Written by Jane Tucker | Wednesday, 26 August 2009 | There are 13 comments
Eating an orange or other fruit is just as effective.
Oprah Winfrey along with Dr. Mehmet Oz say have launched legal action against a number of businesses who they claim used to their names to market and sell a whole range of dietary supplements that supposedly contained acai berries. Oprah and Dr. Oz said that the 40 or so businesses who distributed products containing acai berries capitalised on their “valuable reputation and intellectual property rights” in order to sell more of their products. They also said that the companies were implying that Oprah and Dr. Oz had tested and recommended the products when this was not the case.
At Ukmedix News we have followed the acai berry phenomenon over the last year and seen that all the hype surrounding it is in fact a lot of hot air. While the humble acai berry is a good source of vitamin C and antioxidants and could be part of a healthy diet, taking special supplements made from it are hardly going to change your life. Eating an orange or other fruit is just as effective.
Unfortunately however Dr Oz did talk about the anti-aging affects of the acai berry on one of the Oprah Winfrey shows and this led to internet spammers and health supplement marketing people claiming that Oprah and Dr Oz really recommended it. At Ukmedix News we believe that both Oprah and Dr Oz should be more responsible about what they recommend when on air given that they have huge audiences and millions of followers.
If you receive any spam e-mail recommending the acai berry as a miracle cure for obesity, aging or anything you should immediately delete it. You can get all of the vitamins and antioxidants that you require from eating fresh fruit and vegetables every day. You should be very wary of using any dietary supplements and should stick to those given to you or prescribed to you by doctor.
There are 13 comments on this article.
Joe said:
Do we know that this is in fact the truth and that eating acai berry supplements does NOT help as much as (or even a fraction of) what they say, they being the internet email/popup spammers? i have been noticing a lot of emails/popups about the acai berry.
Louise Walters said:
unfortunately I believed it since it was on the fox news web site and of course had Oprah and Dr. Oz supposedly endorsing it. Now I can't get anyone to answer the phone to get it canceled. My credit card co. called to verify my "subscription". I thought I was only ordering the samples not a subscription.
Don't know how I'll get it stopped now. Kick some serious butt Oprah.
Thanks Louise
Banjo said:
I also orderd the free trial and the 800-939-9721 number listed with my credit card company you get no answer. I do not want a subscription also and now I got my credit card company involved.
tapnsee said:
The only way to stop the subscription.Is to notify the credit card co.to issue a new card #
Sara said:
I have tried, without any success, to find out what is the ingredient in all of those "so called weight loss supplements" that happen to contain acai berry as well and it is impossible ! If I did find anything it was cascada sagrada (a laxative) because the acai berry alone DOES NOT cause weight loss!
shaz said:
Hi unfortunately I also ordered the free trial and never received anything. I also rang the company but no luck.I rang my bank and they told me that i had signed up as a member.W hich i never wanted, i wanted to try the free sample.To stop further money coming out of your account.Just order a new card which i did.
Thanks
shaz
Good Luck
marieann said:
I too, was scammed. I ordered the sample only. They continued to send more and also charged credit card for other vitamins not ordered, or received. Be aware. They also used other names when billing. So, if you notified your credit card company the scammers still charge your card using other company and product names. The only way to stop it is to get new cards with new numbers. Cancel your card. it is the only way.
julie said:
i was scammed by ordering a trail and paid out 3 times, i was charges £62.00 on each occassion, i had to cancell my credit card, to stop them taking money from my account, i had no form of contact, and they pass the details on to other companies...do not order the trail, it is a big scam.
ronan said:
are comments on this forum screened? why was my comment not published? is it because i disagree with something that was said in your article?
Jane said:
@ronan Comments are declined when they involve people trying to promote illegal, dangerous or untested weight loss medications. Nice try though (:
Ronan O'Meara said:
Sorry - I didn't realise I was doing so. I am not promoting these scams or acai as a weight loss product. I would like to speak about the benefits of acai fruit (not a product). This is an amazing fruit and it would be a shame for people to assume that this fruit is not good. The people of Brazil go crazy for it and rightly so. But not because it is good for weight loss - they love it because it is great. I would also like to suggest that eating anything as a pill is not a good way to get the benefits of a fruit. Nobody eats apple pills! So why do this with a fruit that grows wild in the Amazon! Get the real fruit - As a pulp. This is available in the UK. Sorry if I offended Jane.
Judy said:
Don't you think Oprah W. Should be made responsible for these scams, after all she started it, by being the first to promote Acai berry as a weight loss aid.
Ronan O'Meara said:
No. She told people how great acai is. And it is very good. She is not responsible for people who are taking a good thing and trying to make money from it.
She is not making money from scamming people. She simply spotted something that she wanted to tell people about. She is doing her job.
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