The acai berry is a grape-like fruit harvested from South American palm trees recently popularized as a dietary supplement. Acai is rich in polyphenol antioxidants (also found in wine) which are known to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer, as well as potential weight loss benefits.
as well as potential weight loss benefits. Unfortunately, false acai products and scams run rampant online, with few guides as to which products are actually safe and viable. Being an informed buyer by reading product reviews before buying an acai product is a wise investment of your time and money.
What is an Acai Berry?
The acai berry is the fruit of the açaí (or aqai) palm, a palm tree native to swamps and floodlands in Central and South America. The drupe is dark in color, a purple that is almost black, and is nominally smaller than an average grape. The fruit has been a dietary staple to the native tribes of the Brazilian Amazon for generations.
What are Acai’s Health Benefits?
Acai berry health benefits: Acai’s claim to fame as a weight loss superfruit and dietary supplement is based on the berry’s concentration of polyphenol antioxidants, olecic acid, proteins, iron, and aspartic and glutamic acids.
The benefits of antioxidants are well-known, as clinical studies on human daily consumption of antioxidant-rich items such as red wine and pomegranate showed a direct correlation with lowered risk of heart and neurodegenerative diseases. Particular polyphenols offer their own added benefits, such as resveratrol. This polyphenol is an anti-cancer that inhibits growth of mammalian tumors and significantly lowers blood sugar. Polyphenol antioxidants are currently being researched as a preventive treatment for peripheral artery disease.
Oleic acid helps boost memory and is the compound in olive oil that causes a reduction in blood pressure, known as hypotension. When combined, aspartic and glutamic acids are classified as an amino acid, necessary for the growth and development of the human body. Acai has a concentration of 8% amino acids of the total dry weight of the berry.
The acai berry also has nominal amounts of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, and beta-Sitosterol. Beta-Sitosterol reduces blood levels of cholesterol, and has also been used to treat high blood cholesterol, prostatic carcinoma and breast cancer.
Acai Berry Scams
Due to the overwhelming popularity of acai berry juices and related supplements, and the relatively scarce information regarding the actual intrinsic value of the fruit itself, acai berry scams have become infamous. Unethical marketing tactics used by some online retailers have tarnished the reputation of an otherwise potent herbal supplement, and make proper research and acai product reviews an absolute necessity for purchasing an acai-related herbal supplement.
What We Look for in Acai Products.
At Acai Berry.org, we recommend Acai-Balance as one of the most trustworthy acai products available online. Aside from the actual acai extract, Acai-Balance is fortified with pomegranate and green tea extract, which are also rich in polyphenol antioxidants.
Pomegranate juice has been tested in human pilot studies to effectively reduce heart disease factors that are shared steps in atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. This includes LDL oxidation, macrophage oxidative status, and foam cell formation. Pomegranate juice was also shown to reduce systolic blood pressure by inhibiting serum angiotensin-converting enzyme in hypertensive patients. Pomegranate extracts have antibacterial effects against dental plaque, and have been shown to inhibit the proliferation of human breast cancer cell in a test tube.
Green tea consumption is associated with reduced heart disease and can significantly lower the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer as well as beneficially impact bone density, cognitive function, dental cavities, and kidney stones.
Thus, the most reassuring aspect of an acai product is not simply the supplement’s acai content, but the validity of the health benefits of the other key ingredients included in acai products. For this reason, Acai Berry.org offers detailed ingredient information for each product we review.
