Healthy Fitness Ideas

Açai berry emerged from the mists of the Ama­zon rain for­est and spread over the inter­net faster than a kudzu vine.  A quick googling of “Açai” and “weight loss” pro­duces mil­lions of web pages pro­mot­ing “acai berry detox,” “acai burn,” “acai pure” and “acai berry edge,”  promis­ing quick weight loss. Some of the adver­tis­ing claims “450% more weight loss than diet­ing and exer­cise alone.”  Acai  pro­mot­ers allege that acai berry’s fiber and fatty acid con­tent give it the unique pow­ers to “burn fat more effi­ciently, process food more quickly, cut down on crav­ings, and boost metab­o­lism.”  The other claim is that acai detox prod­ucts  “cleanse” your sys­tem of fat and rid your body of “toxic buildup.”   Dr. Oz,  Oprah Win­frey and Rachel Ray once men­tioned the health ben­e­fits of acai on their pro­grams, but are today suing some acai pro­mot­ers for mak­ing false endorse­ment claims.  In  another tell­tale sign that the Acai mania has peaked, the Fed­eral Trade Com­mis­sion (FTC) recently obtained a tem­po­rary injunc­tion against one of the largest acai berry sup­ple­ment pro­mot­ers, which allegedly bilked con­sumers out of more than $30 mil­lion in 2009  through decep­tive adver­tis­ing and unfair billing practices.

Is There any Sci­ence Behind the Acai Berry Hype?

The greater the hype sur­round­ing a weight loss prod­uct, the health­ier your level of skep­ti­cism should be.  There is some research show­ing that Acai berries con­tain dietary fiber, are rich in antiox­i­dants (antho­cyanins) and are one of the few fruit sources, (besides avo­ca­dos) of  monoun­sat­u­rated fats (MUFAS).  Antiox­i­dants are  com­pounds that pro­tect against oxi­da­tion, or cel­lu­lar dam­age caused by free rad­i­cals, and they have been shown to be effec­tive in help­ing to pre­vent some dis­eases such as mac­u­lar degen­er­a­tion. Antiox­i­dant activ­ity is mea­sured in ORAC val­ues.  Fresh acai berry has a 5,500 ORAC value, while freeze-dried Acai berry has a 102,700  ORAC value.  These ORAC val­ues are higher than other fruits, but lower than the ORAC val­ues of com­mon spices like cloves, cin­na­mon and oregano.  Drs. Steve and  Susanne Tal­cott did the first human stud­ies involv­ing acai in 2008.  In the  study, 12 peo­ple who con­sumed acai pulp and acai juice showed sig­nif­i­cant absorp­tion of antiox­i­dant antho­cyanins into the blood and antiox­i­dant effects, com­pared to those who con­sumed apple sauce or a ple­cebo.  Dr. Tal­cott stated that “acai is nat­u­rally low in sugar, and the fla­vor is described as a mix­ture of red wine and choco­late, so what more would you want from a fruit?”   In June of 2008, Texas A&M Uni­ver­sity filed a  patent appli­ca­tion based on the unique phy­to­chem­i­cal com­po­si­tion of acai oil, cit­ing  the  Tal­cott research.

Beware Anec­do­tal Acai Weight Loss Stories

There isn’t a shred of  sci­en­tific evi­dence that acai sup­ple­ments, or other antiox­i­dant foods,  pro­mote weight loss.  What about all those tes­ti­mo­ni­als from peo­ple who tried acai and lost weight?  That’s not sci­ence, it’s more likely to be the  power of belief and expec­ta­tion.  Anec­do­tal evi­dence is infor­mal, word of mouth evi­dence that has not been sub­jected to rig­or­ous sci­en­tific scrutiny. It ranges  from your friend telling you, “This worked for me,” to the ancient wis­dom of a peo­ple that has been using local plants for heal­ing dis­eases.  Belief and expec­ta­tion can cause phys­i­o­log­i­cal changes in the brain that can inter­act with drugs, chang­ing their effects.  Mor­phine, for exam­ple, is a pow­er­ful painkiller.  But it becomes even more pow­er­ful if your doc­tor solemnly walks in, announces that he’s going to give you mor­phine, and injects you. Your beliefs play a role in the drama, and the same holds true for weight loss supplements.

Bet­ter Juice Choices than Açai Berry Juice

If you’re inter­ested a detox juice pro­gram and want to get more antiox­i­dants in your diet, try these ready-available antioxidant-rich juices instead of açai berry juice. There’s no free trial offer, but also no auto­matic billing of your credit card.

Veg­etable Juice.  Drink­ing your daily veg­gies is a pain­less way to include pow­er­ful antiox­i­dants and dietary fiber to your diet. The lycopene in tomato juice appears to reduce the risk of prostate can­cer.  Beet juice may help reduce blood pres­sure. Veg­etable juice is also loaded with dietary fiber that can help you feel full and con­trol hunger.

Prune Juice.  The orig­i­nal detox rem­edy, high in potas­sium, Vit­a­min E, cal­cium and iron.  Prunes have a lax­a­tive because of the high fiber con­tent and high lev­els of sor­bitol, a stool-loosening sugar. Prune juice is high antiox­i­dant activ­ity ( 2,036 ORAC value) and calo­ries (180 calo­ries per 8 oz.)

Pome­gran­ate Juice.  A rich source of antiox­i­dants, includ­ing antho­cyani­dins, proan­tho­cyani­dins (flavonoids) and ellagic acid. (2,341 ORAC value). The antiox­i­dants in pome­gran­ates  appear to pro­tect brain func­tion, lower cho­les­terol lev­els, which con­tributes to a lower risk of heart dis­ease and stroke.  Con­sump­tion of a lit­tle more than 8.3 ounces of 100% pome­gran­ate juice reduced carotid artery thick­ness by 35 percent.

Blue­berry juice.  A good source of vit­a­mins A and C and B1, beta-carotene, potas­sium, zinc, iron, cal­cium and mag­ne­sium.  Blue­ber­ries and are rich in fiber and con­tain antho­cyano­sides (6,552 ORAC value), an anti-bacterial pig­ment which has a ben­e­fi­cial effect on blood ves­sels and the treat­ment of vari­cose veins. The antiox­i­dants in blue­ber­ries appear to improve  mem­ory and motor skills and seem to reverse age-related declines in bal­ance and coordination.

Cran­berry juice.  Cran­ber­ries con­tain proan­tho­cyani­dins (865 ORAC value) that can pre­vent the adhe­sion of bac­te­ria such as E.coli, which is asso­ci­ated with uri­nary tract infec­tions, and the bac­te­ria asso­ci­ated with gum dis­eases.  Cran­berry juice is known for pre­vent­ing kid­ney stones and speed­ing recov­ery from uri­nary tract infections.

Con­cord grape juice. The same flavonoids (2,377 ORAC value) that made red wine a health sen­sa­tion are present in pur­ple grape juice.  The antiox­i­dant polyphe­nols, resver­a­trol, and antho­cyanins have been shown to pre­vent the oxi­da­tion of so-called bad cho­les­terol (LDLs, or low-density lipopro­teins) that cause plaque in artery walls.  The pur­ple flavonoids in Con­cord grapes seem to help re-grow the neu­rons involved with mem­ory, cog­ni­tion, and bal­ance.  Another pow­er­ful grape juice  is 100% dark pur­ple mus­ca­dine grape juice, very high in resveratrol.