Acai Processing and Quality

How acai is processed is vital in keeping it's nutritional content ...

Okay, so acai is grown, harvested and then made in to supplements and juices ...

Well unfortunately it's not that simple. Like any other foodstuff, there are many ways that acai can be processed after harvesting, which has an enormous effect on the quality.

The most troubling thing is that not every product shows exactly how it's been processed, and most people aren't even aware how much a difference it can make.

We've put together this quick guide to acai processing so you start to appreciate the differences.

Acai berry - Spray dried.

Some acai products use 'Spray-dried Acai fruit powder':

The acai is heated to a high temperature, to evaporate all the water content. Then, the resulting dried acai residue is sprayed with a food additive such as maltodextrin (a starch derived from either rice, potato or wheat).

Right then ... the first thing is the heating. Heat any foodstuff and you start to lose nutritional value. Heating to a high temperature and you are losing a load.

A second issue could be the Maltodextrin used to preserve the results acai powder. The USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) has reports suggesting coeliac reactions from Maltodextrin.

Combining the two above, the actual finished weight of the processed acai contains only 60% of acai, so a 500mg capsule would actually only have 300mg of acai.

 

Frozen Acai Fruit Pulp - Freeze-dried.

From all the research to date, freeze dried acai pulp offers the best guarantee of the most nutritional content. After harvesting, the acai skin and pulp is removed and then "flash frozen" within hours of picking (a bit like the popular garden peas company adverts on TV). This process allows the full synergy of antioxidants, essential and healthy fats, fibres and proteins found in Acai.

The resulting frozen acai pulp is either processed on site, or shipped to other countries for processing.

It is this final processing that is important. The frozen Acai pulp is non-thermally dried (freeze dried), using no heat whatsoever.

Important to take note of, is that freeze dried products have a higher concentration of nutrients than other processes. This is because as the water content is removed, a rich pulp is made which has a higher nutrient concentration than the raw fruit itself.

While 100 grams of fresh fruit has an ORAC score of 5,500, the same weight of freeze dried Acai has an ORAC score of 34,000.

 

A quick note about acai 'Extracts' ...

You'll often see acai 'extracts' alongside a claim that it is (normally) 4 times as strong as other peoples products. WRONG

All fruit products are an extract. They are the dried (freeze-dried) remains of the fruit after processing. The standard most common ratio is 4:1 for acai - that is it takes 1 kilo of fresh acai to produce 250mg of dried acai powder.

When you see a product with 500mg acai extract, that means it has 125mg of acai powder in it. That is why the term extract is on the supplement facts label of these products - it is a legal requirement. Unfortunately, whether through ignorance or worse, some companies make different claims, that their 500mg is the equivalent of 2000mg.

The only way to be 100% sure that the product you buying is whole acai powder, is to make sure you do NOT see the term extract, and instead see the term "Acai Berry".

Our acai berry capsules have a full 500mg of acai powder, which is actually equivalent to 2000mg of unprocessed acai.

 

Conclusion

Clearly freeze-dried acai berry is the best choice, and if you want your money's worth NOT an extract, but full powder acai berry.

 

What is acai and what are it's benefits

Acai Berry Information and Research. What is the Acai berry? First of all how do you say it! Acai is properly pronounced as Ah-Sigh-EE. It is a blueberry sized fruit of purple colour that grows in the Amazonian rain forests of Brazil.

The cheap acai facts

So it seems an absolute bargain acai buy, but is it really? Unfortunately, probably not, as cheap acai is likely to be very low quality and actually cost you more than a regular priced product. It's really confusing isn't it. You read or heard about Acai and would like to try it out, but there seems to hundreds of web sites all making fantastic claims about their product. Plus, the prices can vary from £10 to £40 a bottle!

Pure Acai™ berry supplements and powder tubs

We currently stock two pure acai berry products, Pure Acai™ supplements and Pure Acai™ powder tubs. All our products use premium freeze dried and organic acai powder. As well as being of the best quality, we also only use Fair Trade acai. This guarantees the workers growing and harvesting the acai fair wages and working conditions.

Pure Acai™ certification

Freeze dried acai certiifcation, organic status, certificates and reports

Acai Berry Supplements UK Guarantee

Satisfaction Guaranteed or Your Money Back. AcaiBerrySupplements.co.uk unconditionally guarantee the quality of every product we offer. We go to great lengths to make sure you get the best quality products, and a safe and secure online buying environment. In fact, we are so confident in the quality and value of the Pure Acai™ products we sell, we are happy to offer a money back guarantee on opened products (try getting your money back from your local chemist for an opened bottle of supplements!).

AcaiBerry Supplements FAQ

Pure Acai Berry. Our acai berry products contain just one ingredient - 100% pure organic acai berry, with absolutely no additives or flowing agents. Further, the acai we use is freeze-dried, which is the only processing method which guarantees that most of the natural goodness of the acai is kept.