Acai Berry

[Gutshot John]

This I guess is the new wonderfuud.

I'm curious as to where the facts end and the hype begins.

I'm sure it's rich in antioxidants and that isn't bad, but what makes it any better than anything else?

What about metabolic claims/issues?

Any side effects?

[bcso78]

it was the new "wonderfuud" a couple years ago, overhyped- drink grape juice.

[RyanB]

XXX Vitamin Water... I love it.

[Mr.Goodtimes]

i didnt notice anything special from it when i was taking it. the stuff costs an arm and a leg and after a month of taking it, i can say i felt exactly the same as when i wasnt taking it. i think its def. over hyped, just eat your veggies and take a multi.

[militarymoron]

some friends at work were into the monavie acai berry juice drink, and were selling it/saying how good it was for you.
my wife asked them some simple questions which pretty much shut them up.
1. how much anti-oxidant is in this monavie? (the label does not indicate the amount) - they couldn't answer that.
2. so what if the acai berry has the 'highest concentration of anti-oxidants'? how much do you think you need daily? (they couldn't answer that either)
3. do you know that you can take too MUCH antioxidants which can result in harmful effects? (they said that 'oh, but monavie has the right amount')

anyways, she basically said that if you don't know how much your body needs, nor know how much you're getting, you need to know those things before taking any substance.
my wife has a phd in biochemistry with an emphasis in cancer cell research, and is a consultant in the pharmaceutical industry (intimately familiar with FDA regulations governing drugs and suppliments), so she always knows the right questions to ask when someone talks about the next new wonder suppliment.

her take on it - much of the claims about acai are unsubstantited and based on junk science (B.S), and you can get your anti-oxidants from many other cheaper, natural sources in your diet.

[Gutshot John]

Would you ask your wife what your body does need in terms of antioxidants? When is it too much? I would presume that you don't need anymore than you have free-radicals in your system, but that this might vary from person to person.

Can she recommend a daily regimen/product?

[militarymoron]

gutshot - she's not a nutritionist, so she can't recommend what you should take, only that you find out more from a qualified source (not ads) if possible, and know how much you're getting from a product.

anyways, i did ask her and here's her response:

"In experiments conducted by the US Dept of Agriculture, volunteers
were asked to ingest large quantities of fruits that have been
identified as having high levels of antioxidants, and their blood were
subsequently tested for antioxidant capacity. One important note is
the large amount of fruit required per ingestion - for example -
volunteers in the Kiwi fruit group must eat 4 kiwis. The cherry group?
45 cherries. This should give consumers an idea of the potential
"starting" dose needed to gain an antioxidant benefit - and this is
PER DOSE. (imagine eating 45 * 3 cherries a day - if you want to get
the benefit of cherries' antioxidant properties with every meal.)

This does make for an attractive commercial market to give consumers
"concentrated" forms of antioxidants - except most of companies
providing these types of nutrition products are not regulated by the
FDA - that branch of the government regulating food and drugs to make
sure that you as a consumer aren't being ripped off or worse -
physically harmed by ingesting unsafe products. Unfortunately, history
has shown that the FDA only steps in when enough people get sick or if
a few people begin to die from the so-called "nutraceutical" - just
look at the ephedrine cases in the mult-billion dollar weight-loss
industry.

Currently there is no agreed projection of antioxidant intake because
this can fluctuate based on individual energy intake, caloric
consumption, and especially environmental or confounding health
related factors like exposure to cigarette smoke or disease
(increasing body's oxidation burden). There are researchers who are
trying to determine what these individual needs may be, but for the
most part, consumers have been inundated by commercial entities eager
to profit on a perceived benefit of "high antioxidant intake". For
example, via Quackwatch:
http://www.quackwatch.com/01Quackery...yAds/acai.html

The verdict? If you like to drink exotic berries for the taste,
there's no problem with indulging yourself but if you're looking for
some of these commercial products for bona fide healthcare benefits,
require the claims to be backed up by randomized, double-blind placebo
controlled clinical trials, with full disclosure of side effect
profiles experienced by the human subjects.

(...and if there is really some miracle plant bearing amazing
therapeutic properties, the pharma companies would outrun anyone to
isolate the agents, synthesize/mass produce, and submit it through the
proper legal govt channels for commercialization! that was how we got
cancer drugs from the pacific yew tree.)"

[Heavy Metal]

(...and if there is really some miracle plant bearing amazing
therapeutic properties, the pharma companies would outrun anyone to
isolate the agents, synthesize/mass produce, and submit it through the
proper legal govt channels for commercialization! that was how we got
cancer drugs from the pacific yew tree.)"

Someone is doing that with Resveratrol.

[K.L. Davis]

If you like to drink exotic berries for the taste...

I remember hearing how great Acai Berry was for you... one attempt at drinking some of it made me forever swear off of the stuff and henceforth refer to it as Ass Berry. Yuk!

[militarymoron]

Someone is doing that with Resveratrol.

what are they doing? clinical or pre-clinical studies (in vitro or in vivo)?