Acai berry weight-loss claims

Consumers should be skeptical of health and weight-loss claims of the increasingly popular Brazilian fruit, acai, and the free trial offers that ask for their credit card information, a nonprofit health group said Monday.
Companies selling acai fruits are under investigation after numerous consumer complaints.

Companies selling acai fruits are under investigation after numerous consumer complaints.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest said companies offering free trials of diet pills made with the acai berries have bilked thousands of consumers using fake celebrity endorsements and blogs to lure customers.

Consumers are asked to provide a credit card to pay shipping and handling charges, but begin almost immediately receiving $80 to $90 monthly charges. Thousands of consumers have had trouble stopping those charges once they canceled the free trial offer.

Acai (pronounced a-sigh-EE) comes in a number of forms including juice, pulp, powder and capsule. The berry has been touted as an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and an antibacterial. The fruit is said to contain Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids, which are essential to human health.

Claims of weight loss are unfounded, said the CSPI.

“There’s no evidence whatsoever to suggest that acai pills will help shed pounds, flatten tummies, cleanse colon, enhance sexual desire, or perform any of the other commonly advertised functions,” according to the organization’s press release.

Acai’s popularity has surged on bogus marketing claims, said Jonny Bowden, a certified nutrition specialist and author of several health books.

“Virtually every berry — blueberry, strawberry, goji, acai — are anti-inflammatory and high in antioxidants,” Bowden said. “This particular one is exotic. It’s found in Brazil. It’s been marketed to have more of a magic ingredient. It’s been over-hyped and marketed to death. There are claims to curing cancer, curing baldness that is all over the place.”

Like most berries, acai has good nutritional qualities, but “there is not a drop of research” that supports marketing claims that it prevents weight gain and facial wrinkles, Bowden said.

Acai juices sell for as much as $40 per bottle.

“The expensive acai berry is triumph of marketing over science, that’s the bottom line,” Bowden said. “It’s not useless, but it’s not anything that people are claiming it is.”

Companies including FWM Laboratories of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Hollywood, Florida, Advanced Wellness Research of Miami Beach, Florida, and other acai companies are accused of using fake diet blogs to steer consumers to sites plugging the free trials.

After a doctor listed acai as a healthy food on the Oprah Winfrey show last year, and a guest on Rachael Ray’s cooking show mentioned the fruit, ads popped up directing consumers to sites selling acai weight loss products as if endorsed by the celebrities. Winfrey and Ray have publicly disassociated themselves from those sites.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is investigating numerous complaints and said a lawsuit against FWM Laboratories is very likely.

Weight loss tips for new moms

You’re a new mom. You don’t have time for that tedious almond-counting crap. And after 10 months of loathing chicken, you finally want to eat it — but only if it’s breaded and deep-fried. That said, you also wouldn’t mind incinerating a few pounds of baby weight.

We’ve rounded up a ton of tips and strategies that promise to make smart eating easy — and satisfying. You’ll be looking and feeling slimmer all over almost as fast as you can ask, “Do you deliver?”

Three sneaky diet saboteurs

Learn how to steer clear of these all-too-common habits and you’ll be three steps closer to slim.

Skipping meals
Missing a meal is pretty easy to do, especially in the early days; getting the hang of feeding the baby is hard enough, let alone figuring out how to feed the baby and yourself at the same time. But making time to nosh regularly is crucial, particularly now when your body is deep in recovery mode. “Restricting calories at this point is just another stressor on your body,” says Samantha Heller, R.D., nutrition coordinator for the YMCA in Fairfield, Connecticut.

What’s more, severely limiting your calories can actually keep the pounds on down the road. You’ll be exhausted, hungry, stressed, and prone to making unwise food choices (say, downing an entire pan of brownies), says Eileen Behan, author of “Eat Well, Lose Weight, While Breastfeeding: The Complete Nutrition Book for Nursing Mothers.” Parenting: Your guide to no-guilt fast food

Plus, research suggests that you may actually slow your metabolism. Your body begins to think food is scarce and decides to slow down its consumption of stored energy — otherwise known as old-fashioned fat.