The Trouble With Acai

Until ten years ago, John Colapinto’s substantive piece in the New Yorker reminds us, acai was virtually unknown outside Brazil. Now it can be found in most supermarkets, an ingredient in everything from ice cream to hair conditioner, along with promises of curative powers for everything from Alzheimer’s to erectile dysfunction. What’s it really good for? Colapinto consults Jeffrey Blumberg, director of the Antioxidants Research Laboratory at Tufts, who explains that, while acai is in fact loaded with antioxidants, “the flavonoids you find in acai are not very important, or powerful,” and have no bearing on how effective a food is at fighting disease. The author also talks to Dr. Stephen Talcott, a food scientist at Texas A&M, who says “you can make the same claims for acai that you can make for a carrot.”

Read more in the New Yorker.