Acai berries are the latest anti-oxident miracle fruit, following fast on the heels of … pomegranates! Hmm which fruit will become the next most famous one in the fruit race? Will acai berry products make us lose weight and reduce our chronic illnesses? How about a detox acai berry cleanse or diet acai supplements … Hmmm sounds almost too good to be true!

I’ve been reading up on acai berry and claims that this berry is a super anti-oxidant and weight loss diet supplement. I decided to investigate and read up on the acai berry claims. I have to say I was surprised that what I came across were some pretty scathing reviews, including warnings about the so called acai berry scams lurking online. Poor little innocent acai berry is now getting a bum rap haha let us protect the rights of fruit!

The acai berry comes from a type of palm tree called the acai palm. Wikipedia talks about how the acai berry gets promoted as a weight loss aid. According to Wikipedia, some unscrupulous companies that promote sales of the berry have scammed consumers out of credit card charges to try out acai based products. They give their charge card online to buy products made from the berries and then can’t stop recurrent charges.

So the berry can be purchased in the form of things like drink powders, tablets, juice, smoothies, vitamin capsules etc. Companies claiming that the berry is a great anti-oxidant are countered by quackery reviews that the acai anti-oxidant value is less than grape or blueberry juice but more than orange juice. So I guess as far as anti-oxidents go, acai is mid-range they say. FYI evidently FDA hasn’t done any studies on the acai berry as either a vitamin or weight loss aid, and the efficacy of the berry for such purposes is definitely questionable. Maybe you would be safer buying some concord grapes at the supermarket than buying acai berry products online with your credit card!

Almost all of the fruits have good anti-oxidant value to them. So, acai berry is no different than other fruits – fruits are good for you and are natural anti-oxidents. But I’m concluding after having read up on it, that the acai berry is no more or less or a miracle drug than fruit you buy at the store. Thus it may not be worth spending money on expensive acai products. If you see the acai berry recommended to you as a miracle supplement for weight loss or a cure for diabetes you should perhaps not believe it.

In defense of the berry, I think most diet supplements and vitamin supplement companies over hype their products to market them, and the acai berry thing is par for the course. You just have to take any claim that something is a miracle drug with a grain of salt (or an acai berry)! Basically it goes like this: the company selling you a health product will over hype the health benefits, then research and reviews will bring the product (and your expectations of it) back down to earth. There is the acai berry diet, acai berry juice, acai berry cleanse and acai berry supplements. If you do check out an acai berry product just know that’s its anti-oxidant value is probably around the mid range of other typical fruits. All fruits are good for you, but you can usually just get them at the local store. I’d personally be more inclined to eat fresh fruit or make a smoothie than to try to get the fruit in a product form. If they had a powder or fresh fruit drink that combined all the anti-oxident fruits, that could be interesting. Also, don’t give out your credit card online without being completely confident and familiar with the online retailer.

I think it was my mom that once told me not to eat little berries that I saw growing on a bush and I’m still paranoid to this day LOL. I really like the taste of blue berries and if I see fresh acai berries at the farmers market maybe i’ll try them out now that I know they are not posienous. I’m more concerned about staying alive today than I am about whether a berry is an effective diet supplement or not. Exagerated health claims are rampant so don’t take it out on just the poor little acai berry. Jennifer Aniston promotes Smart Water. Does it make you smart? QED (that means proof) enough said. Be aware of the product hype, know that it’s usually a sales pitch and see humor in it, and don’t let yourself get scammed.