A GUIDE TO ACAI PRODUCTS
Acai Berry juices are the #1 health topic in the news today and consumers deserve the best product out there. Our review puts Viva!Acai™ as the top pick on the market today! To see why, read our product review below.
Viva! Acai™ received our top recommendation because it delivers both Acai with Pomegranate added to the formula. It offers a “double dose” of high-powered antioxidants and nutrient density at the best price per day. To assist you, we have compared both Acai and Pomegranate products.
Quick Tip…
Value you receive and price per day
It is essential to compare price per day and not price per product. In liquid formulas, some companies deceive you by offering 32 ounce bottles but do not tell you that you need to take 2 ounces a day (a 16-day supply).
Factors in your buying decision
* Amount of Acai and/or Pomegranate per daily dose
* Quality of ingredients
* Delivery system
* Synergistic ingredients
* Price per day
Pills vs. Liquid Formulas
Liquid formulas like Viva!Acai™ provide greater absorption and bioavailability than pills or capsules. Pills or capsules have binders or "fillers" and coatings that make them less bioavailable and absorbable. Clinical evidence indicates absorption and bioavailability of pills or capsules is about 15-20%. Liquid formulas on the other hand provide between 80-85%.
ACAI AND/OR POMEGRANATE JUICES vs. PILLS AND CAPSULES
Most of the better known Acai and Pomegranate products are in liquid form. However, we have provided information on both liquid and pill/capsule forms for your review.
ORAC VALUES (OXYGEN RADICAL ABSORBANCE CAPACITY)
ORAC was developed by the National Institute of Aging in Baltimore, Maryland to assess the antioxidant capacity of certain foods.
ORAC values are reported differently by sellers of commercially available products depending on the unit of measurement used. The ORAC values for Acai and Pomegranate are:
ACAI 18,500
POMEGRANATE 3,307
* per 3.5 oz. serving
** Viva! Acai™ 5,236
REVIEW OF LIQUID FORMULAS
VIVA ACAI ™ |
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Daily dose: |
¼ oz. |
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Delivery System: |
Liquid |
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Synergistic Ingredients: |
Acai – Pomegranate – Cyanocobalamin (Vitamin B12) |
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Rating Rationale: |
Excellent ingredient combination – No caffeine – cGMP certified manufacturer. Marketed direct to consumer. (No MLM) |
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Price per day: |
$.94 |
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Website: |
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Other Leading Acai Liquids:
Inflormation:
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Sambazon® |
Zola™: Acai Power Juice |
Bossa Nova® |
Daily dose: |
10.5 fl oz |
11 fl oz |
8 fl oz |
Delivery System: |
Liquid |
Liquid |
Liquid |
Synergistic Ingredients: |
Organic Acai Juice, Organic Agave |
Acai Pulp, Evaporated Cane Juice, Guarana Powder |
Acai Juice and Organic Agave |
Price per day: |
$4.00 |
$2.24 |
$2.24 |
Rating Rationale: |
Sambazon uses guarana syrup to sweeten the product, adding caffeine and calories to the liquid. The serving size is the entire 10.5 fl oz bottle. It is high in fat for an Acai product. The price per day is expensive. |
Zola adds 24 mg of caffeine from the Guarana seed to the liquid. The serving size is an entire 11 fl oz container. Zola suggests drinking 2 of these containers per day. With the daily consumption of two 11 fl oz containers, you would be ingesting 48 mg of caffeine. |
The second ingredient in Bossa Nova is Agave, which is essentially sugar. The serving size is quite large, nearly the entire 10 oz bottle. It is expensive, costing over $70 for a 32-day supply. |
Website: |
www.sambazon.com |
www.zolaacai.com |
www.bossausa.com |
Pomegranate Products
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Frützzo: Organic 100% Pomegranate Juice |
Pom Wonderful®: Pomegranate Blueberry Juice |
R.W. Knudsen™: Just Pomegranate |
Daily dose: |
4 fl oz |
8 fl oz |
8 fl oz |
Delivery System: |
Liquid |
Liquid |
Liquid |
Synergistic Ingredients: |
Organic 100% Pomegranate Juice is the only ingredient stated. |
160 Calories. No other nutritional content given. |
100% Pomegranate Juice (reconstituted). 150 Calories. Not a good source of Vitamin content, 0% Vitamin A, 2% Vitamin C, 0% Calcium. |
Price per day: |
$2.39 |
$1.99 |
$3.38 |
Rating Rationale: |
This is probably not your best source of Acai or any other nutritional components. There are “natural flavors” listed in the ingredients overview, but what are they? This is very expensive. The serving size is nearly the entire bottle and it would cost over $70 for a 32-day supply. |
This product is a well known name. They suggest drinking 8 fl oz daily. It is fairly expensive and you would have to purchase sixteen bottles for a 32-day supply. |
The serving size of this liquid is the entire 8 fl oz bottle. The only ingredient in this product is the Pomegranate but they do not disclose how much you are actually receiving. It is also quite pricey. |
Website: |
www.frutzzo.com |
www.pomwonderful.com |
www.knudsenjuices.com |
Other Acai Liquids with Pomegranate:
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Naked® Juice: Pomegranate Acai |
Forte: Juice Blend with Acai
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Daily dose: |
4 fl oz |
1-3 fl oz |
Delivery System: |
Liquid |
Liquid |
Synergistic Ingredients: |
Pomegranate Acai Juice Blend, Pomegranate Juice from Concentrate, Organic Acai Puree, and other fruit juices. |
Proprietary Reconstituted Juice Blend. |
Price per day: |
$3.99 |
$1.06 |
Rating Rational: |
The serving size is half of the bottle. It would be expensive to purchase a monthly supply. |
The second ingredient in Forte is fructose. |
Website: |
www.nakedjuice.com |
www.911HealthShop.com |
Authorative research indicates an absorption rate of between 10-15% for pills or capsules as opposed to liquids. Liquids are far more bioavailable and offer absorption at 80-85%. To view that material, click here.
Acai Capsules:
Information:
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AmazonThunder™: 100% Pure Concentrated Acai Pulp Capsules |
Renewed Life™: 100% Pure Acai Berry Supplement |
Daily dose: |
1,000 milligrams |
1,000 milligrams |
Delivery System: |
Capsule |
Capsule |
Synergistic Ingredients: |
Organic Freeze Dried Acai. No other ingredients. |
Pure Acai extract powder. |
Price per day: |
$1.00 |
$0.47 |
Rating Rationale: |
Serving size to get the claimed 1,000 mgs per day is 2 capsules. However, the clinical evidence is clear pills/capsules only provide 15-20% bioavailability and absorption when compared to liquid formulas. 60 capsules per bottle. |
Serving size to get the stated 1,000 mgs per day is 2 capsules. There are 60 capsules per bottle. According to clinical studies, capsules and pills are not absorbed by your body as quickly as liquids, therefore they lose some of their beneficial qualities. |
Website: |
www.amazonthunder.com |
www.renewedlifecorp.com |
Pomegranate Capsules:
Pomegranate Ingredients: |
Pom Wonderful®: |
Life Extension™: Pomegranate Extract Capsules |
Daily dose: |
1,000 milligrams |
500 milligrams |
Delivery System: |
Capsules |
Capsules |
Synergistic Ingredients: |
Natural Pomegranate polyphenol extract. 207 ORAC Value. |
400 milligrams of Pomella® Pomegranate Extract and 100 milligrams of 5:1 Extract. |
Price per day: |
$0.99 |
$0.65 |
Rating Rationale: |
Suggested to take one capsule with food. No other nutritional content given. 30 capsules per bottle. Clinical evidence supports our position on bioavailability and absorption. |
Research indicates that the correct absorption rate of a liquid product, as opposed to a pill or capsule is between 80-85%. The ingredients in capsules allow for an overall lower price. The suggested serving size is one (1)capsule. There are 30 capsules per bottle. |
Website: |
www.pomwonderful.com |
www.lef.org |
THE SCIENCE BEHIND LIQUID vs. PILL ABSORPTION
In preparing our analysis of liquid vs. pill/capsule formulas, we relied on authoritative scientific studies.
Bioavailability – The definition of bioavailability is that portion of the nutrient that is ingested, absorbed and metabolized in your body’s pathways. For that reason, it is not the quantity of the nutrient present but rather the amount that is bioavailable when you ingest it.
* V.S. Srinivasan, Bioavailability of Nutrients: A Practical Approach to In Vitro Demonstration of the Availability of Nutrients I Multivitamin-
Multivitamin-Mineral Combination Products, Journal of Nutrition, 2001;
131:1349S-1350S. See also, M. Makoid, P. Vuchetich, and U. Banakar,
Basic Pharmacotkinetics, Chapter 8: 8-2(1999) [can be viewed at http://
Pharmacy.creighton.edu/pha443/pdf/Default.asp]
Science shows that Acai and Pomegranate pills/capsules are not as easily absorbed as liquid formulas. The general science shows that:
- Absorption prior to reaching digestive enzymes in your intestine is unlikely;
- The compressed nature of pills makes their dissolution more difficult;
- Use of coatings and capsule container substances may interfere with absorption;
- An extra digestive step is required for a solid form to be broken down into liquid in the intestine or stomach;
- The fact that it takes longer to break down a solid form increases the chances that the active Acai and/or Pomegranate will be neutralized by digestive enzymes.
OTHER FACTORS – FORM OF DOSAGE
The following is the order of the fastest and most bioavailability ranging down to the lowest:
- Solutions (liquids)
- Suspensions
- Capsules
- Tablets
- Coated Tablets
- Controlled-release formulations
ABSORPTION IN THE MOUTH
Liquids are in part absorbed by the sublingual mucosa (floor of the mouth) and buccal mucosa (sides and tops of the oral cavity). On the other hand, pills, capsules and powders are unlikely to be absorbed at all until they reach the intestine to be dissolved in digestive enzymes. The buccal mucosa is much thicker than the sublingual mucosa but the absorption through either of them allows the active ingredient(s) to avoid mixing with digestive enzymes.
