One of the goals of Supreme Nutrition Products is to bring therapeutic foods that are nutrient dense and in most cases high in phytonutrients as well to your patients. We feel that nutrient dense foods unlike pharmaceutical grade isolated nutrients (which do have their role) have their own synergism (within the individual plant) that man cannot duplicate. Thera Supreme was our first product of this type and is a great immune builder/life enhancer.
Camu is a single food that we have known about for a long time but like many of our other products it took a while to find a source that passed our testing methods and that wasn’t diluted with maltodextrin as most are. Camu is a berry from a bush (Myrciaria dubia) that grows in the Amazon rainforest. What makes camu stand out is that it is the 2nd most concentrated source of vitamin C found in any fruit. It is also a significant source of antioxidants including anthocyanins, d-limonene, and catechin [1, 2, 3]. Dr James Duke in his ethnobotanical database rates camu as being an effective antiviral, very useful for gingivitis and other periodontal disease, asthma, hepatitis, atherosclerosis, infertility, cataracts, migraine and cluster headaches, colds, osteoarthritis, depression, edema and Parkinson’s disease [4]. According to Sloan Kettering of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Camu decreases inflammatory and oxidative stress markers such as 8-hydroxy-deoxyguaosine, total reactive oxygen species, C reactive protein, IL-6, and IL-8 in smokers [5].
In one study after taking Camu for 7 days, patients had a significant decrease in total oxygen reactive species, decrease in high sensitivity C Reactive protein (hs-CRP), and decrease in IL-6 and IL-8. A control group taking an equivalent amount of vitamin C showed no change in these same markers [6]. In another study obese rats were fed Camu for 12 weeks and those that received the pulp of camu reduced their weights of the fat in white adipose tissues, glucose, total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL-c and insulin blood levels. There was also an increase in HDL-c levels [7].
In addition to being high in Vitamin C, camu is also high in phenolic compounds and carotenoids. Camu is a good source of potassium, iron, calcium, phosphorous and various amino acids including serine, valine and leucine. Due to these properties Camu could possibly be used to help stop the progression or prevent certain diseases such as cardiovascular and cancer [8]. Camu also has been shown to suppress the formation of edema in rats and contains betulinic acid. Betulinic acid has antiretroviral, antimalarial, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer properties [9].
We will not be stating vitamin C content on the label as it can vary depending on many variables (time harvested, soil and climate conditions) but an average dose of 1 scoop will have anywhere in the range of 200mg-1000mg in synergy with all the accompanying components (various research articles give differing amounts due to the factors just mentioned, thus the wide range) [10]. It is hard to compare natural vitamin C in the complex of a whole food to isolated ascorbic acid but it appears you need much less when taking it as a whole food source and the exact milligrams is not as relevant as how it works as a complete food [11].
References available on request.