The Acai berry comes from the Acai palm tree, which is, yes you guessed it, a speices of palm trees that are indigenous to Central and South America.

We’ve all probably seen the Acai berry being marketed as a revolutionary product that does wonders for everyone. There are several companies currently selling the Acai berry product in various forms such as tablets, smoothies and instant drink powders. There are claims such as providing increased energy levels, improving sexual performance, improved digestion and detoxification, has high fibre and antioxidant contents, as well as reducing cholesterol levels. I’ve mainly seen this marketed as a weight loss product however.

I was initially put off because of the way it’s been marketed. I first became aware of the product via an MLM business which is probably why I was immediately turned off, as I personally do not like that method of sales and marketing. I have, however, been reading up on this fruit and while there are no official controlled studies done to back some of the rather dubious claims, the antioxidant levels of the fruit do compare with other plants and fruits with reputable antioxidant properties.

Several Acai berry juice products were compared for antioxidant capacity against red wine, tea and a range of pure fruit juices. The average antioxidant levels were ranked higher than orange juice, apple juice and tea, equivalent to black cherry and cranberry juice but was ranked lower than pomegranate juice, Concord grape juice, bluebuerry juice and even red wine ! Another observation was the blood antioxidant levels increased within two hours of consuming the Acai juice.

So despite being touted as an all in one wonder fruit that can heal the sick and raise the dead (Ok not quite), this fruit does have it’s benefits, with it’s antioxidant capacity and nutritional value. I will be trying some of the products myself and will definately write another, more educated review !