Acai Berry Information

You see claims about the wonders of acai berries all over the place these days. Is there any truth to all the claims? Are there acai side effects? Should you try acai? Is there good acai berry research? What are the benefits of acai?

There is so much information being thrown around about Acai, lets talk about what is true.

There has been some good research projects done on acai. Here is a link to some of the abstracts.

Yes, acai berries do contain anti-oxidants. They are also high in fiber. They also have other poly-phenols.

Unfortunately, they also have the common side effect of being over-hyped. Many acai products also have other negative side effects because they are formulated with other less desirable things (like fructose, preservatives, and so called 'essential' oils).

Acai pulp (not juice) has been shown to be very effect against some free radicals, but not so effective against others. In reality acai is just another berry that gets a lot of attention because of press releases, and because it isn't grown in the USA. Exotic things always sell better.

Acai isn't any more effective than a lot of other fresh fruits and berries.

My question is, why pay exorbitant prices for exotic berries when I can get as good, or better, results by eating locally grown grapes and apples (or other readily available fruits, berries, and vegetables)?

Of course some of you will say, "But what about all the weight loss products (with many testimonials) that are being made with acai berries?"

Read the fine print on those articles and ads. You will find that it has the common disclaimer of nearly all diet supplements sold, "Can result in weight loss when combined with exercise and a healthy diet."

That is the key to all weight loss gimmicks. The only people who actually have success with the products are those who change to healthy diets and active lifestyles.

Products like acai are beneficial in that they can be tools to motivate people to make basic lifestyle changes that can help people to have better health. This is their major advantage. The disadvantage to this is that many people do not recognize that it was the lifestyle change that caused the improvement, not just the single product.

My suggestion would be to skip the expensive and unnecessary supplements, like acai, and eat healthy raw foods, exercise, and drink lots of good water.