superfood acai berry

It is a tropical berry with high nutritional density, but 90% of the acai berry products on the market with the "superfood" label are marketed at a premium. Ordinary people do not need to pay for gimmicks. People with special dietary needs must choose pure products without additives to be useful.

The first time I came into contact with this thing was when I went to the gym in 2019. Personal trainers posted on social media every day, saying that a small spoonful of acai berry powder has the same antioxidant capacity as 10 boxes of blueberries, and that it can help lose 3 pounds in a week and lighten spots. I was so excited that I spent 328 yuan to buy a 150g can. After drinking it for two months, my weight did not move. My aunt's daily ice acai berry bowl even gave me pain. Later, I read nutrition journals and asked friends who work in public nutrition, and I finally understood this thing.

The acai berry itself is a palm tree fruit in the Amazon basin. The purple-black peel is very thin when pinched open, and the taste is a bit like the mulberries we often eat. It is sour and astringent. According to USDA public testing data, its anthocyanin and total flavonoid content are indeed 2-3 times that of ordinary blueberries. The proportion of unsaturated fatty acids is close to that of olive oil. It also has a lot of dietary fiber and vitamin A. These are all supported by experimental data and are not made up out of thin air.

But the reason why there is so much controversy now is partly because the marketing hype is too far-fetched, and the other half is because many people dismiss it at once and think it is all an IQ tax. In fact, both sides are a bit biased.

You must have seen the group that boasts the most. They say things like "fighting cancer, reversing ageing, and losing weight if you drink it" are all words that covertly change the concept. For example, "low calorie and low sugar" is a characteristic of fresh acai berries, but in most of the prepared powders you buy, the second ingredient is either maltodextrin or fructose syrup. The can I used to make mistakes has a cup of sugar that is almost as much as half a bottle of Coke. It's weird that I can lose weight. There are also claims about anti-cancer and anti-aging, which are all based on in vitro cell experiments. To really achieve an effective dose, you have to eat twenty or thirty pounds of fresh acai berries a day, which is simply impossible.

But it would also be wrong to say that it is entirely an IQ tax. I have a friend who works as a logistics supporter for alpine hiking. Their team always brings freeze-dried acai berry cubes for high-altitude training. They do not need to be refrigerated and are light in weight. You can replenish a lot of antioxidants and calories by chewing one piece. It is much more convenient than bringing a bunch of fresh blueberries that are easily damaged. There are also friends who strictly follow the ketogenic diet. The pure acai berry powder without additives has a low glycemic index and a higher nutritional density than ordinary berries. In fact, it is more cost-effective than buying imported blueberries every day.

Really, don’t believe the nonsense that “a cup of acai berry a day makes you ten years younger.”

If we ordinary people buy it, if we go to an imported supermarket and see a small box of fresh fruit for thirty or forty yuan, it is no problem to buy it back and try it. It is delicious in milkshakes and yogurt, so there is no need to buy it every day as a necessity. If you want to buy powder, just look through the ingredient list. If there are only three words "acai berry" in it, then pay for it. If it has added sugar, flavor, or dextrin, pass it. If the unit price exceeds 1 yuan 1g, don't take advantage of it. There are many domestic brands that make freeze-dried berries, and pure powder is only about this price.

If you really don’t want to spend this wasted money, it’s easier to make soy milk and grab a handful of dried mulberries every morning. When you’re hungry in the afternoon, eat a small box of blueberries and a few almonds. The supplement of anthocyanins and unsaturated fatty acids is almost the same as eating acai berries. This is what I eat now. Isn’t it better than spending more than 300 to buy a can of sugar-sweetened powder?

By the way, I recently read about a girl who drank three large cups of acai berry powder a day in order to whiten her skin. She suffered from diarrhea for three days. It has a high dietary fiber content. People with weak stomachs can’t handle it if they eat too much. Everything good should be eaten in moderation. Just eat a berry, and you don’t have to worry about marketing.