INTERNET FRENZY
Our world gets smaller and smaller each day as access to information real or otherwise accelerates. The internet facilitates this access and spreads information at lightening speed. At times it is hard to know what is real and what is not. Overnight stores pop up on the internet selling or should I say creating the latest craze. Last year the Acai berry became an unsuspecting victim of this internet phenomenon.

OVER-PROMOTION
The internet and Multi-Level-Marketers played a pivotal role in the over-promotion of Acai. While this nearly esoteric fruit brought out of obscurity by a couple of dumb-lucked surfer dudes really has health benefiting properties the perpetrators of these extreme and questionable business plans greedily overstated the value of Acai. Both business plans spawn minions through affiliate sites and “independent distributors”. And just like the old game “Secret” where one person begins whispering a benign phrase into the ear of another and so on and so on until it reaches the end distorted and obtuse so do these affiliates and independent distributors zealously fuel their minions with dreams of riches and half truths about Acai.

THE MALINGERERS
Acai became somewhat maligned in 2009 through the half baked claims of miracle weight loss. Offers for “Acai diet pills” and “free offer trials” inundated the electronic market place like a tsunami. Both unsuspecting and careless consumers signed up in droves to get their “free” bottle of acai miracle pills only to find out that they were trapped in recurring charges on their credit cards and that the pills were useless placebos. But, who could resist with the likes of Oprah and Dr. Oz, Matt Lauer, CBS News and others seemingly promoting the touted effects of these pills on these web sites? The truth of the matter is that the images and or likeness of all of these celebrities and organizations were plagiarized and misquoted. It turns out that the companies who developed this strategy to take advantage of Acai, celebrities and consumers were pursued by the law. Several states Attorneys General went after these unscrupulous firms requiring them to be forthcoming with the details of their programs and shuttered many of them through large financial judgments.

PRAISE THE BERRY
So how is it then that this Acai berry is till growing in popularity? Are people really praising it? I think the answer to the first question is that because the Acai berry has legitimate health benefits. And that is the answer to the second question as well. Acai has been used for centuries along the Amazon River basin. There is even a legend about the Acai berry that originated with the tribes of this region. It has been used as a food staple in the diets of these individuals for centuries. The berries are collected and used in everyday cooking. It has a nutritional profile that adds important elements such as fiber, antioxidants, omega 6 & 9, B vitamins and other health promoting components. The people of this region thrive on the Acai. Studies of groups of individuals who eat Acai on a regular basis compare to those who do not show that those who use Acai have higher levels of HDL the good cholesterol and lower levels of the bad cholesterol LDL. They also were found to be free of heart disease and had healthier hearts. Acai also helps to strengthen the immune system and improve both skin and hair health.