MonaVie Active features the additional benefits of plant-derived, pharmaceutical grade  Glucosamine*, which has been scientifically shown to promote healthy joint function by targeting mobility and flexibility. Designed to support joint performance and recovery, this vital formula delivers the resources your body needs to get moving. Also the Active Blend is enhanced with esterified fatty acids/Omega 3, 6, 9/.

Acai Berry /OPTIACAI®/patent # 7,563,465/

With 15 times the antioxidants of grapes and twice the antioxidants of blueberries, the Brazilian Acai berry (AH-sci-EE) is considered to have the best nutritional value of any fruit on earth.

With the symmetry of a grape and the size of a giant blueberry, the Acai fruit tastes a bit like wild raspberry with a hint of grape. Most people have trouble putting their finger on the taste because it's so different.

The Acai Berry is a dense source of a particular class of flavonoids called anthocyanins. Acai Berry's ORAC value (a measure of its antioxidant properties), is higher than any other edible berry on the planet.

The Acai Palm is a tall slender South American (concentrated in Brazil, Guyana, Suriname) palm grown for its fruit as well as for the "cabbage" (the cluster of new leaves more commonly called the "heart of palm"). It prefers swampy areas, and grows quickly. The fronds were (and still are) used for thatching and weaving. Each Acai palm tree produces small deep purple, almost black, fruit (berries) in groups of 3-8 per bunch. The fruit is edible, and its pulp is used in wines, liqueurs, as flavoring, as colorant, and on its own as a juice.

 

Science behind the Acai /  please click on Science Behind the Fruits page for more studies/ 

Some of the main studies conducted to date on the health benefits of açai include:

· - Antioxidant capacity and other bioactivities of the freeze-dried Amazonian palm berry, Euterpe oleraceae mart. (açai).

Schauss AG, Wu X, Prior RL, Ou B, Huang D, Owens J, Agarwal A, Jensen GS, Hart AN, Shanbrom E.

J Agric Food Chem. 2006 Nov 1;54(22):8604-10.

 ·-  Phytochemical and nutrient composition of the freeze-dried amazonian palm berry, Euterpe oleraceae mart. (açai).

Schauss AG, Wu X, Prior RL, Ou B, Patel D, Huang D, Kababick JP.

J Agric Food Chem. 2006 Nov 1;54(22):8598-603.

 - Endothelium-dependent vasodilator effect of Euterpe oleracea Mart. (Açaí) extracts in mesenteric vascular bed of the rat.

Rocha AP, Carvalho LC, Sousa MA, Madeira SV, Sousa PJ, Tano T, Schini-Kerth VB, Resende AC, Soares de Moura R.

Vascul Pharmacol. 2007 Feb;46(2):97-104. Epub 2006 Sep 1.

 - In Vitro and in Vivo Antioxidant and Anti-inflammatory Capacities of an Antioxidant-Rich Fruit and Berry Juice Blend. Results of a Pilot and Randomized, Double-Blinded, Placebo-Controlled, Crossover Study
G.S. Jensen, X. Wu, K.M. Patterson, J. Barnes, S.G. Carter, L. Scherwitz, R. Beaman, J.R. Endres, A.G. Schauss
Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry; Article, doi: 10.1021/jf8016157.

Acai may boost survival, for fruit flies at least:

National Institutes of Health  study

By Stephen Daniells, 04-Feb-2010

The lifespan of fruit flies may be extended by consuming acai pulp, according to a new study from the US National Institutes of Health.

The study, published online in Experimental Gerontology, also serves to support the apparent antioxidants properties of the fruit pulp when fruit flies were fed a high fat diet and supplemented with 2 per cent açai pulp.

Changes in age-related gene expression were also reported by the researchers, led by Sige Zou in the Laboratory of Experimental Gerontology at the National Institute on Aging, NIH.

“[Our results suggest] that açai pulp can antagonize the detrimental effects of high fat diets as a functional food,” wrote the researchers. “Further animal model and clinical studies need to be conducted to investigate the effects of açai pulp consumption in prevention of diseases, including diabetes.”

Super fruits from Central and South America

Açai berries (pronounced ah-sigh-ee) have long formed part of the staple diet of Indian tribes. With the appearance of a purple grape and taste of a tropical berry, it has been shown to have powerful antioxidant properties thanks to a high level of anthocyanins, pigments that are also present in red wine. While the transcription of most genes was not altered, decreaes were observed in phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (Pepck), a key gene involved in the production of glucose from non-carbohydrate sources (gluconeogenesis).

This observation could explain the results observed in human clinical trials reported for commercial açai products that, despite a high sugar content, are found to have a low glycemic index in humans.  An impact on lifespan was also observed in female flies with an altered genetic profile which reduces expression of the superoxide dismutase enzyme, increasing oxidative stress, and thereby reducing lifespan. In açai-supplemented flies the lifespan was increased to non-supplemented flies.

“Açai has the potential to antagonize the detrimental effect of fat in the diet and alleviate oxidative stress in aging,” concluded the researchers.

Source: Experimental Gerontology
Published online ahead of print, doi: 10.3945/ajcn.2009.28549
“Açai palm fruit (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) pulp improves survival of flies on a high fat diet”
Authors: X. Sun, J. Seeberger, T. Alberico, C. Wang, C.T. Wheeler, A.G. Schauss, S. Zou

Pomegranate

Pomegranate fruit is native from Iran to the Himalayas in northern India and was cultivated and naturalized over the whole Mediterranean region since ancient times. It is widely cultivated throughout India and the drier parts of southeast Asia, Malaya, the East Indies and tropical Africa. The tree was introduced into California by Spanish settlers in 1769. In this country it is grown for its fruits mainly in the drier parts of California and Arizona.

The pomegranate is one of the oldest fruits as well as richest in history and folklore. Once you get past the multitude of seeds, its juice is tangy, sweet, rich and flavorful. This juice becomes the base for sauces and flavorings for drinks, savory dishes, and sweets, while the whole seeds are a simple delight eaten fresh or used as a colorful accent as a garnish. The fruit is about the size of an orange. The rind color can range from yellow-orange to deep reddish-purple.

Pomegranates contain polyphenols, tannins and anthocyanins.

Every pomegranate is composed of many seeds, each surrounded by a sac of sweet-tart juice contained by a thin skin. The seeds are compacted in a layer resembling honeycomb around the core. The layers of seeds are separated by paper-thin white membranes which are bitter to the tongue. The inner membranes and rind are not generally eaten due to high tannic acid content, but they are useful as a skin wash.

 Science behind this fruit /please see also the Science Behind the Fruits page/

 A polyphenol-rich pomegranate extract may reduce inflammation, and positively effect chronic disease risk, according to results of a new cell study from the US. Findings published in the open access Journal of Inflammation suggest that a polyphenol-rich pomegranate fruit extract (POMx) acts by inhibiting the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines at a gene expression level. “Our’s is the first report that shows POMx inhibits the inflammatory activity of activated human mast cells [known to play a central role in the inflammatory process] like KU812 cells,” wrote the researchers from the University of South Carolina and Case Western Reserve University.

 

 

 

Pomegranate’s prostate protection potential grows

The anti-prostate cancer effects of pomegranate and its extracts may be related to stopping an enzyme in the liver which processes environmental carcinogens, says a new study.

Pomegranate, a rich source of antioxidants, has been linked to improved heart health, but a growing body of science indicates the fruit protect against prostate cancer. Studies have also reported a role in joint health by slowing cartilage loss in arthritis. It is these antioxidants, and particularly ellagitannin compounds like punicalagins and punicalins, which accounts for about half of the fruit's antioxidant ability, that are reportedly behind the proposed health benefits.

The new study, led by Daneel Ferreira from the University of Mississippi, deepens our understanding of how the constituents of the fruit may boost prostate health. “Our results indicate a previously unexplored pathway through which pomegranate juice constituents may contribute to prostate cancer chemoprevention,” they write.

Writing in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Ferreira and his co-workers report that pomegranate’s ellagitannin compounds may inhibit the activity of s well as activity of cytochrome P450 1B1, an enzyme known to be highly expressed in various human cancers, but not in normal tissues, and an established target in the prevention of prostate cancer.

“Our study has asserted a previously unknown mechanism of action of pomegranate juice constituents, which could potentially contribute to prostate cancer chemoprevention,” they wrote. “We proved that systemically available metabolites of pomegranate juice are effective inhibitors of CYP1B1 enzyme activity/expression and could lower the incidence of prostate cancer initiation and sustenance.”

“It is also well-known that prostate cancer typically possesses long latency periods and develops in older men; therefore, cancer chemoprevention by dietary supplement-based intervention is a desirable form of chemotherapy,” wrote the researchers. “Pomegranate juice consumption, thus, may be of considerable advantage in prostate cancer chemoprevention, not only in patients with a genetic predisposition toward prostate cancer but also in patients undergoing cancer therapy.” Over half a million men worldwide are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year, with over 200,000 deaths from the disease. The lowest incidence of the cancer is in Asia and the Far East, in particular India and China.

Source: Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Published online ahead of print, ASAP article, doi: 10.1021/jf902716r
“Effects of Pomegranate Chemical Constituents/Intestinal Microbial Metabolites on CYP1B1 in 22Rv1 Prostate Cancer Cells”
Authors: S.G. Kasimsetty, D. Bialonska, M.K. Reddy, C. Thornton, K.L. Willett, D. Ferreira

 

Bilberry

Bilberry is a shrubby perennial that grows mostly in the forests of Europe.

The active constituents that comprise this herbal extract are called anthocyanosides, which are flavonoids that harbor powerful antioxidant properties.

 

Bilberries may prevent artery

hardening, boost heart health

By Stephen Daniells, 09-Nov-2009

Extracts from bilberry may prevent the build up of plaques in the arteries, preventing hardening of the blood vessels and boosting overall heart health, says a new study from France.

A fermented bilberry extract out-performed a standard extract, leasing the French researchers to suggest that yeast fermentation produces new bioactive compounds with heart health effects.Bilberries are closely related to the North American blueberry but contain a very distinct anthocyanin profile. Bilberry extracts are relatively expensive. Concerns are rife within the industry of lower-price extracts reported to be mixed with mulberry or black bean skins or azo-dyes.

Concerns were raised last year when Australian scientists discovered that azo dyes were used to mimic the colour of bilberries in a commercial product (J. Agric. Food Chem 2006, Vol. 54, Issue 19, pp. 7378 -7382). This has since expanded to reports of mulberry or black bean skins being used to increase the anthocyanin content of the extracts.

The anthocyanins content is used as the standard for bilberry, and UV spectrometry is needed to verify the 25 per cent anthocyanins. However, according to unconfirmed reports, this has led to extracts masquerading as bilberry but actually containing mulberry (22-24 per cent), or black bean skin (20 per cent).

Source: Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Published online ahead of print, doi: 10.1021/jf9035468
“ Atheroprotective Effects of Bilberry Extracts in Apo E-Deficient Mice”
Authors: Aurelie Mauray, D. Milenkovic, C. Besson, N. Caccia, C. Morand, F. Michel, A. Mazur, A. Scalbert, C. Felgines

 

Passion Fruit

An egg-shaped tropical fruit that is also called a purple granadilla, the passion fruit has a brittle, wrinkled purple-brown rind enclosing flesh-covered seeds, something like a pomegranate (granadilla means "little pomegranate" in Spanish). The seeds are edible so you can eat the orange pulp straight from the shell. Passion fruit is more commonly sieved and its highly aromatic pulp and juice are used as a flavoring for beverages and sauces.

Native to Brazil, passion fruits are grown in Hawaii, Florida, and California. These crops, along with imports from New Zealand, keep passion fruit on the market all year.

Passion fruit is a good source of vitamins A and C, as well as potassium and iron.

Wolfberry

Wolfberry (a member of Solanacea family) is a wild bush found in the north west of China. Because of its nutrient value and pleasant taste, Chinese people have been growing this herb for hundreds of years. Wolfberry can tolerate temperatures from -27°C to 39°C. It blooms between April and October and harvest is from June to October depending on the weather and growing areas. When ready for harvest, the fruit turns red, is nearly oblong in shape and juicy. Fullness, redness and sweet taste demonstrates the best quality of the fruit.

Blueberry

Blueberries are not only a powerful antioxidant but also high in compounds called anthocyanosides.

There are types of blueberries and the most potent ones are Bilberries, as they have the virtuous pigment in their flesh as well as in their skin, thus they pack a greater anthocyanin wallop.

Wild blueberries are also high on the list because they contain less water. All blueberries are very rich with antioxidants.

Kiwi Fruit

Kiwifruit emerged from our food ranking system as an excellent source of vitamin C. This nutrient is the primary water-soluble antioxidant in the body.

Kiwi fruit is an excellent source of vitamin C, and polyphenols, and a good source of vitamin E, magnesium, potassium, and copper.

Cranberry

Cranberry is a relatively small, red berry, which grows on low-hanging vines in temperate zones in many regions of the United States and other parts of the world.

Cranberry can be taken as a juice or the whole berry or from an extract of these.

Cupuacu

Sometimes referred to as a "pharmacy in a fruit," cupuacu is an excellent source of vitamins C and A. Cupuacu is also rich in vitamins B1, B2 and B3 (Niacin), as well as fatty acids and amino acids.

In addition to excellent health benefits, cupuacu is considered a tasty treat by many, with a flavor often compared to chocolate, banana and melon.

Prune

By definition, a prune is a dried plum. All prunes are plums, but not all plums are prunes. Prune plum varieties can be dried without fermenting while still containing the pits. This is not true of all varieties of plums. The California prune is an offshoot of La Petite d'Agen, a prune plum native of Southwest France. Traditionally the fruit was harvested and sun dried.

Today, most of the prunes out on the market are dried through natural gas heated dehydrators. The typical modern process is to harvest the fruit, wash and dehydrate. The fruit is then graded for size and sorted. The fruit is then stored in wooden bins until further processed. Fruit at this stage is referred to in the prune industry as "Natural Condition Fruit".

It is believed that the ancient peoples of the Middle East were the first to dry plums to make prunes. Prunes have been prepared for centuries in France, and the prunes from the region around Agen are still considered by many to be the best in the world. The original prune graft stock was brought to California in 1856 by Louis Pellier a French nurseryman who came to California in 1848 in search of gold. By 1900 prune orchards covered approximately 90,000 acres. Today, there are more than 75,000 "high production" acres concentrated in the Sacramento, Santa Clara, Sonoma, Napa and San Joaquin Valleys. These acres produce approximately 99% of the United States production and an average of 70% of the world supply. Today the D'Agen prune coming from California is known as the California French Prune.

Prunes are especially high in antioxidant activity.

Nashi Pear

Nashi pears (Pyrus pyrifolia and P. ussuriensis) are juicy round pears, shaped like apples. Because of the resemblance, some people call them "apple pears." They originated in East Asia where they are a popular fruit, eaten as a thirst quencher. Nash, is a generic word for pears and European pears are called Yonashi. The fruit are harvested in fall and nashi may be used as an autumn kigo (or season word) in writing haiku.

Once reserved as a food to be served only to the wealthy and to Chinese nobles, Nashi pears have been grown, cultivated, and eaten for centuries. Little is known about their origin... it's estimated that they began appearing at least 3,000 years ago in China.

Some varieties spread westward, and those ended up looking and tasting more like the pears with which most people are familiar. The varieties that spread eastward, however, took on more of an apple-like shape and a crisper quality, and those became the Nashi pears we know today.

They were first introduced to Americans on the West Coast by Chinese migrant workers during the 1850s. Even today, this region - California and Oregon, in particular - remains the largest Nashi pear producing region of our country. At first, trees were grown from seeds found in the fruit, and their quality was widely varied. It wasn't until the early 1900s, when pomologists began mastering crossing techniques, that reliable, high-quality Asian pears were grown in the U.S. In the 1980s, there was a sudden increase in demand for Asian pears brought on by the increasing population of immigrant Americans in the U.S. and Canada.

Nashi pears are a great source of dietary fiber, and they're also very high in potassium and other essential minerals. They contain nearly 10% of the USRDA for Vitamin C, and a high concentration of folates, which make up the Vitamin B complex group.

Aronia

Aronia is also known as the chokeberry.

Aronia juice contains very high levels of anthocyanins (source of red color) and flavonoids. Levels of anthocyanins and flavonoids are over five times greater than those found in cranberries. Aronia has also been reported to contain antioxidants, polyphenols, minerals and vitamins.

Aronia (Photinia melanocarpa), is a native American bush that has been successfully exported to Eastern Europe and is commercially grown in Denmark, Poland, Russia and elsewhere. It produces white to pinkish-white flowers in April through June (depends on location) and fruits in September through November. It has glossy, pea-sized, violet-black berries harvested in late summer. They have a strong, stable, staining natural color.

Camu Camu

Camu-camu is a low-growing shrub found throughout the Amazon rainforest, mainly in swampy or flooded areas. It grows to a height of about 2-3 m and has large, feathery leaves. It produces round, light orange-colored fruits about the size of lemons, which contain a significant amount of vitamin C.

It's high vitamin C content has created a demand for camu-camu fruit in the natural products market. Some groups are now beginning to study cultivation methods for this important new rainforest resource, which is still harvested wild throughout the Amazon region.

Acerola

Acerola (Malphighia punicifolia L.) is a small tree or shrub that grows up to 5 m high in the dry, deciduous forest. It produces an abundance of bright red fruit 1-2 cm in diameter, with several small seeds that look similar to the European cherry. For this reason, acerola is also known as the Antilles, Barbados, Puerto Rican, or West Indian cherry tree.

The mature fruits are juicy and soft with a pleasant, tart flavor. Acerola can be found growing wild and under cultivation on the sandy soils throughout northeastern Brazil. It is native to northern South America, Central America, and Jamaica. Its cousin, M. punicifolia, is present as far north as Florida and Texas.   In North America, acerola is used for its high content of vitamin C. Dried acerola fruit extracts can now be found in tablet form and as an ingredient in many over-the-counter multivitamin products in the United States as a natural form of vitamin C.

Bananas

Bananas Contain three natural sugars - sucrose, fructose and glucose combined with fiber. This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet low in salt.

The banana is full of proteins, and the sugar provided gives a lot of energy to those practicing sports requiring endurance. Moreover, it contains magnesium, selenium, iron, a lot of vitamins, and is recommended for salt-free diets because of its low contents in sodium chloridium.

The banana plant is not a tree, but a giant herb of the same family as lilies, orchids and palms. There are about 400 varieties of bananas. The rhizome is planted and gives a first shoot 3 or 4 weeks later. After 9 to 10 months the inflorescence from the foliated circlet has a diameter that can be as large as 7 meters. Three days after that, a bud hangs on the plant. On the fifth day, the bud turns red and starts opening. On the seventh day the leafs who covered it are falling down and finally two days later you can already see the first banana hands.The trunk of a banana plant is made of sheaths of overlapping leaves, tightly wrapped around each other like stalks in a celery bunch.

The word banana is derivated from the Arabic meaning 'finger'.

Pear

Pears offer a good source of vitamin C, folate, and dietary fiber. One medium-sized Pear contains less than 100 calories. Most of the vitamin C in Pears is in the skin, so they should be eaten unpeeled. Pears provide some iron and potassium.

Our food ranking system also qualified pears as a good source of vitamin C and copper. Vitamin C functions as an antioxidant in all water-soluble areas of the body.

Lychee

A lychee is a rare sub tropical fruit originating in South China where the lychee is very important in their culture and is famed as "the King of Fruits". The lychee fruit is about 1 to 1 1/2 inches in size, oval to rounded heart shaped and the bumpy skin is red in color. Once you peel the skin off, the crisp juicy flesh of a lychee fruit is white or pinkish, translucent and glossy like the consistency of a grape, but the taste is sweeter. Lychees have a sub acid sweet taste and have a wonderful freshness to them that is hard to describe. Lychee fruit is high in the antioxidant Vitamin C and the essential mineral Potassium. Lychee trees are beautiful hardwoods that grow 20 to 40 feet tall in a primarily dome shaped habit of growth with dense, evergreen leaves. Lychee trees are popular landscape trees in South Florida and other areas of the southern U.S. and container, atrium or greenhouse growing of lychee trees is becoming popular throughout the rest of the country. Lychee trees are grown commercially in the US for the highly sought after fruit in primarily South and Coastal Central Florida where it is warm and there is some winter chilling, but little or no risk of hard freezes.

Lychee extract may trim waist fat: Study

 

An extract from lychees may reduce abdominal fat in people with metabolic syndrome, a lead to improvements in overall health, says a new study from Japan.

 The Japanese researchers recruited 18 adult volunteers with waist circumference over 85 cm. Subjects were aged between 24 and 59. Volunteers were randomly divided into two groups – one received a daily Oligonol dose of 50 milligrams, while the other received placebo.

After 10 weeks of study, in addition to the improvements in waist circumference, an abdominal fat, improvements in insulin resistance were recorded in the Oligonol group, compared to placebo, and these occurred with increases in blood levels of adiponectin, a hormone that regulates a number of metabolic processes.

“It is evident that the enhanced presence of oligomerized proanthocyanidins in Oligonol may offer a wide-range of benefits in pharmaceutical preparations, food products, and dietary supplements as well as in the development of functional beverages,” concluded the researchers.

Source: Journal of Functional Foods
10.1016/j.jff.2009.09.002
“Amelioration of abdominal obesity by low-molecular-weight polyphenol (Oligonol) from lychee”
Authors: J. Nishihira, M. Sato-Ueshima, K. Kitadate, K. Wakame, H. Fujii

 

 

 

White Grape

In addition to being a tasty nutritional food, grapes are rich in phosphorus, potassium, vitamin A and C containing polyphenoll. Grapes provide a source of carbohydrate with added benefit of being sodium free. Grapes are fat-, sodium-, and cholesterol-free, and are a good source of vitamin C. Grapes also contain phytonutrients.

Purple Grape

Grapes grow in bunches (from 6 to 300) on woody, climbing vines. These fruits come in a variety of colors, including black, blue, golden, green, red, white, and purple. Certain flavonoids present in the purple grape varieties possess beneficial actions not seen in the others. V. vinifera is a deciduous climber with several stems, tendrils, clusters of pale, green flowers, and palm-shaped leaves.In addition to the kinds of grapes listed above, French hybrid varieties of grapes exist that were developed mainly for wine making.

Grapes are native to southern Europe and western Asia but are cultivated in warm temperate regions throughout the world.

 

*GLUCOSAMINE- There are three types of glucosamine: glucosamine hydrochloride (HCl), N-acetyl glucosamine, and glucosamine sulfate. Both glucosamine HCl and glucosamine sulfate are rapidly converted into “free” glucosamine in the stomach. So, from a medicinal standpoint, they are equally effective. However, glucosamine HCl is 79 percent glucosamine, while glucosamine sulfate is only between 47 and 52 percent glucosamine. MonaVie Active Gel and the MonaVie Active Juice contain glucosamine HCl because it contains the highest level of free glucosamine.