How to Look for a Real Acai That Works
Published:April 23rd, 2010
Though we’ve heard about the health wonders of the acai berry, it’s difficult nowadays to find a genuine acai that will trim down all the weight, increase the metabolic rate and energy levels. A lot of scams have popped out the web creating supplements containing too many fillers which do not give all the benefits an acai berry promises. You don’t need to spend so much on a placebo filled with cornstarch or sawdust.
Pilot studies however suggest that daily consumption of pure and organic acai not only reduces cholesterol to significant levels, but also to several markers which are indicative of diabetes, stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases, according to former Harvard professor and currently the Director of the Nutritional Science Research Institute jack F. Bukowski, MD, Ph.D.
So how do we look for the real thing?
1. Stay away from scammers.
a. Free trial offers which require you to only pay for shipping have been constantly reported to the Better Business Bureau. What these scammers do is to collect a consumer’s credit card info by the misleading “Free Trial, pay only for shipping” tagline, and bill the same for $89+ a month for a product that doesn’t work. Even with a good number of attempts, the consumer is unable to cancel this subscription despite calls to the customer service line of the scamming company. Given the fact that these companies have now been exposed, the same scammers try to act legitimate by saying “BEWARE OF FREE TRIAL SCAMS”.
b. Another scam is the purported “News” reports allegedly investigating the effects of acai which is entirely fictional. The video is staged – the news, the station, and the whole report about the acai.
2. Some things to look for:
a. USDA Organic Certification. These certifications assure the public that the processed goods are consistent with national organic standards. This is important since non-organic acai could contain harmful pesticides, and a certified organic product can only yield the maximum benefits.
b. KOSHER CERTIFIED. There are companies that take another step in providing this important layer of protection and quality control. Kosher certifications are difficult to attain, so if the product has one, you can be assured of the quality.
c. Sugar and Preservatives-Free. Sugar causes inflammation and this compromises the high ORAC levels of the acai berry that is high in antioxidants. Artificial preservatives also cancels out the important nutrients only found on the acai berry.
d. Acai Pulp Juices must be contained in glass bottles and must be thick. If the product is unfiltered and unclarified, it’s a real health benefit. Only capsules and loose powders must be placed in plastic bottles. If the pulp juice is too watery, it’s a fake because authentic acai juice made from the real pulp is thick.
e. ORAC levels. If the acai juice has at least 3000 ORACs for every one ounce serving, that’s a real acai. Also known as the Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC), it’s a measure of a food’s antioxidant capacities. Without these your acai product might just be a fake or may contain very low ORAC values which is untrue for organic acai.
f. Can you find them in stores? Real acai products are found in stores attesting to the fact of their legitimacy compared to those Free Trial acai’s you will find in the internet.
g. Pasteurization. Of course, any bottled food has to be pasteurized to kill of the bacteria that may do more harm than good. Anyone who will ever attempt to claim otherwise is a fake because one, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not allow it. Two, would you want to spend so much on something that has high levels of microbes and bacteria?
h. Is the BBB rating good? The Better Business Bureau will only provide you this peace of mind that the company producing the acai product is not a scammer.
