healthy sales that are growing at often double-digit rates. PomWonderful has pushed through the $100m mark in swift time, selling at $8.60 a litre, while US-based mangosteen specialist, Xango, has achieved sales of about $300m and sells at $50 a litre, about 25 times the price of chilled orange juice.

US-based Brandstorm's Himalayan Goji Juice has yearly sales of about $60m, mainly through multi-level marketing. It has also launched the US's first not-from-concentrate organic goji juice, called Gojilania, which has achieved nationwide retail distribution.

Mainstream beverage giants like PepsiCo and Coca-Cola have climbed onboard with acquisitions of fruit juice startups and launches of juice lines and line extensions.

PepsiCo has been particularly active in the area, with acquisitions such as California-based Naked Juice at the end of 2006. At around the same time, it launched a new brand, Fuelosophy, which includes a pomegranate/berry blend. Pepsi-owned Tropicana has launched a pomegranate-blueberry juice in the US and Dole Sparklers, a sparkling juice range including a Blueberry Pomegranate flavour.

Coca-Cola released an energy_drink in Australia called Mother, which contains açai, and recently acquired Fuze Beverages in the US. The Fuze range is infused with a weight management ingredient from an Asian berry called garcinia cambogia. Coke also launched a line of pomegranate-based juices called PomeGrand under its Odwalla brand in the US. Cadbury_Schweppes also recently launched Pomegranate Pear under its Nantucket Nectars brand in the US.

UK retailer Marks & Spencer has an own-label pomegranate drink retailing for about GBP2.65 (US$5.17) while other UK supermarkets, such as Tesco and Sainsbury's, have launched smoothies, juices and other products incorporating superfruits.

This is all good news for superfruit suppliers. As Jon Wisniewski, managing director of New Zealand-based açai supplier and product maker, Nu Fruits, notes: "The fact that the bigger drinks companies are showing an interest in açai indicates it could make it through to the mainstream. Things are going well. There are a large number of new products coming out and a lot of NPD pipeline work being done."

Sceptics remain, however, such as Arizona-based beverage specialist Jim Tonkin, who wonders if the antioxidant sell may begin to fatigue consumers. "People are buying them now because they are new and they are intrigued," Tonkin says, "but time will tell how many of these products stay the distance, especially as science, health-claim and formulation issues remain problematic."

http://www.just-drinks.com/article.aspx?id=92940