MonaVie

[briandunning]

Here is a warning letter sent by the FDA to a MonaVie distributor. Beware, all those who peddle pseudoscience:
http://www.fda.gov/cder/warn/cyber/2007/UTVokes.pdf

[EvilEye]

I reposted the warning, along with your article on another web board, and here was their repsonse:

That warning was a year ago! And it was necessary because individuals made the mistake of making claims that the product was healing disease. The skeptoid diatribe does not phase me in the least, however. I have educated myself on the product and the science behind it. I could make several arguments but usually leave that to the doctors who formulated Monavie. The science is sound. And I invite anyone interested to look into how this product was formulated, why, and even the why of the man who has helped make this juice a $1 billion business. He was already rich. He did it because after drinking the juice some very serious health issues were rendered fruitless! ha! I do pay close attention to what skeptics say, as I want to be sure that I have an answer (or know where to find one) to every single rock thrown. If I don't then I need to reevaluate what I am doing.

I do want to say thank you, Sue, and all my friends who know this is something that I really believe in and am pursuing with all of my heart. Thank you for your support and love. I know this product is changing lives; mine and Woody's are two of them. We love drinking Monavie so much; we will drink it until we die. There are lots of folks out there who feel the same, and I intend to find a good portion of them. And as far as the cost, it boils down to about $4 a day for those not building a business. We should all be eating $4 worth of fruit anyway. And these fruits are wild and organic, most of them not available in any supermarket. Since we share the juice with others we are drinking it for FREE! hahaha! How's that bag of pesticided, early harvested apples, mr. Skeptoid? By the way, his understanding of antioxidants falls a little short, leaving the article decidedly skewed.


If you can respond back, I will repost your answer there.

[briandunning]

Groan. Unfortunately I have to (yet again) reply to a sales pitch as if it is science. Just look at the list of factual errors in this one pitch:

- That MonaVie was conceived and/or formulated by doctors
- That the fact its founder was already an MLM millionaire validates the product in any way (if anything, this should draw attention to MonaVie's true nature as a money-making scheme)
- That it has cured the founder (or anyone else) of medical problems (this claim is not only unfounded, it's rightfully illegal; and MonaVie's distributors are contractually prohibited from making such claims, a requirement few of them follow)
- That the powdered acai berries provided by MonaVie's supplier are organic (they're not, Brazil has hardly any organic agriculture)
- That most of its 18 fruits are not available in supermarkets (they all are, very few of them are unusual)
- That the description of antioxidants presented in the episode is flawed.

Also note that this sales pitch was largely an ad-hominem attack and did not address the science or studies mentioned in the episode in any way, which is not surprising, since none of the research performed supports any MonaVie claims.

I support anyone's right to market their product for its true benefits, that it tastes good and is as reasonably nutritious as most juice concentrates. But when they cross the line and make illegal, fraudulent health claims, and especially when they sell the product for some 20 times its market value based on these claims, that's a cause for real consumer concern.

[vita10gy]

Originally Posted by EvilEye

That warning was a year ago! And it was necessary because individuals made the mistake of making claims that the product was healing disease.
.....
He did it because after drinking the juice some very serious health issues were rendered fruitless!

Does not compute.

[EvilEye]

Thank you!

I feel it's a lost cause, but when people believe something, it is usually a lost cause.

At least others are watching.

Thank you AGAIN for the work you do!

[EvilEye]

See what I mean? It's such a futile cause.....

Her reply....

A pitch? Pulease. This truly is not worth my valuable time. If I countered every point, it would be deemed a "pitch".

However, in parting, Dr. Carson is in fact, a co-founder of the company and was working with another doctor (name escapes me) in formulating this blend. And the man who made it a billion dollar business, Brig Hart, will tell you point blank that he got into it for the HEALTH. Ugh.

I feel like I have to defend myself, but ya know what? I don't! The person you are corresponding with is ill-informed and on a mission. This is a no-win argument. And I have lives to go help improve.

Peace and health to whateverhisnameis.


I fear that true skeptics and critical thinkers are destined to preach the real truth only to ourselves.

[EvilEye]

Crap. They are stepping it up.

Webcast today from 9am to 4:30pm PT

mms://66.98.128.85/WebCast1

[KateHL]

The founder of the Mona Vie empire has been shut down by the FDA before (for a different scheme). I know because when I was very ill last year one of my husband's coworkers tried to give us the Mona Vie pitch. I did some research and was unimpressed to say the least. In the literature you're given with your first free bottle you're told how many people are able to quit taking their prescription medications after noticing the effects of Mona Vie. Dangerous and extraordinary claim, there. Not to mention it costs nearly $200/month if you drink it as directed. My prescriptions cost less than that and aren't part of a glorified pyramid scheme. In doing research on Mona Vie I came across some disgusting and unconscionable claims by individual sellers. It was now less of a health supplement and more of a miracle cure and the sellers were targeting some very sick people. These people are no better than Peter Popoff selling miracle water to end-stage cancer patients.

The other day I saw a Cadillac Escalade in my apartment complex's parking lot. It had 'Mona Vie' spelled out in huge script letters with the salesman's phone number below that. I wanted to egg it and slash its tires but I am a lady.

[EvilEye]

This will show you how much of a cult it is...

Her reply back again...

________________________________________

I just copied a personal e-mail to my friend and neighbor Barbara for you to read. It is from Joy A. Tell Joy (I erased her last name; she lives here in Orange City; I could introduce you), tell Joy that Monavie is useless.

Hello Barbara!

I am Joy *****, a friend of the Rogers. I know they have told you I may be writing. I am sorry to be so long in getting to it, but I am not known for my organization skills and unfortunately I had lost the info they gave me with your email address on it and they have been out of town.

Anyway, I don't know a lot about your MS or how long you have had it or how it has affected you, but I will tell you about myself and I am sure we will have some issues in common, although MS can be so different from person to person. I was diagnosed in 2002. For 6 months prior to diagnosis I had been seeing a Rheumatologist seeking diagnosis of what I thought was some sort of condition such as rheumatoid arthritis (which runs in my family) or fibromyalgia because I was suffering from joint pain (or so I thought) and severe fatigue, insomnia, and rapid weight loss. There were other weird things that are harder to explain. My taste buds seemed to have changed as foods I used to like I no longer did, especially coffee, which I had loved but then could not stand to drink. I had an odd sensation in my head at times whenever I turned it---sort of like my brain was moving in frames inside my head. I had a few episodes of electric shock in my feet whenever I went to sit down, I had one episode of what is called 'phantom limb' in which my arm was completely dead and did not feel a part of my body, as I had to even pick it up to move it (this only lasted a few minutes). These odd things along with a migraine that did not respond to my normal migraine medication prompted a referral to a neurologist. He ordered an MRI (actually seeking to rule out a brain tumor) and it came back as MS. The symptoms that have persisted over the years are chronic neuropathic pain in multiple areas of my body, many concentrated over joint areas or tendons (feet and hands being the worst). The pain is 24 hours a day and if I go too long without taking my pain medication it becomes so severe and over my full body, that I become bedridden. I also deal with constant fatigue and cognitive issues. Other symptoms I have had with relapses that are not permanent (thank God) are tremors (that were internal but so severe was the shaking inside the core of my body that it affected my speech and it was too embarrassing to talk), difficulty forming words, my mouth freezes in trying to form a word and I have to force it out and it will come out weird or sometimes I have to change to a different word--this strange symptom still occurs occasionally when I am stressed or overtired.

Well, that is about it. Over the years I seem to have stabilized and have not had any severe relapses since I took an experimental treatment (a drug study I was able to participate in) a couple of years ago. However, as I said, the fatigue, pain, and cognitive issues remain 24/7. By the way, I do love coffee once again! LOL

Now for the MonaVie. Richard and Gail had been trying to get me to try the juice for a couple of months but I kept putting them off since I did not think it would help at all (I had gone to a specialist in Naples, a neurologist who did some alternative medicine as well as mainstream and been given lots of supplements that were supposed to help that never did). Finally, they brought me some and just asked that I try it as it is directed to take twice a day. So I did. After one week Richard called to see how I was doing and I had to tell him it did not seem to have made any difference but I asked if I could try drinking it three times a day (since I loved the taste of it anyway). He said it would be fine so I did that and after about 4 days or so I noticed that one day I had not needed to take my pain medication for 8 full hours when I normally took it every 4 hours! At first I thought it a fluke... maybe just having one of my 'good' days, but then this continued and I found I had a great deal more energy as well. I decided to cut one of my other pain medications in half (one that I take only at night and it is for neuropathic pain so it works differently than most pain medication) and still I continued to feel great. Now as long as I stay on the juice properly (for me that is 6 ounce most days though occasionally I only drink 4 oz) I continue to only need about half the amount of pain medication I used to take and I have totally stopped taking one drug that I was using for energy and depression. I still have 'bad' days occasionally, but that is normally after I have really overdone it a few days in a row because I felt so good and did a lot of work or went hiking in the mountains, etc. Things I never would have felt like doing before MonaVie. When I first realized how much good MonaVie was actually doing me was after I ran out of it and started to go downhill again fast. I was so anxious to get some more and within a few short days of getting back on it, I was up and going again with half doses and frequency of my medication!

I truly believe the juice is doing me a world of good. It has given me more fullness of life again and that is quite a blessing! I don't believe it will cure my MS nor prevent my having a relapse, but whatever damage that MS deals me, it seems MonaVie makes it easier to live with. I think it is possible that MonaVie might help lessen the damaging effects that a relapse might cause however, but that is just my own supposition and there are no studies to say that it will. With each MS relapse we know that there is an increase in inflammation in our brains that destroys the myelin around the axons in our brain. So it stands to reason if MonaVie does dampen inflammation (which they have proven that those fruits and berries do have very potent anti-inflammatory benefits) that it might be able to dampen the amount of damage that would occur with each relapse. So who knows without true clinical trials but at least in theory it makes sense. But no matter about that, I just know that when I am drinking the juice I feel much better and take less medication! I feel so much better in fact that there have been a few days that I honestly don't think I have thought about having MS at all and as you know that is a rare thing for those of us who suffer from MS. Once I was told I had MS after my MRI, I allowed MS to define who I was... I thought of myself in terms of having MS every day of my life... in everything I did, MS was always there interfering with my plans, or at least always in my consideration as to if I should make plans at all. Not a day went by that I did not think about myself as being a person living with MS. Now days go by that I don't really think about it. I am just Me again, not MS and Me. I make plans to do things as Me and MS isn't invited! LOL

I will admit that there are still 'bad' days occasionally, but normally they are because I have overdone it or stressed myself in some manner beyond what I am used to simply because I feel able to do so with MonaVie! So I will take those occasional 'bad' days with joy if I can have fun and enjoy accomplishments on the many more 'good' days that I get while drinking MonaVie! Who knows maybe those 'bad' days are a relapse trying to happen but the MonaVie keeps it in check before real damage is done. Perhaps we'll never know, but all I do know is I feel 75% better on MonaVie than when I am not drinking it and that makes a HUGE difference in my life and therefore in the lives of my family as well.

I can't say it will do any of this for you as I don't know what your MS symptoms are. I think it likely helps problems that are there for reasons of chronic ongoing low level inflammation rather than permanent damage from scarring. I don't think it is going to reverse damage already done (but then again there have been no studies on what good it might do over a long period of time), but for ongoing daily problems brought on by the higher levels of inflammation that is always present in the brain of people with MS, I think it does a lot of good. Even when we are not in a relapse, studies have shown that people with MS always have a base level of inflammation in their brain that is higher than someone without MS and that chronic inflammation is likely exerting a slow progression of disease even in absence of a relapse. So who knows what good we may be doing for ourselves to slow progression of the disease as well as to help us live each day to its fullest despite that unwanted Monster that won't go away!

I don't know what drugs you are on and whatever you are of course you should not stop anything without input from your doctor, but MonaVie will be good for you, no matter if it helps your MS or not, and I really think you will be pleasantly surprised at what it may do to improve your quality of life!

God Bless You and I will be praying that MonaVie does even more for you than it has for me! If you have any more questions, please feel free to email me. Perhaps we can meet someday and talk in person.

Have a great day!

Blessings!
Joy *****, DVM
__________________

(and then)

...I can't post the links because I haven't been here long enough.

It wont let me post urls

[EvilEye]

Hold on...

[EvilEye]

(here are her PROOFS)

Finally here are several links that I share freely with interested parties (Gryff, this means you). Please take a look. I would like to draw special attention to the article on Sumner Redstone, the man who has NOTHING to gain (you know, the one skeptoid was looking for) by espousing the virtues of this wonderful product!

And one last thing: Making money AND helping people are not mutually exclusive. One can actually have a product that is both beneficial and profitable. Good God, man! Wake UP! Besides, the money that distributors make would otherwise be spent on hefty advertising campaigns. It is instead in the hands of the hardworking folks sharing this product. Free your mind! It is a new day!


Great Informative links:



EMBRACING OUR COMMUNITY (links several articles and videos):
Embracing Our Community




DR. LOUIS NILES ON MONA VIE AND CANCER:

Monavie: Gift from the Amazon



RACHEL RAY SHOW:



SUMNER REDSTONE'S SECRET OF YOUTH: Sumner Redstone's anti-aging secret - Aug. 24, 2007



FOX NEWS ORLANDO, ON MONA VIE:

MyFox Orlando |



FOX NEWS KANSAS CITY, ON MONA VIE:

[url]http://www.myfoxkc.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=4621431&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=3.1.1[/url%]



RED SOX' JONATHON PAPELBON ON MONAVIE! http://209.85.105.36/MEDIA/Papelbon/DALLIN/INTERVIEW.html



MONAVIE AT THE OSCARS: [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP2OX88ghOY&NR=1[/url%]



JEFF BODINE, NASCAR DRIVER ON MONA VIE:

http://www.upyourantioxidants.com/jeff_bodine.php



DUSTIN HERMANSON, MAJOR LEAGUE PITCHER ON MONA VIE:

http://www.upyourantioxidants.com/Dustin_Hermanson.php

[EvilEye]

I really don't understand how ANYONE can be so sucked in (and I love this person) that they will even shun their friends to fight for it.

[vita10gy]

I see, so as long as you don't tell them it will HEAL their disease you can tell them it will do everything else possible for them.

Also, and I think this is key, Brian never said this juice was BAD for you. Obviously drinking fruit juice and/or eating fruit is healthy. His point was that these superfruit juices contain less antioxidants than a lot of fruit you can get at the grocery store. Which is a verifiable fact.

I know much of skeptiod wouldn't exist, if not for this phenomenon, but why do we live in an age where easily verifiable facts are things people think they can have an "opinion" on.

I don't know if any of you watch Real Time with Bil Maher but he was talking about this the other day. We live in the information age, yet people have no desire to get actual information. This is how a large population can have the "opinion" that Obama is musim when it's an easily verifiable FACT that he isn't.

[EvilEye]

I was unnaware that she was selling the product when I posted the warning and the skeptoid episode.

I think she took it as a personal attack, and that just goes to show how cultish these multilevel marketing scams really are.

I was destroying any semblence of goodness her reality stood for.