Acai berry diet: Does it work?

Just recently I came across this new supplement called the Acai Optimum diet. This "diet" supplement claims that if you combine their acai (ah-sa-hi) berry extract in pill form along with a colon cleansing supplement for 1 month you will lose pounds and inches effortlessly!

The premise of this "diet" is that the acai berry extract will help "detoxify" your body, eliminate toxins, enhance energy, and help "speed up your metabolism," and the colon cleanser supplement supposedly helps further eliminate toxins that may be causing you to be sluggish or "slowing" you down. Interestingly, there are several testimonials by "reporters" with website names such as "news11reporter.com", or news8reporter, or news9, 10 (etc... you get the idea), who all have the exact same story. They claim to have lost 25 pounds in 4 weeks as they experimented on themselves. The story sounds very convincing because it starts out as a skeptic reporter who goes on to become a believer in the product as she loses tons of weight in just 4 weeks.

The truth is there is no such reporter and there is no scientific evidence that the acai berry extract will help people lose weight. In fact, on the company's website they have a disclaimer that the berry is not regulated or has not been proven by the FDA. In fact, I recently served as a dietitian for a pharmaceutical company researching a new weight-loss medication which incorporated a three phase intensive trial over 5 years in numerous locations across the country. Even with the advance technology behind this drug the research showed that people only lost about 10% of excess body weight over a one year period. The FDA is just now considering the safety of this drug and whether to allow the sale for weight loss. So, you mean to tell me some supplement company has the "magic bullet" without any research and just a few fake testimonials? Not so sure!

Bottom-line: There is just no replacement for balanced healthy eating, adding more fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean sources of protein, and healthy fats to your diet as well as daily physical activity. There are numerous products that claim to "enhance" this and "detox" that but there is just no scientific evidence for these claims. Just remember, if it's too good to be true then it probably is!

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about a supplement or new weight-loss product.