The Acai Berry is a wonder fruit native to the rainforests of Central and South America. People all over the world are claiming that the Acai berry is a super food capable of delivering amazing health results to anyone who regularly consumes them.

Acai berries are said to be able to help with weight loss, can promote deeper and sounder sleep, contribute to cleansing and detoxifying the body, aid improved alertness, provide energy and can even slow down the aging process. The list of claimed benefits is extensive to say the least.

One astonishing claim is that the Acai berry fruit has anti-cancer properties. At first glance it is easy to dismiss such a claim as hype until you realize that there has never been a recorded case of cancer amongst the Amazonian natives who consume Acai berries. Given this, what properties does the Acai berry have that could possibly help prevent cancer?

Acai Berry Acai is considered a super food because it is high in a range of nutrients. Although only as large as a grape, the Acai berry is rich with vitamins, minerals and essential amino acids. It is possible that one or a combination of all of these nutrients, when consumed regularly, will help maintain the body in good health.

That said, it is known that Acai is a source of Glutathione, an antioxidant known to help detoxify the body of carcinogens. Carcinogens are believed to have a direct impact on the formation and spread of cancer cells. It seems reasonable that if the composition of the Acai can help reduce the spread of cancer causing agents such as carcinogens, then the claim that Acai has anti-cancer properties is valid.

At the time of writing this article there have been no scientific clinical trials of Acai based products upon cancer patients, however there have been a few laboratory commissioned studies. In one such study (conducted by The Journal of Food and Agricultural Food Chemistry) Acai berry extracts were applied to test tubes containing leukemia cells and according to the study 85% of the leukemia cells self destructed as a result.

Until such time as formal clinical trials can deliver unquestionable findings it would be wrong to claim that Acai berries can cure any form of cancer. However, given the information that is already available it would seem there is no doubt that the Acai berry fruit has anti-cancer properties. In the western world 1 in 3 people will suffer from cancer – an absurd statistic by comparison to the reported zero instances in the Amazon. There may be a lack of scientific findings in the western world on the full extent to which Acai can impact cancer, but there is not doubt that the Acai berry contains a degree of anti-cancer potential and so it is well worth considering including Acai Berry as a supplement to any healthy diet.

Diet supplementation using Acai Berry related products has recently become extremely popular thanks to reports of amazing health benefits from people all over the world.

Benefits that are claimed range from weight loss to anti-aging, increased energy to improved alertness and even cancer prevention. With such a wealth of benefits more and more people are becoming interested in trying Acai based products and with this increasing demand it seems pertinent to ask one very important question – can consuming Acai berries result in any harmful side effects?

The first thing to realize is that the rapid spread of Acai berry based products in the western world is a relatively new phenomenon and so the impact the fruit may have on a wider sample of the population isn’t yet known. There have however been no reports of negative side effects from Acai palm’s native region in Central and Southern America, although given that Acai is not new there this is unsurprising.

What is surprising is that although the Acai berry is relatively new to western society it seems to have no adverse side effects at all.Acai Berry At the very least there have been no reports of negative effects to date.

Of course it is always possible that certain people may be predisposed to suffering allergic reactions to Acai berry fruit in much the same way as some individuals suffer allergies to peanuts, strawberries and so on down the list of virtually every other food that exists. Yet with that caveat in mind it can be repeated that there have, at least to date, been no reports of adverse effects from consuming Acai berry based products.

At this point it might be prudent to comment that some people have reported the side effect of a loss of appetite as a result of Acai berry consumption. Rather than perceived as adverse this supposed side effect is often used to promote Acai berry based products for weight loss purposes.

Here it is necessary to clarify that there exists no controlled scientific evidence to suggest Acai can result in a loss of appetite. It is true that Acai berries contain certain nutrients that have been linked to appetite suppression but early evidence indicates the quantities are so minute that to truly suppress the appetite you would have to consume Acai berries in vast quantities. If you consume anything in vast quantities you will experience appetite suppression!

Whilst Acai berries are an all natural fruit typically many people will obtain Acai through supplements such as pills, powders, juices and so on. The production of these supplements could introduce variables that may lead to adverse reactions. Further, many supplements containing Acai are beginning to emerge that contain mixtures of other supplements in addition to the Acai. Naturally there is always a risk that an individual here and there may suffer an adverse reaction to these different mixtures and processing methods. This however relates not so much to Acai Berry as it does to the production of any other diet supplement you may care to ingest.