Acai Extract vs Freeze Dried

When you are considering adding an acai berry supplement to your diet, you will have to decide which supplement to use.  Both freeze dried supplements and extracts of acai berry are available, but there are several things to keep in mind when choosing.  To begin with, the acai berry is quite fragile and will need to be processed within 24 hours after it has been picked.  Any longer than that and the fruit will begins to deteriorate and lose nutritive value.  It is imperative that the acai product you choose has been properly handled within several hours.

However, not only must the acai berry be processed quickly, it must also be processed the correct way, and this is by freeze drying.  Some companies use spray or heat drying, which renders the acai basically useless.  Freeze dried acai is usually put into capsules so that the natural goodness of the berry is preserved.  This is the best way to provide you with all the antioxidants, fiber, amino acids, and vitamins locked inside the acai berry. 

Acai extract is a completely different thing from freeze dried acai.  Rather than using the freeze drying process when making extracts, spray drying is the preferred method.  This means that the acai berry has already been robbed of most of its goodness, but the extracting process goes a bit further.  To make an acai extract, only one bit of the acai berry will be used; a product may contain amino acids, or antioxidants, but probably not both.  In most cases, using an acai extract will mean that you are simply not getting the full benefit of acai berry, you are only getting a piece of it, and it could be a seriously deteriorated piece as well.

In many cases, too, acai extract has been combined with other herbs, so not only is it only fragmented acai, but has also been adulterated.  Any fillers take away more of the benefits that acai berry provides.

Freeze dried acai, on the other hand, contains everything that was found in the original berry.  This acai uses both the pulp and the skin to guarantee the maximum benefit.  By processing the acai berry through freeze drying within hours, you will know that all the nutrients are available to you, very little will be lost.

Besides products that have been produced by extraction or adulteration, some acai berry products are made with the entire berry, including the seed.  The acai seed makes up about 90% of the berry, only 10% is pulp and skin.  However, by using the seed as well as the skin and pulp, some suppliers are able to stretch out the berries much further.  The result is, of course, an inferior product. 

If you are concerned about your health and are looking for an acai berry supplement that could be beneficial to your wellbeing, use one that is made from freeze dried acai – that way you will know that the power of the acai will be there for you.