Acai Berry- nonsense or does it really work?  

So in your opinion when companies or infomercials claim this 'super fruit' contains more than twice the amount of antioxidants than pomegranates or blue berries (they usually use the ORAC scale) they are just over claiming its healthy qualities? It is rich in antioxidants but they are inflating its capabilities and what it contains as well as the price?

Exactly so! The açai berry may be essential to the diet of native Brazilians because it supplies things that, otherwise, they would lack. However, in every climate, there is generally enough to sustain and keep healthy the people who live in that climate, if only we understood how to look for it. There is absolutely no need to go searching for 'miracle cures' beyond our own fields and hedgerows! The fact that many of us live in cities and earn 'easy money' (and, besides, don't have easy access to fields and hedgerows) just exacerbates the situation. People will pay for anything, these days, if it claims to 'cure' them. "Snake oil" abounds now just as much as it did when people travelled around selling it from wagons at local fairs (and they are probably more untraceable now than they were then!)

Don't be duped by the Açai Berry or Aloe Vera or the South African succulent plant - I forget its name - scams (for scams they are, in various ways). Instead, learn what constitutes a healthy diet for your own lifestyle ... and be prepared to change your lifestyle to fit the needs of your body! You will come out much richer and healthier in the long run!

It has to be understood, too, that, even though the Açai berry forms a major part of some people's diet and that these people are not obese, are virulent, have less incidence of diabetes or whatever, that is NO WAY a proof that the Açai berry is the main cause or that it will help others in the same way.

Imagine a people who were, by nature, thin and lacking in protein and energy (but with plenty of money). Would you recommend that Macdonald's or Burger King or Coca Cola set up stalls in their country or that we sold coffee, sugar and meat to them simply because they had the money to pay for it?

My guess is that your neighbour is trying to get you to buy into the Açai berry business. In other words, what she is concerned about is not really whether she will lose weight (though she may belive and hope that she does) but how many 'downlines' she can recruit to move up to the next level.

What drives other people doesn't have to be the thing that drives you!