The following is an email from MonaVie Product Specialist Erica Bryant sent to distributors. I would like to thank an anonymous contributor for sending it along.
One of the things that catches the eye is the tight integration between MonaVie, TEAM, AIBMR, and Dr. Alex Schauss. It’s interesting that all 10 “research” articles recommended by MonaVie have MonaVie’s own Dr. Alex Schauss in them… you can’t get more biased. Another interesting thing is that MonaVie directs distributors to AIBMR as “the website to check when new studies, articles, or books are published.” No one else outside of this Dr. Alex Schauss-biased organization will be producing any “research” as they say “All science and research can be found on www.aibmr.com.”
Furthermore, it’s interesting that MonaVie treats biased “research” on acai, as something that distributors should be talking about. It is once again worth reiterating that MonaVie is not acai and acai is not MonaVie.
Distributors,
Hi, it was nice to meet you at the TEAM leadership conference! Thank you for signing up for product information, science, and research on the products.
For those of you who requested product FAQ’s, these are found in your Virtual Office. Sign into your virtual office with your distributor ID and password. On the left hand side, click on “Corporate” and “document library” will pop up below under resources. Click on “Document Library” and scroll to the bottom of the page. All of the FAQs (except for Emv lite) should be listed. If you still can’t find the FAQ’s, let me know, and I will help you navigate (email productquestions@monavie.com).
All science and research can be found on www.aibmr.com. I attached some additional documents to this email that you might be interested in. The Pulse study summary, ROM (Range of Motion) summary and poster are studies that are in progress. The MonaVie antioxidant summary is a summary of the In Vitro In Vivo published study. The açai poster talks about the safety of MonaVie Active, and then I included the glycemic index results as well (also available on www.monavie.com from a link).
Here is some Scientific Literature on açai and MonaVie found on www.aibmr.com. This is the website to check when new studies, articles, or books are published. Not all of the studies are available for free, some you may have to look up online and download for a fee (copyright law) if you want access to the full study, especially the newer studies published this year.
Schauss, A. G., Wu, X., Prior, R. L., Ou, B., Patel, D., Huang, D. and Kababick, J. P. 2006. Phytochemical and nutrient composition of the freeze-dried amazonian palm berry, Euterpe oleraceae mart. (acai). J Agric Food Chem 54: 8598-603.
Schauss, A. G., Wu, X., Prior, R. L., Ou, B., Huang, D., Owens, J., Agarwal, A., Jensen, G. S., Hart, A. N. and Shanbrom, E. 2006. Antioxidant capacity and other bioactivities of the freeze-dried amazonian palm berry, Euterpe oleraceae mart. (açai). J Agric Food Chem 54: 8604-10.
Jensen GS, Patterson KM, Barnes J, Certer SG, Wu, W, Scherwitz L, Beaman R, Endres JR, Schauss AG. In vitro and in vivo antioxidant and anti-inflammatory capacity of an antioxidant-rich fruit and berry juice blend. Results of a pilot and randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study. Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, 2008, 56(18): 8326–8333.
Honzel D, Carter SG, Redman KA, Schauss AG, Endres J, and Jensen GS. Comparison of chemical and cell-based antioxidant methods for evaluation of foods and natural products: Generating multifaceted data by parallel testing using erythrocytes and polymorphonuclear cells. Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, 2008, 56(18): 8319–8325.
Schauss AG, Wu X, Jensen GS. Increased Antioxidant Capacity and Inhibition of Lipid Peroxidation in Healthy Adults Consuming an Açai (Euterpe oleracea) Fruit-Based Juice. Proc. IInd IS on Human Health Effects of F&V Ed.: B. Patil. Acta Hort. 841, ISHS 2009.
Schauss AG, Clewell A, Balogh L, Szakonyi IP, Financsek I, Horvath J, Thuroczy J, Beres E, Vertesi A, Hirka G. Safety evaluation of an açai-fortified fruit and berry functional juice beverage (Monavie Active®). Toxicol. 2010 May 6 [Epub ahead of print]
Kang J, Li Z, Wu T, Jensen GS, Schauss AG, Wu X. Anti-oxidant capacities of flavonoid compounds isolated from açai pulp (Euterpe oleracea Mart.). Food Chem. 2010;122:610-617.
Schauss AG, Jensen GS, Wu X. Acai (Euterpe oleracea): An Amazonian palm fruit with broad antioxidant activity. Evidence of antioxidant availability and anti-inflammatory activity based on a series of bioassays and clinical pilot studies to test a complex natural fruit product. In: Flavor and Health Benefits of Small Fruit. Qian M, Rimando A [eds.] American Chemical Society (ACS) Symposium Series: Oxford University Press, 2010. Chapter 13, pp 213-223.
Sun X, Seeberger J, Albericol T, Schauss AG, Zou S. Açai palm fruit (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) pulp improves survival of flies on a high fat diet. Exp Gerontol. 2010;45:243-251.
Schauss AG. A macro and nutrient rich palm fruit from the Amazon rain forest with demonstrated bioactivities in vitro and in vivo. In: Watson RR, Preedy VR, eds. Bioactive Foods in Promoting Health. Oxford: Academic Press; 2009; p. 479–490.
If you have any specific product questions, please send an email to productquestions@monavie.com.
Please feel free to contact me with further questions or assistance. Thank you,
I got an interesting e-mail the other day. It came from “dmdamerica@[somedomain].com.” This company wanted to let me know that they have “Liquid Google” shirts for sale on Ebay. I decided to grab a screenshot for all to see the listing.
MonaVie Liquid Google
As you can see they clearly use Google’s trademark. I’m going to go out of limb and guess that Google didn’t authorize his trademark to be used in this manner. As you can see from the write-up this person is marketing the shirt as a tool for MonaVie distributors:
This shirt catches so many eyes it’s incredible! The Liquid Google shirt implies that Mona Vie is the “New Google!” If 12 years ago the founders Google approached you and said to you, “we have a technology that’s going to change the world” and asked if you would like to be an investor, would you say yes or no to their opportunity? Most people probably brushed them off and I bet they regret that every time they go online!!. Well Mona Vie is Liquid Google, and people are still oblivious to this great product and business opportunity. This shirt is for the distributor who feels they have the best product for the world! Shirt has the Pulse Bottle, the new Mmun Bottle, Active Bottle and the Emv can. If you are into branding yourself, this is the perfect shirt to wear. People will ask you the meaning of it which is a perfect conversation starter to introduce them to the business.
So the idea is to capitalize off of Google’s trademark to sell juice.
“The price of a product is determined by “market value” which means if something is over-priced it will not sell, and last I checked MonaVie is still selling for now.”
[Note: I cleaned up the quote for spelling a bit.]
On the outset, that seems like an excellent argument for why MonaVie is not over-priced. However, the problem is that MonaVie distributors mislead people about the product – giving the illusion that it should be in a different “market” than it is. They do that at least three different ways:
Claim that MonaVie has Medicinal Properties – Even though one can not claim a juice to be medicine, it doesn’t stop distributors. Here’s just one example where a distributor claimed that it helped him with “back pain, vision, chronic stomach problems, depression, knee pain, sleep, energy, memory, and lower cholesterol and a few others.” This paints the picture that MonaVie should be valued as much as equivalent medications… and in this case the combination of about 8 different medications.
Claim that MonaVie is a Great Business Opportunity – Everyone would love to be rich. It’s a great sales pitch to offer people the financial freedom to do the things they love. That’s a pitch that MonaVie distributors love to use. However, MonaVie simply isn’t a good business opportunity. Even MonaVie itself is embarrassed by their Income Disclosure Statement.
Claim that MonaVie is equal to 13 Fruits – I’ve seen this claimed many, many times – and it’s a lie. People making purchasing decisions on this information could be thinking that they are saving money as buying 13 fruits a day would get expensive as well.
The “market value” of MonaVie is affected quite a bit by the above. I’m all for testing the “market value” of MonaVie, let’s see MonaVie put it on a shelf at Wal-Mart next to the grape juice, V8 Fusions, and cranberry juices. Take away the above and see if people openly choose to pay $37 or $45 for a juice when there’s one right next to it for $4.
Ask yourself this… if MonaVie’s product is so good, they would want to be featured in grocery stores to reach the largest addressable market. Why is MonaVie limiting its potential sales opportunity by not making it readily available to all consumers? Is it possible that it’s because they need all things to get people to pay $45 for 25 ounces of juice? I don’t think it’s just possible, it’s highly probable.
Numerous times in the thousands of comments of my MonaVie article, I have been asked to be open-minded about MonaVie. I was told that by simply asking for evidence that MonaVie is better for you than other juices that I was being closed-minded, not open-minded.
However, one of the comments amazed me. It was this video clearly describing open-mindedness:
In order to have an intelligent debate on the value of MonaVie, one must recognize the concepts in the above video. Many (myself included) are open-minded about MonaVie. However, people should not accept all concepts from others on their face value. There should be scientific evidence from both sides of the debate supporting the claim.
Dozens of times in the aforementioned comments of the blog post, there have been claims of people witnessing medical situation X and attributing it to MonaVie, when there are a number of other valid explanations, such as the placebo effect. These are not scientific studies and carry no more weight for their argument than if they had said ghosts were moving the lamp shade.
Quite often distributors will ask me, “Why don’t you have a blog denouncing Starbucks?” They suggest that Starbucks is the same $3-5 (sometimes more) cost and they don’t even close to being healthy. Though I have addressed them all in numerous comments, it’s worth just putting it all in one place so I can direct future questions to the answer.
I’m not a big fan in spending $3-5 at Starbucks. I’m not the only one. Well-known personal finance guru David Bach has written a lot about the latte factor. Specifically he points out that people spend a thousand dollars a year or more on this coffee habit. He makes a strong argument that it’s why Americans have under-funded emergency funds, credit problems, under-funded retirement accounts, etc. Bach has realized that a lot of small expenses over time really do add up.
When you pay for coffee at Starbucks, you are also paying for the overhead that Starbucks has in running many stores and employing many baristas. You also pay for the experience of Starbucks which is greater than just coffee – it’s a comfy chair and nice music.
MonaVie does not have the overhead of running a store. It does not provide an experience beyond drinking juice in your home.
The great thing about coffee is that it can be made at home relatively cheaply for just a few cents for a large mug. MonaVie does not provide this relatively cheap option. One can clearly see these are not comparable.
I would also like to point out that MonaVie does not provide a thirst quenching replacement for another beverage. Thus people drinking MonaVie are likely also going to be spending an additional $3-5 at Starbucks anyway. Thus buying MonaVie adds a “Latte Factor” to people’s lives, without providing nutrition or quenching one’s thirst.. That seems like lose-lose-lose to me.
There are very few legit claims that MonaVie can legally claim about their products. It’s worth reviewing some of these in before investing any hard-earned money in MonaVie Pulse.
MonaVie Pulse is Inferior to Medicine
Many MonaVie distributors claim that MonaVie’s products are superior to medicine. It’s worth noting that MonaVie itself does not agree with this. From MonaVie’s Black Diamond University here is a list of claims (in quotes):
MonaVie Pulse is not a substitute for medications – (Part 1) – “MonaVie products (including Pulse) are not intended to replace or mimic the activity, effects, or benefits of drugs or medications. Do not substitute or replace your medication(s) with MonaVie Pulse.”
MonaVie Pulse not a substitute for medications – (Part 2) – Do not use MonaVie Pulse as an alternative to physician consultation or advice.
MonaVie Pulse Not Effective against “Serious” Cholesterol Problems – MonaVie Pulse does not cure, treat, mitigate, or prevent serious cholesterol problems.
MonaVie Pulse is Intended for People without Heart or Cholesterol Problems – “MonaVie Pulse is intended for healthy people, not for people with heart or cholesterol diseases.”
So to recap the above, MonaVie Pulse does not replace medications – because it’s completely inferior to medications. It can not help with serious cholesterol problems… is that because it’s not very effective against cholesterol?
With that said, here are a couple of other claims on plant sterols:
MonaVie Pulse and Plant Sterols
MonaVie Pulse’s Plant Sterols not that Effective – (Part 1) – “The plant sterol activity, effects, and benefits in MonaVie Pulse as it relates to heart health and cholesterol are significantly less than that found in drugs.”
MonaVie Pulse’s Plant Sterols not that Effective – (Part 2) – “Foods containing at least 0.4 g per serving of plant sterols, eaten twice a day with meals for a daily total intake of at least 0.8 g, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease. Two servings (4 oz) of MonaVie Pulse juice supply 0.8 g of plant sterols.”
This reinforces the above that MonaVie Pulse is inferior to medications. Also using the second claim, “Two servings (4 oz) of MonaVie Pulse juice supply 0.8 g of plant sterols.” we can do a little math to figure out potentially how effective MonaVie is.
From this SparkPeople article: “Consuming 1.8 to 2.8 grams of plant sterols and plant stanols per day over a period of 4 weeks to 3 months significantly lowered total cholesterol in participants by 7%-11%.” So considering that MonaVie Pulse has 44% of the lower amount of that range (0.8 grams of plant sterols is 44% of the 1.8 quoted), one may reason that it would have the 44% of the effect of the lower amount. That turns out to be a 3.1% effect in lowering cholesterol.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that lowering your cholesterol 3.1% is fairly insignificant. However, more importantly, there are cheaper ways to get plant stanols/sterols so you can get the amount in the studies without breaking your wallet.
The following comes from frequent commenter Vogel:
I remember a while back that Monavie was running a promotion in which they were offering top distributors the chance to win a seat on the Virgin Galactic space shuttle. Here are a few examples of distributors using the Virgin Galactic promotion to lure new prospective Monavie distributors:
“We’ve contracted with Virgin Galactic, and whoever reaches the top will earn a trip to outer space. So we’ll be able to say that MonaVie’s a company that takes you in, around, and out of this world.”
However, I noticed recently that MonaVie retracted the statement and is now denying that they ever had any deal with Virgin Galactic.
“The original version of this story, which appeared in the October 2009 issue, incorrectly stated that MonaVie contracted with Virgin Galactic to send its distributors on a commercial space flight. The two companies do not have a formal contract.”
I have recently decided to look into MonaVie Pulse and the plant sterols in it. There appears to be clinical research that show plant sterols can help lower cholesterol. I’m not going to argue that’s a bad thing. However, a smart consumer who decides that plant sterols are right for them, should look for the lowest price. It only makes sense to stretch your dollar as far as possible.
I found out pretty quickly that there’s a product on the market called Benecol Smart Chews. You can buy 120 of them at that link for $28.99 at the time of this publishing. There might be more options available, but I chose this product because it was the first that I found.
Looking at Benecol Smart Chews, each chew has 0.85g of plant stanol esters. That makes Benecol Smart Chews $0.24 for 0.85g of plant stanols.
It’s worth comparing that to MonaVie Pulse. On one website (that I won’t mention here), I saw the market price for MonaVie Pulse to be $45.25. However, they were having a sale and a single bottle was $37.25. One bottle of MonaVie Pulse is around 25 ounces (750ml). According to MonaVie’s approved claims “Two servings of MonaVie Pulse juice (4 oz) supply 0.8g of plant sterols.” So one bottle (25 ounces) provides 6 servings (4oz) which are each 0.8g of plant sterols. At the SALE price per bottle, MonaVie Pulse is about $6.21 per 0.8g of plant sterols.
It looks like Benecol is the clear winner as I’d much rather spend $0.24 for slightly more cholesterol fighting power than MonaVie Pulse’s $6.21 price. However, I should note that the website selling MonaVie Pulse did have a bulk purchase option. If you wanted to spend $232, you could get 8 bottles of MonaVie Pulse… $29 a bottle. Even in this amount of bulk purchasing it is $4.83 per 0.8g of plant sterols. I don’t want to think about the costs of shipping 8 bottles that have to be added to that. I’d still rather pay the $0.24 with the free shipping from Amazon.
Plant Stanol Esters vs. Plant Sterol Esters
One thing that you might have noticed above is that one is plant stanols and the other is plant sterols. The stanol/sterol thing was confusing to me at first, but it seems that both are effectively the same in reducing cholesterol to the point where the same cholesterol claims can be legally made.
If you are looking for to lower your cholesterol through the use food, the choose is clear… Benecol Smart Chews are the way to go.
MonaVie touts the value of acai in it’s juice saying it has “superior nutrient content” and calling it “one of the world’s top superfoods.” I believe that açai is a very good food, perhaps even a great food. However, any company that uses açai as it’s main reason for retailing at $1.80 an ounce should probably disclose how much of the ingredient is in the mixture. That’s especially true because you can get 100% açai juice for a lot less money.
MonaVie says that it can’t disclose the amount of acai in it’s blend because it would be giving up a trade secret. In theory, someone else could use the information to help decode part of the MonaVie’s secret recipe.
One thing we do know, açai is the first ingredient on the MonaVie label. With 18 other fruits in the juice, there’s likely at least 5.3% açai. As a consumer, one should take a skeptical look with their money and not assume there’s any more than that. I don’t know anyone who drinks Coca-cola for health. They pay a small amount of money for the taste. The ingredients or secret recipe is not important to the value that one receives in buying Coke if they just want good taste. If MonaVie wants to bill itself as something that tastes great and price itself similar to Coke, I’m fine with that. If it wants to bill itself as a healthy beverage, it should have to show why it’s healthier than other competing beverages at less than 1/10th the cost (like V8 Fusion Açai Berry).
It is my belief that a premium price requires proof of a lot of premium ingredients. Is that what’s in MonaVie? Only MonaVie knows, and they aren’t saying.
A few hours ago, I wrote about MonaVie Pulse vs. Benecol Smart Chews in Lowering Cholesterol. The result was that MonaVie Pulse costs around $6.21 and Benecol Smart Chews were $0.24 for a near equivalent 0.8g plant stanol/sterol (the Benecol had slightly more). However, I just saw a related product so I thought I’d click on that…
It seems that 240 pills of CholestOff is available from Amazon for $18.81. Each pill provides 900mg of plant sterols – 100mg more than 4 ounces of MonaVie Pulse. Doing the math, that comes out to $0.07 per pill.
So you can either pay $6.21 for MonaVie Pulse or get something more effective for $0.07. If you are buying MonaVie Pulse because you were told that it helps with cholesterol, you should note that they are charging more than 88 times for what you can get elsewhere. Over the course of a year, the decision to substitute MonaVie Pulse with CholestOff will save your family thousands of dollars.
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. You can buy 120 of them at that link for $28.99 at the time of this publishing. There might be more options available, but I chose this product because it was the first that I found.
is available from Amazon for $18.81. Each pill provides 900mg of plant sterols – 100mg more than 4 ounces of MonaVie Pulse. Doing the math, that comes out to $0.07 per pill.