Camu camu (Mycaria dubia) is a bush that grows in black water rivers, especially in those abandoned courses called "cochas", ecosystems of great social and economic importance for the Amazonian jungle of Peru . The camu-camu fruit is approximately 2 centimeters in diameter and has a purplish red skin with a yellow pulp.

The fruit contains powerful phytochemicals with health benefits, including the amino acids serine, valine, and leucine, and more Vitamin C than any other known plant in the world. The dehydrated camu camu fruit powder contains 8 - 9% Vitamin C, which is 30 to 60 times more Vitamin C than an orange and 3 times more than acerola.

Traditionally, native medicine practitioners and herbalists have recommended camu-camu for: strengthening the immune system, improving symptoms of herpes infections, including mouth blisters, genital blisters, shingles blisters and other viral infections, promoting energy and vitality of people with chronic immune dysfunction, strengthening the nervous system, supporting healthy levels of white blood cell formation, detoxifying the body, especially the liver, promoting health of upper respiratory organs, including lungs, sinuses, nasal passages, and promoting a healthy heart and circulatory system.

Many people have stopped using large dosages of synthetic Vitamin C because they find that just 1 to 2 grams (1 tspn) of camu camu powder is energizing, mood-lifting and highly effective in strengthening the immune system. It has the additional benefit of being non-irritating to sensitive stomachs and bladders.