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Perhaps you've noticed that the acai berry is suddenly everywhere -- as a juice, lurking in your tea, and hawked alongside your Facebook profile as weight-loss supplement. Who had even heard of this fruit ten years ago? And what is it, anyway?
Turns out the acai berry is a product of the acai palm tree, native to Central and South America and a close relative of the blueberry, cranberry, and other dark reddish/purplish fruits. As with those fruits, the acai berry is rich in anthocyanins and flavonoids -- both strong antioxidants that help your body fight against free radical damage, which is essentially what occurs on a cellular level when oxygen interacts with certain molecules. The theory goes that free radical damage can contribute to everything from minor complaints, like wrinkles, all the way up to major ones, like heart disease and cancer. And in the case of acai berries in particular, there's been a lot of hype around weight loss, resulting in numerous acai supplementation products hitting the market.
So, if acai berries have a lot of antioxidants, and antioxidants can potentially protect us from a variety of ills, then no wonder these little purple fruits have landed on superfood lists, right? The jury's still out, though, on whether a diet rich in acai berries will actually lead to real health benefits. Despite the fact that Oprah herself helped fuel the craze for acai, Dr. Mehmet Oz told ABC News that while the berries are indeed wonderful, they're "not better," necessarily, than any other powerful antioxidant. And while pricey, exotic acai berries are now included in the good doctor's "anti-aging checklist," the plain-old, supermarket-variety blueberry is on that list, too.
The take-home: If you like acai berries, there's certainly no harm in adding them to your diet, and possibly some benefit. But the hype is not yet backed up by scientific research, so buyer beware.
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6-04-2010 @7:06PM mork.the.delayer said... Palms (including Euterpe oleracea) are not closely related to blueberries or cranberries. They are both flowering plants (Angiosperms), but beyond that they are not much related.
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6-05-2010 @4:02PM chris said... Opihi, thanks for the warning about the AOL profiles. You're right -- they don't tell you they're doing this. I don't like it one bit.
6-05-2010 @8:19PM Carrie-Lee said... Ophi, let us not forget that we can also read your comments. Why, oh why, do you feel the need to mention this on every comment you leave?
6-06-2010 @6:51PM Jim said... Good call. You sound like an educated botanist too!
6-05-2010 @2:12PM paula said... Another hoax created to market a useless berry to the naive public.
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6-05-2010 @8:20PM Carrie-Lee said... And unfortunate for the locals that have depended on this berry for generations. Because of the demands by us naive buyers, the price of Acai has gone skyrocketing. The once very affordable stable of the natives diet, is no longer...
6-06-2010 @3:19PM j said... It is a hoax . I have seen the store where I shope marking it down each time . People are wising up after millions have been looted from the public with all the hype . All it takes is a couple of celebrity endorsements . Buyer beware
6-05-2010 @2:14PM John said... Lindy.. hilarious.. you go girl!!
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6-08-2010 @8:04AM Joanna said... Losing weight takes a lot more than one berry. You need a proper diet and lots of excercise. Other fruits and vegetables have lots of good stuff in them too.
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6-05-2010 @2:30PM The Voice of Truth said... Don't believe this ............................I personally, ate 3 1/2 pounds of Acai Berries...Did I loose weight, NO I gained 3 1/2 pounds!!!!!
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6-08-2010 @6:17PM ak said... eating 3 and a half pounds of anything will make you gain three and a half pounds
6-06-2010 @3:46PM Jeff said... I ate 4.2 pounds of them at was on the the toilet for 4.2 days.
6-05-2010 @4:15PM Dalilah Bee said... AÇAÍ Berry is very popular in Brazil, u can find it EVERYWHERE, and it can be used in a zillion different ways !.......( Reminder : brazilian women's bodies are notoriously famous all over the world 4 their beauty !!! )
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6-05-2010 @3:21PM Jennifer said... And just how many pollutants are we contributing to the environment when we transport these stupid little berries from Central and South America? Is it worth it? It hasn't been proven to work. It is just another diet hype that we, as stupid fat Americans, think is a magic cure for obesity. The magic cure is to get of your fat butts and exercise everything but the fork that is in your fat hand.
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6-05-2010 @4:26PM joseph said... i'm not fat
6-05-2010 @6:45PM B said... Acai, in it's natural raw state, is very healthy and very good for you...
However, most of it's magic lays in combination of it's anti-oxidants, AND its living enzymes. (Enzymes are what rebuilds tissue and bones, in addion to letting you access the nutrition in the other food you eat)..
But, as soon as you heat it, cook it, concentrate it, or Pasteurize it (which all the juice YOU get is), you Kill all of the alive organic nutrients (the enzymes) that you bought it for in the first place, and all you end up with is some oily dead fruit juice, with a little fiber and a (very) high sugar content... selling for ridiculous prices.
Keep this in mind, because it's the same holds true for your precious Orange juice, too, (yes, even that "Only Oranges" fancy stuff), and all your other juices.. Look at the lable: If they've Pasteurized it, it's basically now sugar-water with some minerals and a few traces of vitamins in it. Often it's worse than soda. Sorry.
Eat the fruit. If you're drinking it as juice (for its nutrients and life-giving vitality), then squeeze it yourself (or in the store), because if it's pasteurized or from concentrate, it's just dead high-calorie sugar water, and it's not helping your waistline one bit.
That, or find one that's not pasteurized or from concentrate. If you can. Otherwise, save your money and eat yummy blueberries (and raspberries & blackberries) for a whole lot le$$!
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6-05-2010 @8:21PM Michelle said... IT"S A SCAM!!! Don't fall for it like I did! They will automatically start building your credit card. THERE IS A BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU ALERT! BUYERS BEWARE!
6-05-2010 @8:14PM swamprat said... OK HERE YA GO WANT TO LOSE WT. DRINK LOTS AND LOTS OF WATER ..DON'T EAT ANYTHING WHITE COOKED OR UN-COOKED GOT IT AND WALK OR RUN FOR 40 MINS. OR MORE A DAY THATS IT VERY SIMPLE TRY IT IT WORKS
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6-05-2010 @8:21PM Michelle said... BUYER BEWARE! They will start billing your credit card $80 a month for the ACAI Berry free trial. Hundreds of complaint with FTC and BBB. DON'T BECOME A VICTIM!
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6-06-2010 @5:25PM Carlos said... Buyer beware of free trail adds with Acai Berry. My debit card was billed $228 a month for a period of time. Up to this date I haven,t seen any sample nor any kind of Acai berry from there company Global Wellbeing.