The Acai Berry

Not all Acai powder is the same. The way that Acai berries are processed has a direct relationship with it's potency

Not only that, but some products are actually short changing you, selling you less than you expected, by using a recognised botanical term.

 

The different processing methods associated with Acai ...

Spray Dried Acai Berry:

Some Acai products choose to use 'Spray-dried Acai fruit powder'. The Acai pulp is heated to a high temperature with all the water content evaporated. The dried Acai fruit pulp is then sprayed with commonly used food additives such as maltodextrin (a starch made from rice, potato or wheat).

The challenge here is heating destroys most of the nutrients in the Acai fruit for. A further concern is about the maltodextrin when it is specifically wheat based. There are reports of coeliac reaction from some people coming out of the United States.

On average, 500mg of spray-dried Acai will typically deliver about 300mg of actual Acai.

 

Acai Berry Extract ...

The problem with Acai berry extracts is what has been left out. It is specifically the skin and pulp of the Acai berry together that carries most of any nutritional goodness.

Now while the phrase 'extract' sounds great, it actually means that the berry has undergone some kind of processing and alteration. Part of the fruit has been selected, and some parts left out.

In fact, many extracts are made from spray-dried Acai berry ... so the starting point is less than 100% full fruit.

Most Acai berry extracts are classed as 'Botanical Extracts':

"Botanical Extracts are created by removing the non-beneficial parts of the plant in the laboratory, then continually processing to reach the desired ratio of the quantity of actual plant processed vs. the actual quantity of the finished product.

For example, 4:1 Acai means that four kilos of Acai fruit were processed to produce one kilo of finished Acai powdered extract.

So what happens with extracts is that a company will sell you 100g of Acai extract - which at a 4:1 ratio means you actually only get 25g. This is legal, though not at all fair.

Plus what exactly has been 'left out' in the extraction process. Remember that this is derived from spray-dried Acai which has already been heat treated killing off even more nutrients.

 

Frozen Acai Fruit Pulp - Freeze-drying ...

Frozen Acai fruit pulp to date has been shown to be the best way to process Acai fruit.

The fruit is harvested, the skin and pulp removed and then "flash frozen" within hours of picking. This process allows the full synergy of antioxidants, essential and healthy fats, fibres and proteins found in Acai. Then the frozen Acai pulp is non-thermally dried (freeze dried).

Something to note is that freeze dried products have a higher concentration of nutrients than other processes. This is because as the water content is removed, a rich pulp is made which has a higher nutrient concentration than the raw fruit itself.

While 100 grams of fresh Acai berry has an ORAC score of 5,500, the same weight of freeze dried Acai has an ORAC score of 34,000.

 

What is a Superfood - Why are Antioxidants Important - click here