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. Just like any other foodstuff, there are several ways that acai is processed after harvesting, which can have an enormous effect on the resulting 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 is the best choice, and if you want your money's worth NOT an extract, but full powder acai berry.