Acai Berries For Weight Loss

It seems as if there isn't a day goes by without a new super food making the headlines as the next big thing in the never ending struggle to find the key to long term weight loss. While most of these tend to hang around for a while and then are dismissed a fallacy and forgotten, there are a few that have maintained that initial interest and the buzz around them has continued.

One of these is the Acai Berry, an innocuous looking fruit that is a purplish red colour and originates from the Acai palm trees that are found in central and south America. They are close relatives of cranberries, blueberries and other such dark fruits, and as the health benefits of the two former fruits have been long confirmed it seems pretty obvious that the Acai Berry will also be beneficial to health.

So Why The Claims About Acai Berries In Particular?

The crux of the matter here is that there is a difference between being good for you, and helping in long term weight loss. There are numerous fruits, vegetables and other food products that are good for us and we are advised to eat plenty of, but as far as weight loss goes, you couldn't survive on these alone.

The key to long term weight loss is that once it’s off it stays off, and this is where crash diets fails so miserably. You eat an extremely limited diet and the weight drops off quickly, start eating normally and bingo, your weight stops creeping back up. Finding something that genuinely aids the loss of weight in the long term is like looking for a needle in a haystack, yet Acai Berries are building a reputation as just that.

One of the facts that have been verified about the Acai Berry is the antioxidant capacity this small fruit carries; there are more antioxidants in the pulp of an Acai Berry than in Cranberries, Blueberries, Blackberries, Strawberries and Raspberries. Eating a diet that is high in antioxidants has undoubted health benefits, and it seems that it is from this information that the Acai Berry is being so highly touted as the latest, and greatest, super food.

So Acai Berries Are Guaranteed To Help Me Lose Weight?

There are, however, as yet, no proven scientific results that the Acai Berry is a key player in the long term weight loss. Incorporating it into your diet will undoubtedly be a boon to your health, and as part of a healthy eating regime you will see weight loss, the jury is still out however as to whether the Acai Berry has some other, as yet undiscovered, properties that will see it officially classed as a super food and be recommended by the medical profession as a genuine aid to long term weight loss.
 

In Summary

So where does that leave us as far as the numerous supplements containing Acai Berry, which promise phenomenal weight loss results, are concerned. As previously mentioned, the undoubtedly impressive amount of antioxidants contained in this fruit are good for your health, and if taken as part of a healthy diet that includes plenty of fresh fruit and vegetable, fish and lean meats you will see weight loss.

Do not, however, splash out on these supplements and think you can still eat normally and the weight will just drop off, these re food supplements, not magic beans. Manufacturers were quick to jump on the Acai Berry bandwagon, and as well as supposedly being the weight loss discovery of the century, they are also the next big thing in anti-aging.

Once again, this comes from the knowledge of their antioxidant properties, and there is no evidence that Acai Berries have a singularly significant effect on aging, although anecdotal evidence seems very strong

References used :

i    BBC, Published online 13 June 2011
ii.    Nutriton Journal, Vol 12, Publication Nov 2011.