Acai Berries are a household name because of the complete nutritional value they provide, together with the long list of how it’s beneficial for a person’s health. Nowadays, a fruit which has been around the same time our country was born – the muscadine grape – has started to create a buzz among dieticians and nutritionists.

The question is: can this new muscadine grape compete with the reputation and nutritional benefits offered by the Acai Berry?

The Acai berry is known as one of the fruits with the highest levels of antioxidants and has gained worldwide recognition because of it. During one Oprah Winfrey show episode, the Acai berry was named as the number one Superfood by Dr. Perricone. The fruit also received mention on other shows and newspapers like the CBS Early Show, the New York Times, the Today Show and the Wall Street Journal.

The Acai berry is the fruit produced by Acai Palm Trees, which can be found on the rainforests of the Amazon in Brazil. Aside from antioxidants, it is also rich in healthy Omega fats, phytonutrients, as well as vitamins and minerals. Though there are many fruits and foods which has several nutrients, what set the Acai berry apart, and what made it a top superfood, was the fruit’s complete nutritional profile.

Meanwhile, the purple-bronze colored muscadine grape is native to the southeastern part of the United States. The grapes (scientific name Vitis rotundifolia) is also known as Scuppernong and has adapted slowly and gradually so it could survive the Southeast’s harsh and unforgiving climate. Muscadines have a tendency to have stronger, larger and relatively thicker skins compared to ordinary grapes.

The difference with the most significance between muscadine grapes and regular grapes can be found on the genetic level. While regular grapes have 19 pairs in chromosomes, muscadines surprisingly have 20 pairs – one pair more than the ordinary variety. It is widely believed that the genetic difference is the main reason Muscadine grapes have around six times more Resveratrol than red grapes, as well as more fiber compared to oat bran, 40 times more antioxidants, and is the only grape variety that has ellagic acid.

In comparison, though both Muscadine Grapes and Acai Berries are jam packed with antioxidants, the main difference lies in the exact type of antioxidants found in each fruit. While Acai berries are rich in anthocyanins, Muscadine grapes have large quantities of ellagic acid.

One more significant difference is that seeds from a Muscadine grape is also loaded with nutrients like trans-resveratrol, which is why it is recommended to incorporate all the parts of a Muscadine grape – including the muscadine seed, muscadine skin and muscadine pulp – into a person’s daily diet to effectively ingest all of the nutrients found in the fruit. Meanwhile, the seed of an Acai berry has little or no nutrient at all. Therefore, a supplement which uses Acai seeds is often regarded as ineffective and useless.