In recent years, the acai berry has made a steady ascension up the fruit ladder – thanks to some powerful testimonies from talk show hosts Oprah Winfrey and Rachael Ray, as well as physicians, nutritionists and people in general.

Why is this reddish, purple fruit gaining so much attention and being touted the world’s No. 1 superfood?

Reported benefits of consuming the acai berry include:

• Reduced pain and soreness

• Better sleep

• Increased energy, vitality and stamina

• Increased libido

• Improved immune system

• Improved mental focus

• Increased metabolism

• Better digestion

• Suppressed appetite

• More muscle tone

• Helps with weight loss

Could this berry be all that it is touted to be?

“Current research on the acai berry focuses on its strong storehouse of antioxidant compounds,” said Denise Roberts, RD, LD, CDE, an Outpatient Nutrition Education dietitian at Jeff Anderson Regional Medical Center.

“Theoretically, antioxidant activity in foods may help prevent diseases caused by oxidative stress, such as cancer or heart disease. Antioxidants help defend the body against harmful by-products called ‘free radicals.'”

Acai berries are known to have very high levels of antioxidant power, thus you should be able to eat less of them and still get a substantial level of benefit.

But the jury is still out, so to speak, regarding their overall health benefits and there is currently no research showing they are any more beneficial than other antioxidant-rich foods in their class.

“As is usually the case, this berry is being touted as a ‘miracle cure’ for obesity, cancer, memory loss – you name it,” Roberts said. “It is a wonderful fruit to include in your diet if you have access to it, but don’t expect it to be the magic bullet that cures all ailments.”

As popular as this berry is, don’t expect to find it at your local grocery store. Although the acai berry has been used by natives of the rain forest for years, it spoils within a day of being harvested – making it impossible to ship long distances. However, with recent research and interest in the acai berry, more large companies are figuring out how to process it quickly and ship it to the United States.

Until then, you can find it health food and gourmet stores, most often in juice form. It is also available in powder, smoothie mixes and capsules.

Nancy Carter, a sales associate for General Nutrition Center (GNC) in Bonita Lakes Mall, said demand for acai berry products is so great “we can’t keep it on the shelves.”

“We have so many products with this ingredient it’s not even funny,” said Carter, who made her own personal testimony of recently having lost 6 pounds since she began using acai-berry.

GNC currently sells 12 acai-based products, including two types of tablets, a powder, several juices, a 48-hour body cleanse, a boost to add to water, a juice that adds boost and a full body cleanse. An omega chew with acai berry sells as soon as it hits the shelves.

“Acai berry is just a great antioxidant – it helps you lose weight, it’s great for your skin … If you just take it for the antioxidant alone it will be great for you,” Carter said.

Hundreds of companies are selling acai product and all have one unrealistic claim after the other, Roberts warned adding, “If it sounds too good to be true, it is.”

Before buying any acai product, read the label and ingredient list.

“Many products that incorporate the acai berry are calorie laden,” Roberts said. “In other words, you consume a lot of calories with only a small amount of the acai product. If these calories aren’t burned, body weight is gained.”

For example, one product sold by one of the many companies marketing acai products is an Acai Power Juice. In just one cup (8 ounces), there are 200 calories.

“Unless a person needs to add extra calories into their diet, these calories need to replace other foods that are less nutritiously dense,” she said.

Because acai pills, powders and other similar products are viewed as dietary supplements, they do not have to undergo the stringent testing for safety that the FDA requires of drugs.

“You might be consuming the ingredients listed on the label – then again, you might not,” Roberts advised.

Registered dietitians recommend using the acai berry as part of a balanced meal plan and counting the calories the products provide.

“Substitute this antioxidant rich fruit for other foods in your diet that aren’t good nutrition choices,” Roberts said.







Juice opens doors for local man



Eric Butler admits he was a little skeptical when a friend recommended he try a popular acai berry juice.

“He said, ‘I’ve been drinking this juice and I feel really good, I feel better, I’ve noticed my knees have stopped hurting … You might want to take a look at it on their Web site,'” said Butler.

So he tried the juice.

“It was really good; it tasted like nothing I’d ever tasted before,” Butler said.

After a month of researching, he decided to consume the juice on a regular basis. Six months later, not only was he drinking it every day, Butler became a local distributor for MonaVie, the first company to bring acai in its purest form to America.

“As I continued to research the product and new things started to come out about the acai berry, and as I learned more about MonaVie and the way they handle their acai when they harvest it – plus the other fruits they put in the blend – I decided to take it a step further and build a business with it.”

As the popularity of the acai berry grew nationwide, other companies began to produce juices. Butler checked them out and found they did not compare to MonaVie in taste or preparation.

‘Nothing tasted as good as MonaVie that was pure acai,” he said. “There are a lot of products that have acai extract in them that are not prepared the same as MonaVie does their product; it does make a difference.”

And that difference is a flash freezing patent.

“When you pick the acai berry off the tree, you have to handle it with care within 24 hours – you have to either consume it or do something to preserve it. If you don’t, you lose the nutritional value,” Butler said.

“MonaVie has a plant on site (Brazilian rain forest) where they can do that. Within 24 hours, they can flash freeze the acai into a powder form, ship it back to the states and put it in with the other 18 fruits that are in their juice. That seals in all the vital nutrients, antioxidants – everything your body needs that comes in the acai berry in its rarest form, it seals it in. And that’s why people are getting a lot of amazing results with it.”

And what about those “amazing results” such as major weight loss, improved energy, reduced pain, lowered cholesterol, decreased blood pressure, lower blood sugar levels … to name a few?

“MonaVie does not diagnose, cure, prevent or treat any diseases,” Butler said. “The company does not make any medical claims, whatsoever. This is not a drug, it is a food.”

The company does state that consumers who regular consume the product report the following benefits:

• Increase in vitality

• Better health

• Overall sense of well-being

• Improvement in joint health

Two of the first MonaVie products – MonaVie Active and MonaVie Original – were not FDA approved. But, Butler notes, the FDA approves drugs and are not required to approve fruit. However, the newest product, MonaVie Pulse, does have FDA approval.

Butler, who is a nurse anesthetist, said he has been most impressed with the research the company does to assure a quality product.

“This company studied over 2,000 fruits, narrowed it down to 100 that are the most beneficial to the human body and then narrowed that down to 19 of the top most life-giving fruits in the world,” he said. “It took eight years for MonaVie to produce this product.”

As people become more conscious about their health, Butler said products such as MonaVie have had great response.

“It’s not necessary the quantity of life that people are concerned about, but the quality of life. People are really interested in learning what’s available to assure they have that,” he said.



Want to know more?



To learn more about MonaVie products, visit the Web site www.monavie.com

To contact Eric Butler about MonaVie, visit the Web site www.mymonavie.com/ericandjaycee