Acai Buyer

A few years ago, acai juice was an unknown tropical drink that most of us had never heard of. Today it is one of the hottest health food products, with millions of people consuming the berry in one way or another across the world. Just what is it that makes this juice so popular, and what does it do for you, anyway?

It’s easy to write the appeal of acai off as just another fad, made popular by its brief appearance on the Oprah show. But the truth is that this product has been growing in popularity for the past couple of years, and while it has only recently broken into the limelight, it has had a steadily growing base of dedicated users who have made it a part of their daily lives.

By now, I’m sure you have heard some of the health claims made for the product. While many of these are probably a little on the wild side, many of them will sound quite reasonable, too. Anytime there is a new health food product, you will inevitably get some nuts raving about how it will be the cure for all ills, or the secret of eternal life.

While I do not intend to add fuel to the crazy fire, some of the results of medical research using acai is beginning to sound just as wild - for instance, there is the now famous experiment conducted by the University of Florida, who found that acai juice killed cancerous cells. Now, this was done under laboratory conditions and used cells that were grown in a culture and not inside a human body, but there can be little doubt that this is really exciting news!

To quote Professor Stephen Talcott, “Compounds that show good activity against cancer cells in a model system are most likely to have beneficial effects in our bodies.” In other words, the fact that acai killed these cancer cells means that it is very likely to be good for you.

The subject of the health commonly experienced benefits of acai is a subject worthy of an article of its own - or even an entire book. But, to briefly summarize, they include:

• Improved energy
• Less appetite - makes it easier to diet!
• More stamina - can exert more effort without feeling tired.
• Improved skin
• Improved muscle tension - less aches and pains from strained or tense muscles
• Better sleep
• Improved eyesight.

These are just from the claims made by people who use the fruit, although analysis of the fruit and its nutrients by nutritionists backs up many of these claims.

Acai berries are grown in palm trees in the Amazon rainforest and in marshy regions of Peru and Brazil. It has been consumed by the indigenousness people for thousands of years - and by European immigrants for hundreds of years. OVer this time, hundreds of different uses have been developed for the fruit, from making wine with it to drinking the juice on its own.

Universally the fruit has been praised for its beneficial health effects by both the native people and the Latin settlers. They claim that it gives them more energy, helps them to stay well and prevent diseases, and even helps stimulate the libido and improve stamina. And unlike many things that are good for you, the fruit is also delicious.

The flavor of acai juice is often compared to berries and chocolate. This may give you the impressions of a horrible gooey mass. In actual fact, the initial impression you get is of a rich, yet refreshing explosion of berriness. This is then followed by a rich and wholesome aftertaste, which is quite like chocolate. And often, you feel like you have had a lot of calories, when you have only had a few.

Okay, I’ll admit it, it’s very difficult to describe a flavor to someone who has never tried it before - English just does not have the words to describe tastes very well. If you doubt me, just try to make sense of the description of a wine’s flavor - half the time it’s like random words thrown together. Anyway, back to the article…

With all these amazing benefits recognized for so long, why is it only recently that the fruit is becoming well known outside of South America?

This has a lot to do with the nature of the fruit itself. You see, form the moment it is harvested, it has only 24 hours until it spoils, unless it is preserved or frozen. The fruit is harvested by pulping it - the berry is 90% seed, and this means that pulping is the only really effective way to get the tasty fruit flesh away from the seed. The result is that all the fruit flesh is mushed up and exposed to the air and other corrupting influences (like microorganisms, sunlight, airborne toxins, etc).

Because it is really only in the 20th century that it has even been possible to ship frozen fruits over large distances, it has been too expensive to ship abroad. Usually fruit are picked unripe and then aloud to ripen while they are shipped (unfrozen) using “helpful” chemicals and plant hormones. (To me this idea is every bit as creepy as the idea of meat being allowed to grow after it has been killed. If there’s one thing that dead organisms - plant or animal - are not supposed to do after death it is keep on growing!)

And even during the 21st century, it has taken the action of a few companies willing to bet that people would be willing to pay more money for a unheard of purple gloopy mess than a well known fruit, such as a banana. Well, as we have seen, the gamble has paid off!

So, now we have learned all about the fascinating history of the berry, it’s time to find out more about juice.

Acai juice is usually made with the whole fruit, not just the liquid content. It is actually made by taking the entire pulped fruit and adding water, or in some cases, other fruit juices. Once it is mixed, it is best consumed fresh. Juice blends containing acai will often have a longer shelf life.

Some unscrupulous manufacturers - or maybe ones who don’t know any better - will use methods such as ultra heat treatment (or pasteurization) and adding preservatives to make the juice last longer. This is bad news for those of us who want to get the full range of health benefits from the juice, as these methods can destroy the healthy compounds in the fruit. The juice will still usually taste nice, and have the same amount of sugar and calories, but the vitamins, antioxidants and other beneficial compounds will be harmed.

Other juice products simply take the liquid content from the pulp and extract all the solids. This is a bad idea, because a lot of the compounds are in the flesh and skin of the fruit.

By far the best option when taking acai juice for its health benefits is to buy the pulp and mix it up as you need it. This means that you can make your own smoothies and juice blends at home with acai that is virtually as fresh as the day it was picked.

For some of us, all that mixing and blending is too much work. That doesn’t mean we’re lazy - a lot of us are just too busy. So, luckily, there are some alternatives that are just as good for you.

These alternatives are all based on acai powder. Acai powder is actually pulp that has been frozen and dehydrated. It has a much longer shelf life than the pulp (but it’s still a good idea to refrigerate it - it contains omega oils, and can spoil if it gets too warm). The acai powder contains all of the goodness of he pulp, and is super concentrated too - so a little goes a long way.

You can get the powder in a tub, or packed into capsules. Some companies mix the acai powder with other fruit powders or herbal extracts which help your body to make the best of the nutrients in the acai - this is often a good thing, especially in specialist products like slimming aids.

By the way, I should warn you that some people are selling acai power products that are mostly made from corn starch and a little bit of acai extract, and often some food coloring to make it look right. This is obviously nowhere near as effective, and you should avoid these products. Some of these companies have also been involved in unfair practices or even outright scams - they are sharks trying to cash in on the recent explosion of popularity in acai juice.

I don’t want to turn this site into a blame log, so instead of naming and shaming the companies involved in these sharp practices, I’m going to refer you to the companies that I personally trust.