Acai Health Watch

Physician and nutritionist Martica Heaner discusses acai’s health benefits, including whether claims that acai facilitates weight loss are legitimate.  She talks about how much of the language used in marketing acai products really just amount to ads, because there’s little medical research on acai to back it up.

Here’s Dr. Heaner’s take on weight loss and the acai berry:

“As far as weight loss goes, there’s no plausible mechanism that has been shown for why acai berry products might aid weight loss. Fruit can help with weight loss because it is high in fiber and nutrients and has few calories. Once fruit is turned into juice, however, it becomes another sweetened drink, often adding surplus calories to a diet that can lead to weight gain, not loss, if not monitored.”

Beware of the Hype on Acai Berries – MSN Health & Fitness – Weight Loss.

There’s so much information about the acai berry and how it helps weight loss.  But the reality is, it’s only one component of a healthy diet that can help you lose weight.

The acai berry facilitates weight loss by helping to increase energy and metabolism.   This helps you process the healthy foods you eat more efficiently. Without a proper diet (not just acai!) as well as exercise, consuming acai will not promote weight loss.  To equate this small berry with a thin waist is an enormous leap, if not a downright lie.

Here’s an excerpt from this interesting article over at the Acai Berry Site:

“An acai berry diet is not one where you would eat solely acai berry. This is a common misconception and one which needs snubbing out quickly. The acai berry forms just a small part of what must be a sensible diet. Like all good diets the nutrition you take on board needs to be rounded, and acai berry just supplements this rounded intake. The acai berry will not in itself make you thin! Anyone that says it will is most likely trying to part you with your hard-earned cash. What it does do is to give you an awesome toolbox with which to lose weight and live a healthier lifestyle.”

Acai Berry Diet: Dieting The Right Way.