THE PROBLEM
QUALITY: Finding an acai company who creates a quality, organic, pure acai product who will not rip you off. Since acai is so popular these days, many manufacturers have entered the market creating watered down acai products with fillers which give you NONE of the benefits that authentic acai will give you. There are a lot of companies selling inferior acai products that are more than 50% filled with carriers like magnesium stearate, multi dextrin, soy lecithin and others..
While additional research is needed, pilot studies suggest that in otherwise healthy, overweight adults, daily consumption of pure organic sugar free acai reduces cholesterol significantly and several markers of metabolic syndrome associated with an increased risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and stroke,” said Jack F. Bukowski, MD, Ph.D., a former Harvard professor and currently Director of the Nutritional Science Research Institute.
FREE TRIAL SCAMMERS: (By the way, they are not really free because you have to pay shipping!) The reason they charge you for shipping is so they can get your credit card info and charge it every month. I am talking about all of the “free trial” offers out there who promise a free trial but instead they start charging you $89 per month or more without you knowing it – then they make it very hard to dispute the transaction. Also all of these free trial offers are shipping you spray dried butchered acai powder that is about 75-95% dried corn starch! What the reports on these free trial scammers fail to tell you is that the free trial scammers are shipping you worthless placebo! Real acai works but it has to be of the highest quality only. Not just a trace ingredient.
FREE TRIAL SCAMMERS WHO TRY TO ACT LEGITIMATE: Since the “free trial’ acai scammers have been exposed lately in the national media, the same scammers who peddle these schemes set their websites up so they appear to be educating consumers about free trial offers. So they start by saying BEWARE OF FREE TRIAL SCAMS — but the problem is, they are in fact the scammers, they just try to divert attention by appearing as if they are warning about acai scams.
WEIGHT LOSS CLAIMS: Beware of companies who make weight loss claims for acai products – most of these products contain corn starch which is a sugar. Find an acai product that does not contain sugar or any preservatives.
LOOK FOR USDA ORGANIC CERTIFIED ACAI: Products that are USDA Certified Organic are intended to assureconsumers that the organic foods they purchase are produced, processed, and certified to be consistent with national organic standards. This is very important because if you are purchasing an acai product that is non-organic, it could contain harmful pesticides and toxins. Acai products which are chemical and preservative free will give you the maximum benefits. However, acai products that are non-organic could cause you more harm than good. Look for the USDA ORGANIC label before buying ANY acai berry product.
KOSHER CERTIFIED: Some companies go a step further and get their acai product Kosher Certified as well. This adds another layer of quality control which ensures that you are getting the highest quality acai juice or capsules available on the market today. Kosher certification is not easy to get – you can see the requirements here on the OUKOSHER.ORG website. Amazon Thunder is one of the only acai products on the market that are Kosher Certified
NO SUGAR: Look for acai juice that contains no added sugar, you don’t want
sugar in your acai for obvious reasons and because sugar is the #1 cause
of inflammation and acai is an anti-inflammatory. The acai berry has high
levels of antioxidants and you don’t want anything else in there that
would compromise the high ORAC levels. Also acai has been linked to
battling leukemia see this article on acai and cancer. Cancer
feeds off of sugar.
NO PRESERVATIVES: Make sure the acai you are buying has absolutely no preservatives. When purchasing any health products, sometimes the benefits can be canceled out by the preservatives that are added to the product.
GLASS BOTTLES: Make sure the acai pulp juice you are purchasing comes in a glass bottle and is unclarified and unfiltered. Any acai pulp juice product that is packaged in a plastic bottle will cause plastic leeching no matter what they tell you. Juices that are put in plastic bottles have to be hot filled at high temperatures to kill off micros and bacteria and to sanitize the bottle. The only acai products that are acceptable in plastic bottles and this plastic must be a hard plastic are capsules and loose powder.
UNFILTERED: Make sure the acai product you are buying is unfiltered to maintain the wholeness of the acai pulp and fruit.
THICKNESS: True, authentic acai juice is thick — no water added, no sugar, no preservatives, no sodium, just pure organic acai pulp.
ORAC LEVELS: Look for acai juice that has at least 18,000 total ORAC units per single ounce serving. Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) is a method of measuring antioxidant capacities of different foods. If an acai company doesn’t mention the ORAC levels of their acai, it is probably because their levels are very low. High quality acai products have high ORAC levels. SEE OUR ORAC CHART HERE
IS IT SOLD IN STORES?: Real acai companies sell their products in stores – fake “free trial companies” only sell online because they are not legitimate enough to get their products in major chains like Whole Foods and others who carry acai.
BBB RATING?: Look the company up at www.bbb.org and see what their rating is. The Better Business Bureau is starting to crack down on free trial scammers, so this is a great starting point to see what kind of company you are dealing with.
PASTEURIZATION: Acai has to be pasteurized or at the least flash pasteurized to kill off micros and bacteria. Anyone suggesting they are selling unpasteurized acai is not telling the truth it is not allowed by the FDA and even if it was you wouldn’t want to consume it because the micros and bacteria would be too high and pasteurization is what kills the micros off. When pasteurization is done right at the right temperatures the acai will remain unharmed. In fact when freeze dried powder is made from the pulp puree, the pulp puree has to be first pasteurized or flash
pasteurized to kill off the micros and then it is turned into freeze dried powder.
*Not all açaí is created equal, there are very many factors from raw material solids %, purity of product, regions of harvest, oxidation issues, pick to packaging exposure times, sorting facilities, production facilities, transportation and storage of raw materials and so much more.
*Amazon Thunder finished acai pulp liquid products are packaged in glass bottles and foil pouches which are all 100% BPA free as are our capsules and powder products. Most other companies use #7 plastic packaging which is loaded with dangerous BPA’s. The #7 found on the bottom of all liquid bottles on the market or any plastic packaging marked with this # indicates it contains BPA’s.
The Acai Fruit Background
Acai berries are harvested as food. In a study of three traditional Caboclo populations in the Amazon region of Brazil, acai palm was described as the most important plant species because the acai fruit makes up such a major component of diet (up to 42% of the total food intake by weight) and is economically valuable in the region (Murrieta et al., 1999).
The juice and pulp of acai fruits (Euterpe oleracea) are frequently used in various juice blends, smoothies, sodas, and other beverages. In northern Brazil, acai is traditionally served in gourds called “cuias” with tapioca and sometimes sugar. Acai has become a fad in southern Brazil where it is consumed cold as açaí na tigela (“acai in the bowl”), mostly mixed with granola – a fad where acai is considered as an energizer. Acai is also widely consumed in Brazil as an ice cream flavor or juice.
As acai deteriorates rapidly after harvest, its raw material is generally only available outside the immediate growing region as acai juice or acai fruit pulp that has been frozen, dried acai, or freeze-dried. However, several companies now manufacture acai juices, other health drinks, and sorbets made from acai berries, often in combination with other fruits.
The above information is from Wikipedia
Acai fruit is sold in various different forms. Pure dried acai, organic acai, acai juice, acai supplements, acai pulp and so on.
