Monavie

[grayman]

I awoke this morning to find that my wife had left me information she brought home -from someone she works with I assume - about Monavie (http://www.monavie.com/Web/US/en/index.dhtml?r=1).

The single-staple, black and white copy copy information packet is filled with the usual testimonial evidence ("I had incurable X, drank Monavie and it went away"). Mixed in with the testimonals are pages with information about the Casper Surgical Center (http://caspersurgicalcenter.com/) and the Medical X-ray Center (http://www.medx-ray.com/), neither which endorse Monavie, at least from the brief search I did. I think one is supposed to infer that these institutions support the product by their inclusion in the information packet.

There is a page entitled: Effects of MonaVie Active on
Antioxidant Capacity in Humans (http://www.aibmr.com/monavie.pdf). Perhaps someone with a clinical background can better tell whether or not the research has any validity. One line that caught my attention from the report: Important Note: This study was conducted in a relatively small number of healthy adults. Further studies with larger sample sizes are needed before these results can be generalized to the population-at-large.

Any comments?

[Ixion]

I am attaching the actual scientific journal report, published in Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, in case anyone wants to read the actual procedure. I am working through it now. One of the first things that catches my eyes, when reading any scientific paper, is the use of percentages versus placebo instead of relative concentration of reactive oxygen species. Percentages are usually employed when the relative levels are low, to make the differences seem larger than they are.

[Bob Blaylock]

I awoke this morning to find that my wife had left me information she brought home -from someone she works with I assume - about Monavie (http://www.monavie.com/Web/US/en/index.dhtml?r=1).


It's a scam. It's nothing but fruit juice. I couldn't find on their current site what they are charging for it, but things of this sort, sold in this manner, typically cost anywhere from $30 to $60 for a bottle. It may or may not have any health benefits, but certainly not any that can't be had just as well from much more common and inexpensive fruit juice blends that are easily found in your supermarket.

As a matter of fact, I happen to work for a company, that, among other things, produces fruit and vegetable juices that are every bit as healthy as this Monavie. Here are some differences between my company and its products, and Monavie:

My company does not make any fraudulent or unsupportable health claims for its products. Its products are exactly what we claim them to be, nothing more or less.


My company does not use its products as a basis for a thinly-veiled pyramid scheme masquerading as multilevel marketing.


My company's products cost only a few dollars for a bottle comparable to what Monavie wants to sell you for tens of dollars.


My company has been around for close to 140 years. It has been around since long before any of us were born, and it will still be around long after we have died. Monavie is a fly-by-night company that, compared to mine, has been around for hardly a blink of an eye, and which will be gone in hardly a blink of an eye.


Don't waste your money on this crap. Instead, check out the V8 V-Fusion Açai Berry Blend (http://www.v8juice.com/Products.aspx) product, which can be found at almost any supermarket for a tiny fraction of the cost of Monavie and similar sham products. There is not any rational (or even irrational reason) to suppose that Monavie can give you any benefit that this V8 product won't give you, you'll spend a lot less money on it, and you won't be feeding a network of scammers when you buy it.

[SkeptiKilt]

Brian the Skeptoid did a takedown of Monavie about six months ago. Unfortunately, I can't connect to Skeptoid right now, so no linkywinky. According to The Google, it's episode #86.

OK, as soon as this posted, I finally got through to Skeptoid in another browser tab. Linkywinky (http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4086)

[casebro]

Not to mention that is no study showing any advantage to anti-oxidants in humans.

[grayman]

As a matter of fact, I happen to work for a company, that, among other things, produces fruit and vegetable juices that are every bit as healthy as this Monavie...

Wow! I coulda had a V8! ;)



Seriously, thanks for the information. My wife doesn't buy into this Monavie hype any more than I do. I'll pass along the info about V8 Fusion to her and I'm sure she pass the word along as well. Problem is, will the people that are desperate enough to believe in and try Monavie be willing to listen to facts?

[Btodd]

Monavie made the rounds in my hometown last year, taking in both of my parents with the same anecdotal claims, like a lady who claims she immediately stopped taking her arthritis medicine after starting Monavie.

I pointed out over and over, "It's fruit juice. They specifically claim that it isn't meant to treat any disease or condition, which is a blatant admission that it doesn't do anything. If it did, science would be all over this miracle fruit. And if it's so great, why does it need multi-level marketing, the same method of sale that every other fraudulent product uses?"

My father stopped taking it and agrees that it's bogus, and I believe my mother stopped, too....but for her, it had to do with the high price more than cognitive dissonance.

[SkeptiKilt]

The Skeptoid article points out that in terms of both antioxidant activity (for whatever good they may or may not do) and your wallet, the old advice of "an apple a day" is spot on. Other good options are strawberries and blueberries.