# Acai Berry



## Swirl (Dec 1, 2008)

Has anyone tried the Acai berry everyone is raving about? Does it affect your IBS alot? I wanted to try it for weight loss but not sure how it will do with my IBS. Would love to hear from anyone who has tried it and in what forms?ThanksStacy


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

There is a new miracle fruit on the market? Seems like a new one comes out every couple of years, as soon as the sales for the last miracle fruit drop off, but I may be a bit cynical.Most of them are general health rather than specific for weight loss, but let me see if I can find anything other than the sales pitches that will say there can't possibly be any side effects because everything natural cannot harm you at all, well other than deadly nightshade and hemlock and dozens of other poisonous plants. oops, there is that cynical thing again. First cut of the google search says the only possible side effect is you will totally kill your appetite, but since it is being sold for weight loss that is a selling point.Lets check the Sloan Kettering herb site as they will have what the science actually says not what the marketing executives decide to say about something.It does have some antioxidant properties (which is what most miracle fruits are sold for) so if you are taking chemotherapy for cancer do not take this as antioxidants tend to prevent those drugs from working.No mention of side effects that may effect IBS.In general some fruits are problematic either because they have sugar alcohols in them or have a high fructose to glucose ratio. Either one of those may increase gas and diarrhea, but if you are constipated that may help ease the constipation. A lot of the miracle fruit juices have a small amount of the fruit they are selling it for but a lot of apple or pear juice which are a problem for diarrhea and gas.That a lot of the sites say it is detoxifying or cleansing tends to make me think it might increase diarrhea or have some diuretic properties (make you pee a lot) as most people expect anything "cleansing" to cause diarrhea. Some of the rapid initial weight loss could be from dropping water weight which could be from a diuretic or diarrhea effect.


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