May 15, 2008 10:15 pm US/Mountain
Berry Drinks: Find Out Why Elway Swears By Them
Written by CBS4 special projects producer Vicki Hildner
DENVER (CBS4) ―
Last Friday night seemed pretty typical at the popular Cherry Creek hot spot Ocean, except the martini had been replaced by a new drink of the evening: the Bazitini.
Take the booze out of the Bazitini and you have what some fans are calling a wonder drink called Bazi.
Steve Rosdal drinks an ounce or two of Bazi every morning and swears by it.
"I haven't had a cold or the flu in a couple years. I just feel great on Bazi," he said.
Bazi is a Colorado product loaded with vitamins and minerals as well as eight different fruits and berries, including the jujube fruit from China and the very popular acai berry.
Acai berry drinks have become the new rage on the health food circuit. Early research on the acai berry (pronounced "ah-SIGH-ee") shows it has antioxidant properties.
Cherry Creek Registered Dietician Suzanne Farrell calls that research "promising." But she also points out that there is no guarantee that the healthful qualities in the berry also exist in all the drinks that include the berry.
Still the research is promising enough to draft some current and former professional athletes, including John Elway. He has been using Bazi in recent months and says he can feel the difference in his overall health.
"Can you really put a finger on it?" asks Elway. "No, but I think physically and mentally both it's helped me."
Bazi is just one of many acai berry-based drinks making health promises.
Monavie uses 19 different fruits and promises to "deliver the essential ... antioxidants your body needs to stay healthy."
Amazon Thunder advertises its Acai pulp puree product as 100 percent organic, with no preservatives, and "perfect for detoxing and maintaining optimum health."
Fans consider these drinks an insurance policy in case they don't eat their daily requirement of fruits and vegetables. But the scientific jury on these drinks is still out.
"That's one of the reasons we run clinical trials, because there really is that placebo effect," according to University of Colorado Denver Registered Dietician Bonnie Jortberg. "With the placebo effect a lot of times you think you're taking something that's going to make you feel better so you do feel better."
Rosdal shrugs at that suggestion.
"If it's in your head and you feel better, so be it. But for me, I really feel changes with Bazi."
And while John Elway doesn't officially endorse Bazi, he does say it has made a difference in his energy level.
"It has helped me get in my workout and when I work out, it helps me work out harder and I think all those things involved help you feel better."
But dieticians emphasize you can still get the same cancer fighting antioxidants in your grocery store.
Farrell sighed as she said "I just wish that when people walked into their grocery store they would look at the produce department as their supplement aisle, because everything we need is there intact in its purest form."
If you buy single bottles, a daily ounce of Amazon Thunder Acai will cost you $1.25. A daily ounce of Bazi will run you $1.56 and an ounce of MonAvie will also cost you $1.56. You can get those prices down by buying in bulk.
CBS4 profiled three drinks available through private distributors, but you can also find the acai berry drinks at your local grocery stores.
Additional Resources
- Watch Cherry Creek registered dietician Suzanne Farrell talk at length about acai berry drinks with CBS4's Molly Hughes in a Web exclusive video clip.
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