Acai Berry Superfood: Fact or Fiction?

What is a Superfood?

A superfood is a food that has a high amount of phytonutrients contained in it. “Phyto” is just a fancy name for plant, and a nutrient is basically any chemical that is necessary for an organism to grow and carry out its normal functions of building and repairing tissue, giving the organism energy, and helping out in other body processes. A lot of foods contain phytonutrients (plant nutrients)—all fruits and vegetables, for sure. So, does this make them super? “Superfood” is more of a marketing term, but there are certain foods like the Acai Berry that contain more phytonutrients than other fruits and vegetables do—far more. And because in life things are often presented as a mix of science and art (fact and creative thinking), the Acai Berry has been “branded” as a Superfood. There’s nothing wrong with a food being super healthy for you; by most accounts the acai fits the bill. It has high levels of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, proteins, essential omegas, and fiber. An adequate amount of all of these nutrients is necessary to bolster and maintain human health, growth, and rejuvenation. Whether or not you want to capitalize it and call Acai Berry, “Superfood”, or just call the Acai a super food, it’s entirely up to you. You can decide for yourself if taking the Acai Berry gives your health super benefits. Nutritionally speaking, you may have to consume a combination of other fruits and vegetables to get the same benefit as you would with the Acai . That’s “super” cool, because it’s a “one stone, many birds” advantage!

Who Says the Acai Berry is a Superfood?

It’s all dependent upon whom you ask whether or not the Acai Berry is a Superfood. The naysayers of the Acai, and even dieticians, say that Superfood terminology is not necessarily accurate and that using “Superfood” in conjunction with the Acai is more of a marketing tool or gimmick and that there isn’t even a legal definition of the term “Superfood”. Doctor Perricone of early Acai fame and notoriety lists the Acai Berry as one of the top 10 Superfoods. Some of the benefits of Superfoods are that they may help with age-related illnesses and disease, possibly even slowing down the aging process. The Acai Berry Superfood may also lower blood pressure and cholesterol. One of the more popular claims is that it has some effect on regulating the metabolism to assist in weight loss. Others go so far as to claim that it can prevent cancer. The research is still being done and the jury is still out as to proof or disproof of these claims, but there is some very exciting anecdotal evidence that points to a lot of hope and promise.

What Can a Superfood do (or Mean) for Me?

Regardless of whether or not science has completely proven or verified (or even caught up to the facts!) of every single possible claim of the efficacy of the Acai Berry Superfood, this may indeed be irrelevant to you. There may be less of a motivation for the scientific community and drug companies to back studies involving the Acai and give their “stamp of approval”. How would they be able to monetize their findings if all they could offer was an inferior synthetic form of the Acai (a modified version of what nature produces)? And they don’t yet (hopefully never!) totally control plant substances found in nature. Should this prevent anyone from already using the vast body of evidence that science has provided about what a healthy diet consists of? The components of a healthy diet are already pretty well established and found naturally in the Acai Berry Superfood. It’s just a matter of drawing the conclusions and sensible parallels about how the Acai can enhance your health and give you the benefits you may be seeking.