Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

Acai berries are in EVERYTHING lately, even Vitamin Water. I get at least fifty spam emails in my box every day for acai and weight loss. Acai berries are supposed to be chock-full of antioxidants, but do they help you lose weight? Not according to the Connecticut Attorney General.

• Consumers Warned of Web-Based Acai Scams

Acai began attracting attention in 2005 on the belief that its juice was especially high in antioxidants. In truth, acai juice has only middling levels of antioxidants less than that of Concord grape, blueberry, and black cherry juices, but more than cranberry, orange, and apple juices. Even so, the extent to which antioxidants by themselves promote health is a matter of some debate. No credible evidence suggests antioxidants promote weight loss.

Here is a list they gave of some of the questionable websites that promote acai:

• Oprah-best-acai.com
• OprahsAmazingDiet.com
• DrOzMiracle.com
• rachaelray.drozdiet-acaiberry.com

Oprah Winfrey, Mehmet Oz, and Rachael Ray have NOTHING to do with these sites and have all stated that they are not affiliated with them.

Worse still, they say that some of these companies lure you in with a “free” trial, take your credit card number and charge you monthly for pills that you no longer want to receive.

“There are no magical berries from the Brazilian rainforest that cure obesity only painfully real credit card charges and empty weight loss promises,” said Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. “Aggressive Acai berry pitches on the Internet entice countless consumers into free trials promising weight loss, energy and detoxification. These claims are based on folklore, traditional remedies and outright fabrications unproven by real scientific evidence. In reality, consumers lose more money than weight after free trials transition into inescapable charges.”

Any company promising weight loss is suspect. Acai berries are no magic solution to lose weight and any company that says they are doesn’t have the medical data to support those claims right now, so stay away from them.