Is Acai All That It's Cracked Up to Be? Sip On This

A trip to Brazil's Amazon rainforest last year, has left me forever hooked on its native berry drink called Acai. Not only does the rich berry-meets-cocoa flavor soothe the palette, U.S. distributors of Acai like Sambazon and MonaVie have been buzzing about the berry's healthy, superfood properties for while now—making it extra appealing.

But is the berry all that it's cracked up to be? A recent report in the New York Times has health experts feeling skeptical about certain Acai products' dubious marketing claims.

Stephen T. Talcott, an associate professor of food chemistry at Texas A&M University is quoted saying,

There is currently no scientific research to support a weight loss claim for açai fruit. Some companies are capitalizing on the fact that the açai berry is still mostly unknown to the broader public, and is sold as a miracle curative fruit from the deep, dark Amazonian jungle. It is doing nothing more than playing on consumer ignorance.

And he might be on to something. The New York Times article then goes on to reveal that there have been only a few official studies of the effects of the acai berry on humans.

One of those studies published in the September 2008 Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry showed that all 12 of the volunteers who participated in consuming a single serving of acai juice pulp, showed a short-term spike in antioxidants in their blood.

So the good news is that, though the berry does provide a nice boost in antioxidants—there is no further proof of it providing anything else.

Us buyers may want to beware of any too-good-to-be-true labels promising miracle cures, weight loss, and increased life span until more studies are made.

::New York Times