photo credit: borderlys

There are many Acai Berry products on the market right now. There are drinks, powders and capsules. They are rapidly becoming very popular. The berries have been called a 'superfood'. These are foods that are particularly high in nutrients, and therefore very good for our health. Some good reasons for eating or drinking these products are said to be:

• Lower cholesterol levels
• Better digestion
• Better sleep
• More energy
• Clearer skin
• Detoxification
• Weight loss

Some of the claimed benefits of these products have scientific evidence to support them. If you would like to read more about this, see the 'References' section of this site. There are symbols at the end of some of the text. These show which of the scientific papers in the 'References' section the evidence came from.

Where Do The Berries Come From?

The acai berries come from the fast-growing Açaí Palm Euterpe oleracea. It's found growing mostly in swamps and floodplains in South and Central America. The fruits are a similar colour, size and shape to grapes. They contain one fairly large seed.

They are an important food in Brazil, and are now becoming popular with the rest of the World. This could be because of the nutritional benefits of the fruits. It could also be because many people say they taste like berries and chocolate!

In Brazil, the pulp and juice of these fruits is used in various smoothies, juice blends, fizzy drinks, and other drinks. In the North of Brazil it is served with tapioca, either salty or sweet. In other parts of Brazil it has become popular as an ice cream flavour. The juice sometimes is made into liqueur.

Açaí Health Benefits

Some of the properties and benefits the fruits have are:

• Antioxidant Activity

Antioxidants are said to help combat premature ageing. An antioxidant is a molecule which can slow down or stop the oxidation of other molecules. It is this oxidation which may damage or kill cells in the body. The fruits are said to be high in antioxidants. Studies have demonstrated that after drinking juice made from the berries, after two hours the antioxidant capacity of the blood increases†.

• Amino Acids

Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins and are vital in repairing muscle damage from exercise and normal daily routines. The ones that we can't make in our own bodies are called Essential Amino Acids. These must be taken in as part of our normal diet. The berry fruits naturally contain almost all of the Essential Amino Acids which we need in our diet.

• Essential Fatty Acids

The fatty acids in the fruits are similar to those which are found in olive oil, and have high levels of monounsaturated oleic acid. It is thought that oleic acid could be responsible for the hypotensive (blood pressure reducing) effects of olive oil. The berry contains one of the highest known concentrations of oleic acid in the pulp of a fruit (56%).*

• Effects On Leukaemia Cells in vitro

Chemically-extracted fractions of acai rich in polyphenolics have been found to reduce experimental HL-60 leukaemia cell proliferation during experiments in the laboratory.‡ Inhibition of leukaemia cell proliferation was also observed with extracts from the berry pulp oil**.

• Vitamins, Minerals And Fibre

The berries have been found to be a good source of dietary fibre. After laboratory testing, 100 grams of freeze dried pulp and skin was found to contain 44.2 grams of fibre. In addition to this the researchers found Vitamin A, Calcium and Iron*

For †, *, ‡ and ** see 'References' page for details of scientific papers on acai berry products.

photo credit: Pink Sherbet Photography

Many people strongly believe that their weight loss was achieved by use of acai berry supplements, such as acai powders, acai juice and acai capsules.  There seems to be no clear scientific evidence at present that there is any weight loss directly due to taking the supplements.  There is, however, plenty of evidence of the healthy properties of these berries.  They have been scientifically proven to contain beneficial nutrients such as antioxidants, essential amino acids and essential fatty acids plus vitamins, minerals and fibre. These supplements can therefore help those who are dieting to take in enough of these nutrients.

Scams

It's very important if you choose to try any acai products that you read the small print.  What appears to be a free trial with no obligations can turn out to be a monthly bill on your credit card for products or services which you didn't realise you'd agreed to pay for!  These unscrupulous companies are relying on the fact that most of us just do not read the small print when we go online to make purchases.  Please be careful if you decide on a free trial to make sure that it really is a free trial by reading all of the terms and conditions before going ahead.

*Schauss AG, Wu X, Prior RL, Ou B, Patel D, Huang D, Kababick JP. Phytochemical and nutrient composition of the freeze-dried amazonian palm berry, Euterpe oleraceae Mart. (acai). J Agric Food Chem. 2006 Nov 1;54(22):8598-603.

‡Del Pozo-Insfran D, Percival SS, Talcott ST (Feb 2006). "Açai (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) polyphenolics in their glycoside and aglycone forms induce apoptosis of HL-60 leukemia cells". J Agric Food Chem. 54 (4): 1222–9

**Pacheco-Palencia LA, Talcott ST, Safe S, Mertens-Talcott S (May 2008). "Absorption and biological activity of phytochemical-rich extracts from açai (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) pulp and oil in vitro". J Agric Food Chem. 56 (10): 3593–600