Acai Berry: I Don’t Know What You Heard, But It’s No Miracle Food

Like you see above, I’m not sure what you’ve heard, but Acai isn’t a miracle food. You won’t magically lose weight on a diet high in acai. I’d characterize it as the new Atkin’s diet – albeit notably healthier. I’ll be perfectly honest – I have not tried an acai diet, and I’ll go into why in this article. It’s the current fad diet, but make no mistake, it is a very healthy food. It is worth adding to your diet, but only adding, not replacing other parts of your diet.

So what’s good about acai? Well, first off it is high in antioxidants, signified by its dark color. Tomatoes and grapes also have antioxidants, but in far lower quantities – I’ve heard that acai can have up to 30 times the concentration of most other sources of antioxidants. But what are antioxidants? They are chemicals which bind with other chemicals called free radicals, and remove them from the body. Free radicals, typically oxygen atoms, are singular atoms which are split apart in the respiration process. Most of the molecules are split from Oxygen molecules to carbon dioxide, but a small amount become singular oxygen atoms. The problem arises from how reactive oxygen is. It will actually react with almost anything near it – meaning that it can tear through cells and create compounds within the body. They have been proven to cause cancer. So the long and short of this is that if you eat a diet high in acai you may be able to lower your chances of many types of cancer. Please note the uncertainty in the last statement though. Different antioxidants work differently, so acai may help prevent cervical cancer but not lung cancer, or the other way around. The research is still being done, but I’m sure we will know with more confidence in the next few years.

Aside from these high concentrations of antioxidants, acai is little more than an ordinary fruit. This is the crux of why you should not rely on acai for weight loss. Antioxidants have no proven effect on weight loss – you might as well be eating strawberries, blueberries, tomatoes, or actually unsweetened (unprocessed) chocolate. The main difference you’ll find is that because of its fad status, acai costs much, much more. So instead of blowing your budget on acai, just step up your fruit and veggie consumption. Especially look for fruits with dark colors like grapes or tomatoes – these have the highest concentrations. So, acai is a great addition to your diet, but probably not worth it compared to many other alternatives. And it’s definitely not a replacement for exercise and a properly balanced diet. Just remember that these fads occur before actual medical research has been done – don’t get involved in these fad diets until well after their popularity has faded. By this time you can more adequately evaluate whether they are worthwhile or not!