The Science Behind the Acai Berry

The acai berry comes from the Brazilian Amazon region and was used traditionally by indigenous Amazonian healers for digestive ailments. It is high in antioxidants, fibres and fatty acids. The media praises, particularly, its antioxidants and some people like Opera Winfrey claimed a diet rich in acai berries helped her to reduce weight. But does this new 'super berry' make all the difference?

Antioxidants are thought to be able to prevent oxidative stress by mopping up free radicals which are produced continuously in the human body and believed to contribute to the ageing process, development of cancers and several forms of degenerative diseases. These chemical compounds are found naturally in high concentrations in many fruits and vegetables and give them their colour and flavour. There are many different forms which allow them to have different actions within the human body. Hence it is important to have a big variety of fruits and vegetables in your diet.

Some research claims no other tested fruit was found to contain such high concentrations of active anthocyanidins and polyphenols (Vitamin Research News, 2008) which are the antioxidants found in these berries. On the other hand, a recent study of antioxidant capacity of frozen fruits and vegetables found a higher antioxidant capacity in mulberries than in acai fruit pulp (Genovese et al., 2009). Yet according to their study, the antioxidant capacity of the acai berries was still around three times higher than that of black berries, hence the health promoting effects are believed to be three times as high.

It must be mentioned however that a high capacity or a high content of antioxidants does not necessarily lead to high blood plasma levels of these antioxidants in the human body as the bioavailability or how many of these compounds can be absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract varies widely (Elpin et al., 2007).

Polyphenols have been shown in vitro to prevent proliferation of cancerous white blood cells and anthocyanidins are suggested to have anti-inflammatory action (Vitamin Research News, 2008). Polyphenols of other berry plants are suggested to prevent the action of pancreatic lipase which splits triglycerides into glycerol and fatty acids (Kulkarni et al., 2009). This moreover may inhibit or reduce the absorption of fats in the gastrointestinal tract and may so reduce the overall energy intake of a person. These antioxidants were used in a highly concentrated form and cause this reaction in vitro, hence it is not quite clear whether comparable reactions will occur within the human pancreas. Then again, polyphenols content in red wine have shown to delay the absorption of dietary fats. Hence there is a potential that the high concentration of polyphenols found in the acai berry help with weight-loss programmes, nevertheless, there is to date no clear scientific evidence to how and how much this plant will be useful in weight loss.

Vitamin Research News (2008) claims supplementing yourself with liquid forms of the acai berry and other forms of berries can be a very efficient way to getting large amounts of the health promoting active substances into your metablism. However as mentioned above the bioavailability of these supplements may vary and may also depend on several factors such as time of ingestion, amount of ingestion, gender, genes and whether the supplements are ingested with or without foods as most natural occuring compounds work synergistically in the human body (Espin et al., 2007).

Therefore it may be more useful to commit oneself to a diet which is generally rich in fruit and vegetables. Consuming acai berry can surely be an ingredient of such a diet, yet other fruits and vegetables should be included as well. Moreover, as the acai berry is cultivated mainly in South America it comes with a price and other European types of berries, although not as high in polyphenols, it may be an alternative particularly where there is no sound scientific evidence that states this particular fruit is better than blueberries and blackcurrants.     

Andrea Zick, Esteem Fitness Nutritionist London