Current Use of Acai Berries and What is Science Saying?

What makes acai berries part of the group of ‘superfoods’ are its antioxidant properties which help to fight off free radicals, thereby eliminating oxidative stress.  This antioxidant potential has been touted as possibly providing superior disease prevention including preventing the onset of vascular disease, but the length and extent of its effects have yet to be determined. Acai has also been claimed to boost energy and increase weight loss, both of which have not been proven scientifically, thus far.

                In Oliveira de Souza et al.’s double blind, randomized-control, longitudinal 6 week study on female rats, they were trying to determine Euterpe olacerea’s antioxidant capacity in vivo while investigating the magnitude of its cholesterol reducing effects. The study’s careful conduction was apparent, from ensuring equal baseline parameters to the four groups used: control (C); control with 2% acai (CA); hypercholesterolemic diet (H) of soy oil and cholesterol (25:1); and (HA) a hypercholesterolemic diet with 2% acai pulp (2010).

                HA rats were found to have a significantly lower food intake while that of CA rats were unaffected. Meanwhile the addition of acai significantly increased the weight of rats in both the CA and HA groups relative to the C and H groups, respectively. Thus, acai must have increased the food efficiency index as weight gain occurred despite a decrease in food consumption. To measure oxidative stress, serum carbonyl and sulfhydryl groups were evaluated and the addition of acai pulp resulted in significantly reduced number of carbonyl proteins. Meanwhile, acai pulp did lower non-HDL and total cholesterol levels, as well as the artherogenic index of HA rats. The cholesterol levels were analogous to those exhibited during dietarily-induced hypercholesterolemia, and were thus a good preliminary model.

The results were in line with the postulated outcomes , with the acai berries found to both increase antioxidant activities through the activation of antioxidant enzymes while having a hypocholesterolemic effect (Oliveira de Souza et al, 2010). While these results cannot be extrapolated to humans directly, this rat study shows great promise to replicating the results when a study will be conducted on human subjects.  

In Schauss et al.’s study, they break down the nutritional components of the acai berry, and in doing so, isolates the constituents which can explain Euterpe oleracea’s antioxidant potential and its possible role in improving human health through consumption (2006). Most importantly, it finds out which nutrients remain in the food once it has undergone the freeze-dry process, as it is in this form that most people will consume it, due to its time-limited form of 36 hours when consumed fresh.  Unfortunately, in direct conflict with other papers cited, the levels of anthocyanins are lower than hypothesized, leading to direct implications in terms of effectiveness and dosing outcomes that will have to be altered in light of this (Schauss et al., 2006.)