First, a bit of background on the acai berry itself. The acai berry is a fruit native to the Brazilian rainforest. South Americans have been enjoying the benefits of an acai diet for years, but it’s only recently that the rest of the world has been informed about the fruit.

The berries spoil within about one day of being harvested. This means that it is near impossible to export the berries in their raw form, which is why so many companies operate online stores through which they sell acai berry products, such as Acai Zone.

Acai berries are rich in beneficial substances. They contain high levels of antioxidants, fiber, amino acids, fatty acids and more. The fruit has been linked to anti-aging, weight loss, increased energy levels, enhanced libido, better overall health and more.

There are a large number of companies selling acai berry products and supplements. What makes Acai Zone different is that it is a unique line of products. Pure Acai Products recently inked a deal with Apex-Nutra to manufacture the Acai Zone range of acai berry products using the highest quality ingredients and the most cutting edge technology available.

Acai berry products became popular almost overnight. It only took a few mentions on national television by stars such as Oprah Winfrey and Rachel Ray to generate a national buzz. Throw in dozens of magazine articles, news stories, documentaries and books and you have the world’s newest superfood, but people still didn’t know who to trust when it came to ordering the products.

There are so many companies selling acai products and supplements, which is why Acai Zone has raised the bar. It’s a product that nobody else can offer. Acai Zone comes in three forms. Acai Ultra Slim is aimed at people looking to lose and keep off excess pounds. Acai Maxx is an energy booster and mood enhancer. Finally, Acai Rejuvenate is for anyone who wants to look and feel younger. These products are available in juice and supplement form.

The Acai Zone line of products is certainly worth looking into. If you’ve never considered an acai diet, now might be the time.

Find out more about acai berry products at Acai Zone.

“Free Trial Offers” for Acai Berry are NOT FREE!

In fact they will cost you more than 4 TIMES AS MUCH as it should cost per bottle. In these scams, the charge per bottle is usually around $80. Twice as much as quality freeze-dried acai berry should cost. But they send you crappy drum dried Acai Berry, which cost about 1/2 as much to produce. So you end up paying about 4 times more per bottle than you should.

You will be signed up for a subscription

Yes, they say they just charge you for shipping. If that were so, it wouldn’t be bad. But in reality, they just want your credit card number and will bill you every month for a subscription you didn’t sign up for. They bury the fine print in their terms and conditions.

You will spend hours trying to cancel this subscription

There will either be noone to contact to return the crappy product, or they will say you have to call their customer service number to get return authorization. When you do, you are put on hold and shuffled between different people until you give up. Don’t believe me? Before you purchase, call or email them and say you did not sign up for a subscription and please stop sending the product. You will get the runaround.

These bottles were returned to Acaiberrysite.com even though they did not come from us!

People sign up for free trials with some fly by night website and are unable to find any number or address to return to. In desperation the victims often send them to us. If you’ve signed up for a free trial somewhere
WE CANNOT HELP YOU GET YOUR MONEY BACK FROM SOMEONE ELSE!

What can you do to stop them?

• Before making a purchase or signing up for a “free trial”, consumers should check the company out with on the BBB Web site to see if it has racked up complaints.
• Consumers who’ve been caught up in the scams should
  file complaints with the FTC online or by phone at 1-877-FTC-HELP.
• You might also want to know that every time you click on one of the scammers paid ads at the far right of the google search results, it costs the scammers between 50c and $1. Happy clicking!

How to tell if the company is legitimate?

If they are offering a free trial, they are not legitimate – Those are all scams – every single one. But if you don’t want to take our word for it, simply contact them before you buy! Act like you are a customer and want to cancel. It won’t take you long to figure out they won’t let you cancel.

Let your voice be heard!

We at Acaiberrysite are doing our best to get the word out about the scammers. Below is a list of some of the more prominent acai scam products and sites.

The form below allows you to add to this list and contribute phone numbers so you can help spread the word. Please add any details you might think will be helpful to other people.

*note: new entries appear at the bottom of the list until we verify and resort the list.

Acai Berry Scam sites and brands

But there is a lot of buzz about Oprah shedding some light on the Acai scene on her “best life week” special runs Jan 5. The quote below is from her website talking about her struggles, and a little about the special. For the full hour by hour schedule of events for this week visit www.oprah.com

Oprah Winfrey opens up about her recent 40-pound weight gain and reveals intimate details about her struggle to stay in shape after being diagnosed with a thyroid problem in the January issue of O, The Oprah Magazine and in a special episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show airing Monday, January 5, 2009. Both kick off Oprah’s Best Life Week—a multiplatform, company-wide event designed to help readers, viewers, listeners and online users confront the issues in their own lives and make a commitment to wake up and unlock their own personal happiness in 2009.

Redstone first heard of the juice from Viacom exec Bill Roedy on a trip to Germany in January. After learning that his butler’s sister-in-law was a devotee too, Redstone ordered some up and started drinking four ounces a day. "Since I’ve been on MonaVie I haven’t taken a sleeping pill," he says.
New crack in the house of Redstone

At a recent party, Redstone gave bottles to Bill Clinton and celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck. "Just about every friend I have is on it," Redstone says – a group he says includes Viacom and CBS board members as well as cancer survivor and former junk-bond king Michael Milken. (It can also be found in the clubhouse of the Boston Red Sox; pitcher Jonathan Papelbon is a fan.)

So is it a fad, or is there something to it? Nothing proves that MonaVie cures any ailment, but in one of the first academic studies of açai’s benefits, University of Florida researcher Stephen Talcott found that the berry’s antioxidants destroyed leukemia cells in a laboratory.

But Talcott has since distanced himself from MonaVie and its junkies. "It’s not a drug," he says. He touts the juice as a way to "increase energy in a natural way" and to alleviate "the everyday aches and pains from inflammation."

Redstone says he’s never felt better. "I know I look a lot younger than I am," he says. "I feel like I’m 40 years old.

Now, thanks to the wonders of modern technology and the ingenuity of some clever distributors of acai products, we are able to enjoy the benefits of acai worldwide.

Acai has been touted by many sources as a great way to help your diet. It has not been proved that acai helps with Quick Weight Loss
, but all the indications are there to say it will be proved shortly. If it is shown that acai promotes weight loss then this is yet another string to the bow of the acai fruit.

As well as helping weight loss, acai also provides valuable amino acids, antioxidants and even essential omega fatty acids; these are all required by your body to help keep it in working order. Whether you want to use acai for weight loss or not, there is plenty going for the little fruit.