Acai Berry claims

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No Matter How You Say It, Acai Comes With Some Pronounced Doubts

Washington Post article

Surely you've heard of acai, even if you're not sure how to pronounce the

name. (It's ah-sigh-EE.) The little purple berries have been touted for more

healthful qualities than you'd think a simple berry could bear. Who'd have

believed that this modest product of Brazil's Amazon rain forest could do

everything from speed weight loss to correct sexual dysfunction -- while

bolstering your immune system, too?

According to Spins, a market research and consulting firm for the natural

products industry, Americans spent more than $108 million on acai products

in the 52 weeks ending Feb. 21, up from just over $62 million the year

before.

That's a lot of berries. But are buyers getting their money's worth? That

depends on what they expect.

Acai products have been spotlighted as super foods on Oprah Winfrey's and

Ray's high-profile TV shows -- though not, Winfrey and Ray are quick

to point out, endorsed by those celebrities, despite the fact that many ads

for acai products bear their images. Mehmet Oz, in an " Oprah " appearance,

listed acai berries at the top of his list of 10 most healthful foods before

backing off and saying they belong on that list, but perhaps not on the top.

Anybody with a Facebook or e-mail account has probably seen ads for this

supposed miracle berry.

The fragile, highly perishable acai berries don't keep or travel well, so

they're not available whole in these parts. But you can purchase powdered or

frozen acai pulp to add to smoothies, bottled beverages featuring acai juice

(usually combined with other fruit or berry juices) and dozens of dietary

supplements purporting to contain key acai compounds. You can spend less

than $10 on a bottle of 60 (supposedly) acai-containing supplement pills or

about $40 on a 25-ounce bottle of MonaVie acai beverage. (Ray, who likely

doesn't have to pinch pennies, seemed astounded at the cost of MonaVie when

a guest presented it on her talk show.)

Introduced to the United States in 2000 by brothers and Black

after and a friend learned about the berries and their purported health

benefits while visiting Brazil, acai has blown past the goji berry as the

wonder fruit of the moment. (Goji berries, also touted for their

health-promoting qualities, are still going fairly strong, with sales

topping $9.5 million in the past year, up from $8.3 million the year before,

according to Spins.) The Blacks' company, Sambazon, makes only modest claims

for its products, simply noting that, in addition to being the rare fruit

that offers heart-healthy omega fats, acai is rich in antioxidants.

To which many nutritionists will say, " So what? " Any dark-skinned fruit or

bright-hued vegetable contains antioxidants -- compounds that keep

potentially damaging " free radical " molecules from running rampant in the

body, wreaking havoc on cells and DNA.

There's some dispute as to whether acai juice has more antioxidants than the

juice of other fruits; the Washington-based food industry watchdog group

Center for Science in the Public Interest notes that acai is only a middling

source of antioxidants, providing more than, say, apple juice, but less than

pomegranate or Concord grape juice. Sambazon's Black disputes that,

saying tests finding more antioxidants in pomegranate juice pitted pure

pomegranate juice against acai juice blends containing juice from fruits

less rich in antioxidants.

The point may ultimately be moot. While we almost certainly need some

antioxidants, licensed nutritionist Reinagel (who's based in

Baltimore and writes a blog at http://www.nutritiondata.com) points out that

after a certain point, we don't need more.

Eating the government-recommended daily course of five servings of

vegetables and two of fruit -- which only one in five of us actually does --

likely delivers all the antioxidants we need, Reinagel says, at least if we

vary the fruits and vegetables we choose. After that, any further

antioxidants may well be superfluous. " You reach a point of diminishing

returns, " she says.

In any case, the mere presence of antioxidants in a food doesn't tell us

much about that food's health benefits. Vitamin E and beta carotene are both

antioxidants whose presumed utility in preventing disease has been called

into question by major studies. Because we haven't made a dent in

identifying all the compounds contained in fruits and vegetables -- much

less assessed the value of those we do know about -- we don't know whether

there's anything special about acai compared to other berries, Reinagel

observes.

" Unfortunately, " Kantor says, " lots of Americans like to take the easy way

out. They're looking for a miracle food. But they'll have to keep looking,

because I don't think one exists. "

Having said that, acai's not likely to do harm. Except to your credit card,

that is.

The questionable health benefits attributed to acai are only half the story.

As CSPI warned at a press conference last week, consumers using credit cards

to enroll in " free " trials of acai products advertised via e-mail and on the

Internet are being bilked big time.

After sharing credit-card information to cover shipping and handling,

consumers are being hit by surprise monthly charges, often before they even

receive their trial shipment. Those charges, ranging from $59 to $89, are

extremely hard to contest with the companies, whom CSPI reports are

difficult to reach by telephone and otherwise uncooperative.

Connecticut Attorney General Blumenthal is working with CSPI to shed

light on acai Internet scams. Sambazon, which sells its products in health

food stores and on its own Web site, is not among the companies accused of

dirty dealings and in fact helps scammed customers find their way to the

Better Business Bureau.

If you're still keen on trying acai, better to buy products in person at

your local health food store. Or you could skip the acai and stick with

blueberries instead. They're packed with antioxidants, relatively

inexpensive and available year-round; frozen's just as good as fresh.

And I've yet to hear of anyone's being bilked by a blueberry scam.