Acerola Cherry
Acerola is the fruit of a small tree from the Antilles and northern South America. Acerola is also known as Barbados cherry, Antilles cherry, West Indies cherry, Puerto Rican Cherry, cereso, cereja-das-antilhas and cereja-do-para. Acerola is believed to originate in the Yucatan and is distributed from South Texas to northern South America and through the Caribbean. In 1945, the University of Puerto Rico, School of Medicine , found acerola to be a very rich source of vitamin C.
Due to its high content of vitamin C, acerola has been used as a supplement for both adults and infants. Acerola has also been shown to be a source of beta-carotene. Acerola may have been used historically to treat and prevent scurvy , however, currently, high-quality human trials supporting the efficacy of acerola for any indication ore lacking.
The average content of vitamin C is about 1,790mg per 100g of acerola pulp, with a range of 1,000-2,330mg.The main constituents of green or ripe acerola include ascorbic acid, dehydroascorbic acid, and diketogulonic acids. Acerola fruit also contains vitamin A, thiamine, riboflavin and niacin.
Acerola has been reported in the scientific literature to prevent age-related diseases and has been shown to exhibit cytotoxic effects in vitro against human oral squamous cell carcinoma and human epidermidis and multidrug resistance reversal activity.