If you have recently heard about acai berries, the fruit which comes from the South American palm tree, you may be wondering what potential side effects it may cause. Usually when one hears about a new product being promoted as a weight loss supplement they think about the possible negatives as well as the benefits. Although the acai berry is a fruit and not a drug, when considering their health, certain people may not take into account this difference. The extract form the acai berry often comes in may also be a cause of this confusion. Consumption of acai berry in any form, whether it be the whole berry, an extract or puree has not been shown to cause side effects in any study. Considering an acai berry is not too different from a blueberry, this is not surprising. Have you ever heard of someone having severe side effects from blueberries? If you happen to have a rare allergy to them you may have a reaction, but otherwise you should be just fine. One of the only fruits shown to cause interactions with a wide variety of drugs is grapefruit. Acai berry does not contain the chemical responsible for the reactions that grapefruit causes. People who are taking a statin drug or similar must surely be wondering if acai berry can cause an interaction. The answer is mostly likely no. Of course anything is possible, but no studies have yet shown that acai berry will cause an interaction with any specific drug. You will find the potential benefits outweigh the risk of any unlikely side effects. Acai berries contain the highest levels of antioxidants found in almost any fruit. The most common purple variety contains the highest concentration while the white variety contains the lowest. It is unlikely that you will find the white variety in North America however. Acai berries contain more free radical-scavenging antioxidants than either cranberries or black cherries. A recent study has shown that acai berries may actually be able to decrease inflammation.[1] During the study it was determined that acai berry is a potential COX-1 and COX-2 inhibitor. COX-1 and COX-2 are the enzymes responsible for pain and inflammation. This should be welcome news to anyone who suffers from the pain caused by inflammation. Inflammation is the cause of a number of conditions, so even if you're not currently affected by it, supplementing with acai may be good for prevention if acai is indeed a COX inhibitor. There are many other benefits of consuming acai berry, but the objective of this article is to clarify that no study has yet proven any risks of eating acai. With all of the hyper surrounding this supplement, one could easily assume that eating it could cause side effects, but that is not the case. Acai berry truly has no negatives unless you happen to not like the taste which is also unlikely! Reference: 1. Schauss A, Xianli W, Prior R, Ou B, Huang D, Owens J, Agarwal A, Jensen G, Hart A, Shanbrom E. Antioxidant Capacity and Other Bioactivities of the Freeze-Dried Amazonian Palm Berry, Euterpe oleraceae Mart. (Acai). J Agric Food Chem 2006 Nov 1;54(22):8604-10. PMID: 17061840
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