Acai berry products are plenteous on the Internet and at health food stores. It seems that the world has caught on to the fact that the acai berry has one of the highest nutritional profiles of any food ever found on earth.
You can stumble upon products out there that take full advantage of the natural nutritional value of this little berry, however, there are also some mediocre products offered. In order to receive the extensive nutritional potential of the acai berry the products must be processed with a outstanding process.
The acai berry is rich with healthy fats and thus it is especially perishable. These berries must be processed within 24 hours of being selected from the tree or they will lose their nutritional integrity. There are two main methods of processing the acai berry, freeze-drying and spray-drying.
The best quality method of processing the acai berry is by freeze-drying. The berries are picked and immediately flash frozen and dehydrated. The resulting product is a freeze-dried powder that maintains the nutritional integrity of the fresh fruit.
Acai berries are also processed using a spray-drying technique. Spray-drying uses heat, which compromises the nutrition and then it utilizes maltodextrin, a short-chained sugar starch, as a drying agent. Spray-dried acai berry is a combination of fruit and maltodextrin, rather than just the wholesome fruit.
One more that is a common sight on the ingredient list of many acai products is the words “proprietary blend”. This means that the company is not really telling you how much authentic acai berry you are receiving in the product. A blend is a combination of actual acai berry extracts or powder along with some inert ingredients. Look for a product that is precise in the accurate amount of acai berry included.
Additional things to be aware of are other ingredients such as magnesium stearate, maltodextrin, rice or silica. These are filler and flowing agents and they diminish the authentic nutritional value of the product by reducing the quantity of actual acai berry.
In order to receive the highest nutritional value make sure that the product you buy is freeze-dried powder with the utmost concentration of the authentic fruit.
