What is it?
Considered the highest anti-oxidant fruit on the planet, Loving Earth's Maqui is a deep purple berry wild harvested in the pristine conditions of Southern Chile. The harsh climate of the Patagonian region is credited with increasing the anthocyanin level of fruits and berries grown in that area, and this is seen in Macqui's ORAC score of 319,265 uMol TE per 100g.
Maqui is a native South America evergreen shrub that grows in dense thickets from 3–5 m in height and which reaches maturity between December and March. It is a dioecious plant that belongs to the family Elaeocarpaceae and produces small edible purple berries, about 6 mm in diameter, that are eaten fresh or used for juice, jams or wine-making. The plant prefers slightly acidic, moderately fertile and well-drained soils. It grows rapidly with adequate moisture and readily colonises abandoned, burned or over-exploited soils, thus protecting them from erosion. The intense red colour of the aqueous extract of its fruit is due to the presence of anthocyanin pigments causing it to be used as a natural dye. The leaves and fruits are astringent and have been used in Chilean folk medicine as anti-diarrhoeic, anti-inflammatory, anti-haemorrhagic and febrifuge.
The Mapuche Indian tribe is the only tribe in the Americas (northern and southerncontinents) that were not conquered by any European Countries. According to the Conquistadors, the Mapuche warriors ate very little solid food and drank a fermented beverage made from Maqui Berries several times a day, which may have contributed to the extraordinary strength and stamina that the warriors exhibited. The Mapuche Indians have used Maqui Berry leaves, stems, fruits and wine medicinally for thousands of years. Maqui Berries has been traditionally used by the Mapache Indians for sore throat, diarrhea, ulcers, haemorrhoids, birth-delivery, fever, tumors and other ailments.
How it's used
Early in the day, Maqui is a great addition to your Buckinis or smoothies: add one teaspoon of Maqui Powder to meet your daily requirement. If you need an antioxidising hit in the evening, Maqui's sweet, tart flavour goes great with many desserts!
Unlike many other powders, you'll never get that gritty, grainy quality with Maqui. It dissolves beautifully, emanating a gorgeous purple sweetness...this stuff just has to be be tasted to be believed!
Health Benefits
The benefits of the Maqui Berry are many and varied; read this report from Food Chemistry for the full details.
Our raw freeze-drying process retains maximum nutrients meaning that our Raw Organic Maqui Powder is a true wholefood supplement. With the highest antioxidant quantity of any fruit, Maqui is reported to stimulate weight loss, delays the ageing process and detoxifies and cleanses the body. Research is also showing that it's a powerful anti-inflammatory and contains high levels of polyphenols and anthocyanins.
Antioxidants are substances that delay the oxidation process, which is the natural deterioration of cells leading to ageing. A growing body of literature points to the importance of natural antioxidants from many plants, which may be used to reduce cellular oxidative damage, not only in foods, but also in the human body. This may provide protection against a wide range of chronic diseases. The ORAC test measures a food’s antioxidant ability to neutralise free radicals and potentially mitigate health imbalances. The USDA recommend up to 5,000 ORAC units per day and more if under any of the various stressors most of us face each day. Most individuals get only 1,200 ORAC units or less per day; using a wholefood supplement such as Maqui as part of a healthy balanced diet will ensure that you're getting enough antioxidants to reap the maximum benefit.
Anthocyanins are antioxidant flavonoids that protect many body systems and have some of the strongest physiological effects of any plant compounds. They're produced by plants for self-protection against sun, irradiation, diseases and biological enemies.
Laboratory research shows that anthocyanins:
- Reduce the coagulation of blood platelets, inhibiting formation of blood clots involved in stroke, pulmonary embolism, peripheral vascular disease and heart attack.
- Promote higher levels of “good” cholesterol, HDL.
- Inhibit oxidation of “bad” cholesterol, LDL.
- Neutralize oxygen radicals.
- Down-regulate enzymes leading to inflammatory reactions that cause pain and stimulate other diseases.
SOURCES:
Assays for Hydrophilic and Lipophylic Antioxidant Capacity (oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC FL) of plasma and other biological and food samples. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2003, 51, 3273-3279. Visioli, F.; Borsani, L.; Galli, C.
Diet and prevention of coronary heart disease: the potential role of phytochemicals. Cardiovasc. Res. 2000, 47, 419-425.
Dietary antioxidants andcardiovascular disease.Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 1992, 669, 249-258. Joseph, J. And Nadeau, & Underwood, Anne. (2002).
Fruits and Vegetables and the Risk of Stroke.Nutr. Rev. 2001, 59, 24-27. Gaziano, J.M.; Manson, J.E.; Buring, J.E.; Hennekens, C.H.
Juice and Phenolic Fractions of the Berry Aristotelia chilensis inhibit LDL oxidation in vitro and Protect Human Endotelial Cells against Oxidative Stress. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 50, 7542-7547. Parthasarathy, S.; Santanam, N.; Ramachandran, S.; Meilhac, O.
Oxidants and antioxidants in atherogenesis.An appraisal. J. Lipid Res. 1999. 40, 2143-2157. Prior, R. et al.
Polyphenol Rich Fractions of the Berry Aristotelia chilensisinhibit LDL Oxidation In-Vitro and Protect Human Endotelial Cells Against Oxidative Stress. FreeRadical Biology & Medicine (Oxygen Society), XI th Meeting of the Society for Free Radical ResearchInternational, July 16-20, René Descartes University, Paris, France. Miranda-Rottmann, S., et al. (2002).
