Acai is an enormously popular health food at the moment because it has proven to have substantial merit and because it is new. As a consequence, the businesses that prey on people who grasp at fad products have flooded the market with an endless selection of health drinks, capsules and tablets that contain a measure of acai extract. The health improvement promises that are made for these products are usually a pretty good clue to the quality of the product. If you see an ad for acai tablets that attests to “the Viagra of the Amazon,” don’t buy it.
Acai products arrive in the United States in some sort of preserved state. The acai berries grow in several South American countries that share the Amazon Basin. Acai foods are very popular in Brazil, which is probably the major exporter of treated acai berries. They are used to make juice and to make a puree, which is created from the berry pulp.
There are also dozens of acai products based on a powder form of the berry. The fruit is either freeze dried or “spray dried” and then ground into a powder that has multiple uses. Many companies package this powder for home use in smoothies or simply with a glass of water. The freeze dried acai is the preferable product. Spray drying requires heating the berries to the point where the moisture in them evaporates. This production process does substantial damage to the healthful properties of the berry.
Acai powder is also used to manufacture both capsules and tablets in varying doses. For any product manufactured from acai powder, read the label carefully to make sure that the pills you are buying are pure acai and not a combination of acai and other antioxidant sources.