Regardless of any dietary claims concerning fruit such as acai berries (like "Acai Juice Secrets") and cranberries (among others), the nutrient and antioxidant values are undisputed.

I have discovered one common factor among the most nutritious of foods and it exists no matter what kind of food we're talking about (fruit, beans, etc.). It's the red color of the food in question.

Super Fruits

Of all the fruit in the world, few have gained the commercial classification of "superfruit". The current super fruits include blueberries (which have an intermediate ripening color of reddish purple), cranberries and pomegranates. The up-and-comers include acai berries and mangosteen fruit. I'm surprised that red grapes aren't classified in that way.

The tomato has long been called a vegetable when in reality, it's also a fruit.

Antioxidants

The red color isn't the only thing the best foods have in common. They're also good sources of antioxidants. Red beans such as kidney beans are also high in antioxidants. You won't find a high level of antioxidants in any foods outside the red color range and I don't know why.

Do the levels of antioxidants and the intensity of the red color correlate? I don't know, but it would be interesting to find out.

Cranberry Experience

Regardless of the nutritional value of all of these fruit, I only have experience with the cranberry and it had nothing to do with nutrition.

Quite a few years ago, my wife was prescribed muscle relaxers when she went to see a doctor about lower back pain. After two weeks of not being able to walk (due to the pain), and quite a bit of research on my part, I had her consume a gallon of cranberry juice as quickly as she could. I had found that cranberries have the highest concentration of citric acid of all the fruits available.

After my wife relieved herself a few times, the pain was gone and she could walk normally again. Her kidneys needed to be flushed and to this day, I wonder why a doctor would prescribe muscle relaxers without finding the cause of the pain in the first place.

Red Nutrition

My wife recently saw a nutritionist in order to reduce her weight and lower her blood serum cholesterol level. She's lost 20 pounds since then and she didn't follow any special diet — she just cut out the fattening foods the nutritionist recommended she cut out.

The nutritionist recommended she add red wine (not white) or grape juice to her daily diet. What's the difference besides the red color? Red grapes contain things that white grapes do not, but I'm not an expert in the subject and I'll leave it at that.

The point I'm trying to make is that I think we can all improve our health situations by consuming as many red fruits and beans as possible (to replace other foods, not in addition to). By the way, coffee originates in a red berry and that's why coffee is high in antioxidants.

If I'm wrong in my assumptions, at least my taste buds can be happy about it.

• Natural Medicine in an Unnatural World
• Super Food Ampalaya