As recently as last September we have “monavieteam” saying: “At first his body might not react like it is suppose because no body are used to 13 fruits per day (4oz). But Id say try it for more than 1 week.. and from there you’ll have a better idea about all this.” (source).

This is a direct result of MonaVie saying: “Delivers the antioxidant capacity of approximately 13 servings of fruits and vegetables in just four ounces.” (source)

However, if you ask MonaVie’s Product Specialist Sarah Brown has gone on record as saying:

“By consuming four ounces, you receive the approximate ORAC equivalent of 5 to 13 servings of commonly eaten fruit and vegetables. Please understand this refers to the antioxidant value (ORAC) and not to specific vitamins, minerals or other nutrients your body needs. Different fruits and vegetables have different ORAC values. If you drink 4 ounces of MonaVie it could be comparable to eating 5 fruits or vegetables with high ORAC values or 13 with lower ORAC vales.”

(Source: MonaVie Archive Comment #472)

Note, you never see someone quote the 5 number in the range that MonaVie officially states. It’s always the top end of the range. It’s another case of MonaVie distributors obscuring information to make the product seem better than it is.

It’s important to note that antioxidant capacity in this case is measure in ORAC units. MonaVie is referring to the 5,000 ORAC units in 4oz of MonaVie (though MonaVie lies as their scientists show it has about half that amount). They’ve translated 5,000 ORAC units to some combination of 13 fruits (which combination of fruits this is unknown). According to the USDA, two grams of ground cinnamon (see “Total-ORAC, umol TE/100g, 267,536″ on page 28 of the PDF report) has more than the “antioxidant capacity of 13 fruits.” By this measure, the $1.99 bottle that I have in my spice rack has approximately 32 days worth of “antioxidant capacity”. A year’s worth would cost me around $24 instead of $2400 of MonaVie. Clearly MonaVie’s logic of using “antioxidant capacity” is flawed… or if you accept it, you’ll save your money and buy cinnamon.

MonaVie is negligent for not putting a disclaimer in there saying that drinking 4oz. of MonaVie is not equivalent to eating 13 fruits. This is a mistake we’ve seen a dozens of times before. (Here’s another example if you don’t believe me.)

Originally posted 2009-05-14 15:34:02.