If you keep even a half-hearted eye on nutrition these days, no doubt you have heard the buzz about acai berries. Pronounced a-sigh-EE, this Brazilian fruit is often touted as one of the so-called superfoods of our time. But, as we learned in last week’s column on goji berries, the hype surrounding these exotic foods doesn’t always match the evidence. So, in the interests of fairness, let’s take a look at the buzz versus the bottom line for this popular berry.
The hype
Acai berries reached the North American market in the mid-2000’s amid a flurry of claims that its juice, as well as extracts made from the berry, were helpful for weight loss, detoxification and overall health. Before long, the berry had made its way to Oprah and Dr. Oz, with abundant claims surrounding its antioxidant capacities. A star, it would seem, had been born.
As a result of the hype, acai products also started showing up in numerous ads, mostly online, purporting that supplements containing acai extract could be used to support dramatic weight loss. So-called “free” trials of acai pills turned sour for many consumers, however, leading the U.S.-based Better Business Bureau to issue a warning regarding online companies selling acai for weight-loss purposes.
The evidence
Much of acai’s claims have surrounded its supposedly high anti-oxidant content. As the theory goes, our daily exposure to pollutants, chemicals, or just plain age, induces oxidative damage to our cells, leaving us older and sicker over time. According to the prevailing wisdom, this oxidative damage can be reversed, or at least held at bay, by consuming foods rich in anti-oxidants. The downstream effects could include cancer protection, cardiovascular health, or anti-aging benefits. While the concept of anti-oxidants has been around for ages, the truth is that we don’t actually know for sure that anti-oxidants help fight disease. While food sources of anti-oxidants seem beneficial to our health — possibly for reasons more complex than just anti-oxidants, the research on anti-oxidant supplements (which includes the likes of vitamin E, vitamin C and selenium) simply has not panned out.
Enter acai, which claims to be antioxidant-rich, as measured using something called the oxygen radical absorbance capacity, or ORAC, score. In theory, ORAC allows one food to be compared directly against another, with the assumption being that the food with the highest ORAC would have the greatest potential to fight disease. In reality, there is little evidence to link ORAC scores with actual health measures or disease risk. Moreover, in a study of various fruit juices published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, UCLA-based researchers found that, when it came various measures of anti-oxidant status, including ORAC, acai juice actually fell somewhere in the middle, ahead of cranberry, orange, and apple juices, but behind pomegranate juice, concord grape juice, and yes — even red wine.
The reality
According a handful of studies — mostly industry-funded — acai juice has shown some potential when it comes to preventing oxidative damage to cholesterol and other lipids, which may have downstream benefits for heart disease risk. Otherwise, the rest of the data is either from rodent studies, or is indirect enough (i.e. anti-oxidant levels in the bloodstream) that it can only be loosely tied to health or disease risk.
The bottom line
What to make of all of the acai believers who claim to have seen their health change for the better after drinking a few hundred dollars worth of the juice per month? It’s likely that you are seeing a combination of a few real health benefits, along with the power of self-healing. Based on what we know for now, acai does have potential health benefits, but we don’t have reason to believe these benefits are any more profound than the numerous other fruits and vegetables on the market — at a fraction of the cost.
Jennifer Sygo is a dietitian in private practice at Cleveland Clinic Canada, which offers executive physicals and personal health care management in Toronto.
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Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/diet-fitness/Challenging+acai+berry/4758416/story.html#ixzz1P9uN2wzT
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