MonaVie Acai Juices

[borrofburi]

Have you heard of MonaVie?

It's evidently a juice company that makes these claims about its products, called MonaVie:

Designed for easy absorption in the body, just 2-4 ounces of MonaVie per day provides you with the phytonutrients and antioxidants found in many of the world's most nutritious fruits,including aà§ai.

Enhance your body's joint health with MonaVie Active. This advanced formula features the added benefit of plant-derived glucosamine, which has been scientifically shown to promote healthy joint function by targeting mobility and flexibility

Through an exclusive freeze-drying process, MonaVie is able to capture the vital nutrients found in [Acai]. MonaVie's freeze-dried aà§ai powder boasts an ORAC score (a measure of antioxidant power) higher than any other fruit or vegetable tested to date, on a gram-for-gram basis.

source: http://www.monavie.com/Web/US/en/science.dhtml they have a link to "clinical studies" and "scientific advisory board", ones I have not investigated as of yet.
(I forgot the other one, closed the tab)

It is sold at a price of $1.26 per fl. oz, or $42 per liter (this is a 1867% increase over normal V8 and a 1526% increase over the special "acai" v8 (acai being the claimed main active ingredient in monavie)) (approximations did take place and are not terribly rigid, hell if you want, reduce all estimates by 50% to account for error in my methods of google and amazon searching (including problems with price differences between bulk and single orders) (which is surely more than necessary), it's still an expensive item)

The company runs off "multilevel marketing" i.e. a pyramid scheme, one that uses the "star" model (that gets around the relevent laws banning pyramid schemes).

What do you think?

 

[Aught3]

Yeah I've heard of MonaVie. You're right it's a pyramid scheme and you definitely don't want to get involved.

And their health claims are totally bogus.

 

[borrofburi]

I, being the OP, obviously think it's pseudoscience, seeing that I posted it in this section of the forum.

I however have someone who I care about planning to waste a minimum of $130 on this product, money I figure I can and should save them, but I am uncertain as to the best way to proceed.

I pointed out that it's a pyramid scheme, the response was a combination of "so what? if I am getting in early enough I stand to make a fair bit of money" (which I protested was immoral, but the response was "I'm selling them a product, how is that immoral?") and "what's inherently wrong with multilevel marketing? Pampered chef and tupperware use it".

I also did a quick cursory google search that said studies on MonaVie indicate it is no better than V8 or increasing your diet of fruits and vegetables. The response to this was both extreme skepticism, as well as the defense cited from their head scientist-presenter-person when questioned whether or not he had any scientific studies to back up his claims: "it's just a fruit, it's not like it's a drug" and possibly something about how he didn't have evidence it cured cancer which is no surprise (at which point people laughed at the person asking for evidence) (this was a story recounted to me in not precisely those terms, subject to my pathetic memory on top of the recounter's fallible memory).

So I suppose at this point I need to go look for evidence as the specific flaws of pyramid schemes even when they involve selling products, how tupperware and pampered chef aren't pyramid schemes, and the specific "science" behind MonaVie and all the reasons it's a terrible idea to pay $130 for "just a fruit" (MonaVie already said it themselves).

 

[Aught3]

Multi-level marketing is only used when the product is too crap to sell itself. Instead of doing the work themselves the people at the top are selling the right for you to do the selling for them. They are essentially selling you their work.

The only people who make money are right at the top of the pyramid your friend may make a small amount money but it won't be anything like what s/he thinks. To be honest, if this friend doesn't care about ripping people off then I think they will probably get what they deserve when they buy into this scam.

 

[darthrender2010]

"it's just a fruit, it's not like it's a drug"

Meh, being "natural" or "unnatural" or fruit or drug has little to do with actual potency. A cherry is "just a berry" and an apple is "just a fruit" yet if you eat enough cherry pits or apple seeds you will probably die from cyanide poisoning. The bark of the Pussy Willow (also called the common willow) contains aspirin. To scoff at something just because it doesn't fit into your understanding of what occurs in nature is ignorant, (not that I'm saying you share these views) so to say something like it's "just a fruit" has no baring on the actual claimed effects.

Just for clarification, I am neither advocating nor bashing the drink as I have no knowledge of it, I am mearly being critical of the methods of "debunking".

 

[borrofburi]

"it's just a fruit" wasn't anything about debunking, it was a method to deflect requests for evidence of their claims. Effectively what happened was (EXTREME NOT ACTUAL QUOTING FOLLOWS, MY UNDERSTANDING OF THE STORY FROM MY UNRELIABLE BRAIN COMING FROM UNRELIABLE ENGLISH COMMUNICATION COMING FROM ANOTHER UNRELIABLE BRAIN, coming as mere paraphrasing): "do you have any scientific evidence to back up your claims as to the healing properties of your juice?" "I don't know what you want from me, it's just a fruit, it's not like I claimed it was a drug that cured cancer".

Regardless of the actual words, the "it's just a fruit" was a means to deflect requests for evidence. Though you do make a good point: it's not a valid defense, "it's just an herb" doesn't change that marijuana has some odd effects on humans, effects that should have scientific study.

EDIT: I used it as an attack, but only in the sense that you could simply buy the fruit elsewhere, because if it's "just a fruit" then there's nothing wrong with buying it from a different vastly cheaper source.

 

[darthrender2010]

ok, all's good then

 

[Homunclus]

Meh, being "natural" or "unnatural" or fruit or drug has little to do with actual potency. A cherry is "just a berry" and an apple is "just a fruit" yet if you eat enough cherry pits or apple seeds you will probably die from cyanide poisoning.

Not to mention some guy once claimed to me that a can of this was the equivalent to 13 servings of fruit. Now, I'm pretty sure the human body is not meant to handle that much fruit, even through I have no idea what "13 servings of fruit" actually means.

By the way does it say anywhere what method is used to preserve this beverage? Or do we have access to a list of ingredients? Cause they say it has no sugar but an unofficial source claimed it had (a "natural" sugar)

 

[borrofburi]

Those claims are made that they have all the nutrients of 13 servings of fruit by taking out things that aren't nutrients (e.g. water).

This is possibly a list of ingredients, I don't know if the source is accurate: http://www.calcomp-nutrition.com/monavie-ingredients.html