Though the acai berry offers a wealth of nutritional benefits, it must be processed correctly to maintain its viability. Too many companies harvest the berries, transport them for processing, and therefore wait too long before packing them for shipping. The good companies process the fruits on site and therefore eliminate the wait time between harvest and acai capsule production.

Acai berry can be dried and sold whole, turned into a pulp and packaged, juiced, or freeze dried and made into a powder. Very seldom are the berries consumed fresh outside of their native Brazil, since they wouldn’t survive the transport time to other areas of the world. Their nutrients are best utilized when the berry is processed very soon after harvesting. It is more important for the berry to be processed quickly after harvest, than the berry to be made into one form or another.

However, acai berry in different forms has different benefits. Consuming acai in its pulp form is good because it offers all the natural vitamins and minerals, plus tons of fiber which is naturally found in the fruit. It can be used in cooking or eaten as-is.

Juiced acai is good, but the amount of nutrients in acai juice is usually drastically decreased from its original form. Companies which sell a variety of fruit juices with products featuring acai usually make their main ingredients apple, pear, or grape juices, which are cheapest to produce and sweetest tasting. The acai is often last in ingredients list, and processed beyond maintaining any nutritional value.

Acai supplements and derivatives of acai are very user-friendly and effective, as they isolate the nutritional benefits of acai and combine them with other superfood derivatives to make excellent products for weight loss, anti-aging, energy, beauty, and health. As long as the processing techniques are good, supplements can be a great way to get a daily dose of the mega-nutrients that the acai berry has to offer.



By: Zehra Tannely

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