Research review
Acai benefits: what the research does and doesn't show
Acai's human research is small, short, and mostly tested whole fruit or juice at amounts far larger than a capsule extract; the best-controlled trials found no change in blood sugar or cholesterol.
The evidence doesn't support acai, in any form, as a treatment for any health condition. The human trials that exist are small, mostly short, and were run on whole fruit pulp or juice at amounts far larger than a capsule extract provides — and the two outcomes people ask about most, blood sugar and cholesterol, came back unchanged in the two best-controlled trials.
What the evidence doesn't support
It doesn't support acai as a way to lower blood sugar, cholesterol or triglycerides in a general population. Both placebo-controlled trials below that measured those markers directly found no meaningful difference between the acai group and the placebo group. It also doesn't support acai as a treatment, cure or prevention for any disease — no trial has tested that, and none of the studies below were designed to. And it doesn't establish a dose: every human trial used whole fruit pulp or juice, at amounts from 200 mL to 400 g a day, none of which describe what a capsule extract inside a blend provides.
What the trials found
A 2008 acute crossover trial gave 12 healthy adults acai pulp or clarified juice, dosed at 7 mL per kilogram of body weight, and tracked their blood and urine for up to 24 hours. Plasma antioxidant capacity rose after the acai pulp and juice — up to 3-fold for pulp in some individuals — confirming that some of the fruit's anthocyanin pigments are absorbed rather than passing straight through. The same trial found no significant change in urine antioxidant capacity, reactive-oxygen-species generation, or uric acid.
A 2011 open-label pilot study gave 10 overweight adults 100 g of acai pulp twice a day (200 g total) for 30 days, with no control group and no blinding. Compared with each person's own starting point, fasting glucose, fasting insulin and total cholesterol were different at the end of the month; LDL cholesterol and the total-to-HDL cholesterol ratio showed a borderline difference. Blood pressure, a marker of inflammation (hs-CRP) and exhaled nitric oxide didn't change. Because there was no placebo group, none of these changes can be separated from regression to the mean, diet changes over the month, or simply repeating a measurement — the study's own authors called for a controlled follow-up, which is the trial below.
A 2018 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial gave 37 adults with metabolic syndrome an acai beverage or a matched placebo, twice daily, for 12 weeks. Glucose and lipid metabolism markers showed no meaningful difference between the acai and placebo groups. Two markers tied to inflammation and oxidative stress (interferon gamma and a urinary marker of oxidative damage) were lower in the acai group than the placebo group. The study's own authors described the result as a weak indication and called for testing a higher polyphenol dose before drawing conclusions.
A 2020 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in 69 overweight adults with abnormal cholesterol combined a reduced-calorie diet with 200 g/day of acai pulp or a placebo for 60 days. A urinary marker of oxidative stress and a marker tied to inflammation (IL-6) were both lower in the acai group than the placebo group; a separate inflammation-related marker dropped in both groups with no difference between them. Cholesterol, triglycerides and blood glucose showed no change in either group across the 60 days.
A 2020 randomized crossover trial gave 30 healthy adults 200 mL/day of acai juice or a related palm fruit juice (juçara) for 4 weeks each, with a washout period between. HDL cholesterol was higher after the acai juice than at baseline, along with several antioxidant enzyme measurements; there was no separate placebo arm, so the comparison is acai juice against another fruit juice rather than against doing nothing — a design that can't rule out a general effect of drinking a daily fruit juice.
Questions people ask
Is acai good for you?
The honest answer is that it hasn't been tested enough to say, for a general healthy population. The trials above studied specific groups — people with metabolic syndrome, overweight adults with abnormal cholesterol — at doses of whole fruit or juice well above what a capsule provides, and even in those groups, the biggest outcomes (blood sugar, cholesterol) mostly didn't move.
What are the benefits of acai?
Laboratory testing has measured high antioxidant activity in acai pulp, and a handful of small human trials found changes in a few oxidative-stress and inflammation-related blood markers after weeks of daily whole fruit or juice. None of that has been shown to translate into a measurable health outcome, and the two best-controlled trials found no change in blood sugar or cholesterol at all.
Is acai good for diabetics?
No trial has tested acai specifically in people with diabetes. The two placebo-controlled trials above, in people with metabolic syndrome and abnormal cholesterol, found no significant change in glucose metabolism. People with diabetes should talk to a doctor before adding any supplement, rather than treating this fruit as a substitute for treatment.
Is acai good for pregnancy?
No trial has studied acai supplementation specifically in pregnancy, so there's no dose or use guidance to give here. Talk to a doctor about any supplement, including acai, before or during pregnancy.
Does acai help you lose weight?
No trial above measured body weight as an outcome, and none was designed as a weight-loss study. One trial paired acai with a reduced-calorie diet specifically to look at cholesterol and inflammation markers, not weight change from acai itself.
What does acai do for your skin?
No human trial in the research above measured a skin outcome. The antioxidant activity measured in the lab is sometimes used to market topical and skincare products, but that's a different claim from a tested one.
When to talk to a doctor
Acai is not a treatment for diabetes, high cholesterol, or any other condition, and nothing in the research above supports using it as a substitute for medical care. If you have a diagnosed condition, take medication, or are pregnant or nursing, talk to a doctor before adding acai or any new supplement.
Related reading: what is acai?, how much acai should you take a day?, and acai side effects.
Sources
- Antioxidant capacity and other bioactivities of the freeze-dried Amazonian palm berry, Euterpe oleraceae mart. (acai) A 2006 lab analysis found acai pulp powder had very high antioxidant activity in chemical and cell-based assays, not a result measured in people.
- Pharmacokinetics of anthocyanins and antioxidant effects after the consumption of anthocyanin-rich acai juice and pulp (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) in human healthy volunteers A 2008 acute human trial found acai pulp and juice anthocyanins are absorbed into the blood, peaking around 2 hours, and raised plasma antioxidant capacity; urine antioxidant capacity and uric acid didn't change.
- Effects of Açai (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) berry preparation on metabolic parameters in a healthy overweight population: a pilot study A 2011 uncontrolled pilot study of 10 overweight adults found several metabolic markers were different after 30 days of high-dose acai pulp compared with their own starting point, but with no control group to rule out other explanations.
- Açaí (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) beverage consumption improves biomarkers for inflammation but not glucose- or lipid-metabolism in individuals with metabolic syndrome in a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial A 2018 placebo-controlled trial in people with metabolic syndrome found no change in glucose or lipid markers after 12 weeks of an acai beverage, but did find lower levels of two inflammation/oxidative-stress markers compared with placebo.
- Effects of a hypoenergetic diet associated with açaí (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) pulp consumption on antioxidant status, oxidative stress and inflammatory biomarkers in overweight, dyslipidemic individuals A 2020 placebo-controlled trial in overweight adults with abnormal cholesterol found lower oxidative-stress and IL-6 markers after 60 days of acai pulp added to a reduced-calorie diet, but no change in cholesterol, triglycerides or blood glucose in either group.
- Açaí (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) and juçara (Euterpe edulis Mart.) juices improved HDL-c levels and antioxidant defense of healthy adults in a 4-week randomized cross-over study A 2020 crossover trial found daily acai juice for 4 weeks raised HDL cholesterol and several antioxidant enzyme measures compared with baseline in healthy adults, but the trial compared acai juice against another fruit juice, not against a true placebo.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.