By Kailey Mentink
The longest winter I ever survived was the one where I caught a cold about every two to three weeks. I would sneeze and cough through one bout just to catch another a few weeks after the previous one had cleared up. It seemed like my immune system was acting much like a guard who is supposed to be watching a house but is instead greeting the “bad guys” at the door and welcoming them inside. Something obviously was wrong. Lots of people catch the common cold in the winter, but this was insane.
Then I tried acerola powder. It was in the cupboard, and someone said it was high in vitamin C. It was in the sweetened, powdered form, so I tried a teaspoon in a cup of water. It helped some, I guess, but it wasn’t until I tried the unsweetened (the real) stuff that I noticed a true difference. Honestly, I was astounded at how much it improved my immune system.
The acerola berry is most known for its high vitamin C content, but it also contains vitamin A, calcium, B vitamins, and a whole host of other good stuff that makes it a superfood. Researchers have even said that the acerola berry provides 50-100 times more vitamin C than oranges! Obviously, the high vitamin/nutrient content of the berries make them an excellent cold-fighting agent, but acerola berries are also known to prevent cancer and disease, stimulate digestion, and improve skin health. I know it sounds kind of like an ad in a magazine – Acerola Berry Cures All!!! – the type of ad that shows about one hundred reasons why you need a certain health food; but if you research acerola, you can see for yourself why and how the rich nutrients in the berry benefit you.
If you’re interested in trying acerola berry, you can (sometimes) find it fresh, but it’s easier to purchase as juice, capsules, or powder unless you live in a warmer climate like Mexico or Brazil. And be sure to get the unadulterated stuff –sweetened acerola products are often cheaper but they don’t work half as well as plain ol’ acerola!
Acerola berry is powerful stuff! To be honest, I’m bad about taking any supplement daily, so it’s usually just when I feel a touch of a sore throat or stuffy nose that I take a dose of acerola. I just take a half teaspoon (dosage for adults is about 1 level teaspoon). Just that little bit makes most colds think twice about touching me. In fact, I’ve only had one cold this winter, and that’s a record. So, if you struggle like I did and catch common illnesses easily, check out the link here on our website to get your own acerola.
