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What Are the Best Acai Berry Supplements?

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

Is there a difference between any two acai berry supplements?

If you are into health foods and staying fit then it is highly unlikely that you have not heard of acai berries. They are the newest discovery that has shaken the health world with all of its numerous health benefits.

This is a small fruit, resembling a grape but smaller in size and coloured dark purple. Most of it is seed. Once harvested, it does not stay good for more than a day. That is the reason it needs good preservation techniques to keep it fresh as well to keep all the nutrients intact.

It is packed with nutrients such as antioxidants, fiber, proteins as well as the good fats. That is what makes it so desirable, healthy and effective. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that the market is flooded with Acai supplements. However, as the rule is; some bad always comes with the good. Therefore, not all the supplements are good and not all supplements have the same health value.

Hence, it only makes sense that you choose properly.

Freeze drying the best way to preserve the nutrients

While there are other methods that might be cheaper as well as easier ways to preserve Acai berries, none is better than freeze-drying. The pulp is dried, frozen to powder form. You should make sure that your acai supplement has been made with freeze-dried acai.

Spray drying is not the best method

Spray drying involves heating the berries in order to remove the moisture. This high temperature causes the berries to lose most of the nutrients that make it so effective. Spray drying also involves addition of some extra chemicals such as maltodextrin in order to effect faster drying. Thus, instead of pure berries, you get almost half of it to be the additives. This reduces its effectiveness. Although it is cheaper, you might have to consume more, which if you think about it is after all the same as paying more for a pure product.

Acai extracts are no good

Extracts involves extracting some specific ingredients or components. The best example can be extracting oil out of sunflower seeds. However, when it comes to acai, it simply does not make any sense. You would want to eat the whole fruit to get benefits of all the nutrients. Why would you want to have an extract when you can get more from the whole fruit? Do not let the marketers fool you by using big phrases like “super concentrated berry extract”. It does not mean anything.

All you can remember is this; not all supplements are the same. Some are good while some are not so good. Do not get fooled and choose wisely.