Men’s Journal Proves MonaVie Lacks Nutrition

41
Comments

MonaVie touts it’s 19 different fruits and it’s star ingredient, the acai berry, every chance it gets. Is one to assume that makes for a super-juice? MonaVie would have you think so. However, rather than take MonaVie’s highly biased word for it, why not have an independent 3rd party test it? Well that’s exactly what Men’s Journal did.

Men’s Journal commissioned independent (i.e. non-biased) lab ChromaDex to test various fruit juices. Miriam Pappo, director of clinical nutrition at Montefiore Medical Center in New York, says that there are four things to look for in a juice:

  • Phenolic Acids – To help prevent cancer
  • Anthocyanins – To prevent aging
  • Vitamin C – To aid in healing wounds
  • Beta-carotene – To boost the immune system

Given that, Men’s Journal had 8 juices tested:

Juice Phenolic Acids Anthocyanins Vitamin C Beta-carotene Cost
Bolthouse Farms Purple Carrot No Mention 162mg most of all No Mention No Mention $1.25/serving
Vemma “Sky-high” “only juice with beta-carotene” $1.88/serving
Tropicana Orange Juice “fair levels” “Superhigh” $0.75/serving
Welch’s Grape Juice highest of all juices tested “good levels” “good levels” $0.75/serving
AgroLabs Superberry Upgrade “moderate levels” “moderate levels” $0.84/serving
Naked Pomegranate Blueberry “2nd of juices” “4th of juices” $1.25/serving
MonaVie Active “extremely low” “extremely low” 1/5 of Welch’s $1.20/serving
Kagome Purple Roots & Fruits “high” “okay” none detected none detected $0.94/serving

Conclusion: Looking at this table, it seems pretty clear to me that Welch’s Grape juice is the only juice with 3 good levels or better. At 75 cents a serving it is also the cheapest. MonaVie on the other hand scored poorly in all four criteria. It’s another example of how you can get more for your money by skipping MonaVie and going with a traditional juice.

Originally posted 2009-09-16 21:16:49.

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41 Responses to “Men’s Journal Proves MonaVie Lacks Nutrition”
  1. Tony deLacey Says:

    Typical moronic drug company supporting doctor ….stupid & almost unbelievable. ” there are 4…(ONLY 4..? CRETIN !) things to look for in a drink ..That sums em all up . They just don’t have a clue & ovbviously dont realise what the word ’synergy’ implies ? Just as in life…the little things can make a big differnce . Its the whole package …ALL the contents that ‘work together ‘ harmoniously. Thats also how the body functions. Even though the medical profession try to break it down & treat things ‘Individually ‘ …..with drugs as always . Bottom line …if you want to know about nutrition go talk to someone healthy & active….sports person or their trainer/ coach etc. If you want to know about illness, sickness, disease, death & drugs…..talk to a doctor !

  2. MonaVie Scam Says:

    Tony,

    So you are saying that I should talk to someone like LeBron James (a healthy and active sports person) about nutrition rather than the nutritionist he (or the team) hires? Why are the healthy and active sports people, trainers and coaches paying the nutritionists good money for their advice if they already know it all?

    The point of this article is that MonaVie lacks nutrition. Your argument is that we shouldn’t take the a clinical director of nutrition’s word on nutrition. That’s like saying that we shouldn’t take a mathematician’s word on math or a dog trainer’s word on training dogs.

    We are looking for logical arguments here and anyone can see that that’s logical.

    By the way, nutritionists don’t always break things down individually. They look at things that work together. For instance, they know that fat-soluble vitamins work better when taken with food. There is significant peer-reviewed clinical research done on that.

    Do you have peer-reviewed clinical research on “synergy” of the ingredients in MonaVie?

    Can you tell us what other things we should be looking for in MonaVie than the four things mentioned in the article (and if MonaVie has them?)

  3. MonaVie Scam Says:

    Tony, I forgot but MonaVie employs Dr. Alex Schauss who tries to show that MonaVie has nutrition. Why is MonaVie hiring doctors if they just know about “illness, sickness, disease, death & drugs”?

  4. burton gammill Says:

    what about the new “sozo” coffeeberry claims to be three times as potent as monavie?

  5. Chase Says:

    Well MonaVie Scam i also am not for MonaVie and i have family that works for them not as distributors but in corporate. I prefer real juice and a healthy meal once in a while over a bottle of monavie and i get it for free. But my comment is how stupid you sound. You speak about things you dont know at all and it would be fine if you didnt act like you know. You sound like someone who cant afford it and are pissed off at the company. Tony DeLacey is right. You are WRONG. They never had a nutritional doctor test the juice. They had a lab and they only checked for 4 things. There are 19 and everything works together. Its funny how this site and others say its a scam and when you read about it its just one persons pissed off opinion but they all admit it is healthy but just over priced. It is very nutritional and there are more happy then non happy customers by far and plenty of other 3rd party tests so instead of trying to sound smart and say its a scam because it wasnt tested by a nutritionist find something to talk about that you actualy know about. Its juice, Grow up

  6. Chase Says:

    ManaVie Scam i forgot, GO TO A MonaVie DISTRIBUTION CENTER AND GET A BROCHURE BEFORE YOU SPEAK AGAIN IDIOT.

  7. Chase Says:

    Instead of listening to this idiot if anyone has questions just go to MonaVie.com. While your there look under PRODUCT, THE SCIENCE, MonaVie Scientific Advisory Board. I would Listen to them over this guy sitting in his moms basement trying to find shit to cry about. [Editor's Note: Yes look at how the MonaVie Scientific Advisory Board has shown that MonaVie lies about the ORAC value.]

  8. MonaVie Scam Says:

    Actually, I know quite a bit MonaVie – more than any single distributor I’ve ever come across. That’s probably because many distributors are less interested in the product’s benefits and more interested in marketing and making sales.

    This is why you hear distributors tell people that acai has the protein profile of an egg. That may be a true statement, but the MonaVie label lists 0 grams of protein. So what’s the point?

    Tony DeLacey couldn’t tell us what else the lab should have tested for. You don’t provide any suggestions either. Why shouldn’t we take the an unbiased professional nutritionist’s analysis?

    MonaVie itself spreads this from the top of the organization. You see things where they openly lie about the ORAC score of MonaVie, where their employees calls people “Annoying Douches”, where their MORE Project misuses it’s funds. Chase: You’ll note in that first link, that I not only read a brochure, I cross referenced it with a clinical study done by MonaVie to prove that MonaVie is putting out false brochures.

  9. Chase Says:

    Did you look at there website? MonaVie doesnt run the More Project. Read the label of this forum. You say it lacks nutrition yet it does have every one of them. Dont forget they only tested active which is mainly for joints. But you should know this right? Do you even know how many juices monaVie has out. They have different purposes. Your trying to tell people to drink Welches Grape juice over MonaVie. Its funny that MonaVie active has

  10. Chase Says:

    Açai, white grape, apple, acerola, aronia, purple grape, cranberry, passion fruit, prune, kiwi, blueberry, bilberry, wolfberry, pomegranate, lychee fruit, camu camu, pear, banana, and cupuaçu. So how can welches be so much better and how can monaVie not be good . Welches also has so much more sugar. If you were as smart as you try to be you would realize that of course one shot of welches will have more Phenolic Acids, Anthocyanins, Vitamin C because look how much more fruits MonaVie has in a single shot. It would be impossibe to have those levels with everything else it has in it. AND who cares about Beta-carotene because Acai Berry is the highest antioxidant and answer this. What do antioxidants do? boost your immune system perhaps???

  11. Candace Says:

    Wow, Chase, you are all over the place, and are rather incoherent at times in your comments.
    You do seem awfully defensive for someone who “is not for MonaVie”, and you seem to have a good amount of information about MonaVie juice. It would appear that you have not been completely forthright in stating your affiliation with MonaVie LLC.

    LM, isn’t this the same typical ramblings we’ve seen before from MonaVie corporate people commenting here? They seem to like to refer to you as “someone sitting at a computer in a basement”. This is a very unoriginal comment. Me thinks we have a corporate lackey commenting here and pretending to be otherwise.

  12. MonaVie Scam Says:

    Chase,

    It is my understanding that MonaVie Active is the same as MonaVie Original, but with glucosamine added. It’s almost more expensive. Given those two facts it should test better than MonaVie Original. If it’s completely different juice then please direct me to that information.

    You realize that more types of fruit doesn’t make it better right? It’s not like I can take a drop of MonaVie add it to a gallon of blueberry juice and say the result is significantly better or worse now that it has 20 fruits. Also, I could take a few different types of V8 Fusion and mix them together to get something that has 19 fruits at a much cheaper cost.

    Candace, it does look like Chase has a case of the “I am not a MonaVie distributor, but…”. It doesn’t look like he’s from MonaVie corporate as his IP is not Utah-based. Plus, if he was from corporate, he’d probably be able to make a better argument than listing fruits.

  13. Skeptic searcher Says:

    Chase, why would anyone want to believe someone’s research from their OWN company trying to make a profit? All honest companies who are proud of their products would be willing to have their product tested by a 3rd INDEPENDENT party.

    My question is… if ALL those fruits are in there… where did all the vitamin C go?? If it is like drinking 13 fruits, did they remove it? I know many of the fruits listed ALL contain high levels of vitamin C. Strange that it only has 25% of your daily recommendation listed on the bottle.

  14. Skeptic searcher Says:

    Also, about the sugars… Active has 5 carbs and 3 of those carbs are SUGARS! If you increase the ounces you would have just as many sugars. Simple math!

  15. nate Says:

    The test clearly said at the bottom

    “* All tests were conducted and approved by contract-testing laboratory ChromaDex. Test results may vary up to 15 percent.”

    so lets take this into consideration!

  16. MonaVie Scam Says:

    Exactly. It’s an independent test and MonaVie wasn’t close to other juices (i.e. the 15% is not significant).

    Thanks for helping out Nate.

  17. nate Says:

    hmmm your logic if failing again. if theres a 15% error in test results,, it means potentiall 30% difference. watch and learn.

    monavie could have been 15% under cut
    another drink could of had a 15% over cut
    meaning a different in 30% points possible.

    FAIL

  18. Mali Says:

    thats like buying one ticket and winning the lottery chances there bubba, and its got the same chance of being vica versa also (thin).

  19. MonaVie Scam Says:

    Exactly… MonaVie could also have been 15% over and another drink 15% under cut. It’s very unlikely that ALL the other juices were under or overcut.

    Let’s look at what was said by MonaVie.

    Even if the tests were off by that percentage, you still have the fact that it was “extremely low in anthocyanins and phenolics.” Boosting that by 15% isn’t going to make it a good level. An extremely low number that’s off by 15% is still going to be extremely low. For example, if you make $1 an hour (an extremely low wage) a 15% improvement goes to $1.15 an hour… also an extremely low wage.

    “Even apple juice (which also tested poorly) has more phenolics than this Utah-based company’s juice.”

    So if we were to say that apple juice was 15% over and MonaVie was 15% under, we’d probably say that they’d have the same phenolics. Still the price between the two is a Grand Canyon sized chasm.

    Lastly, we have “Plus, MonaVie’s vitamin C level was five times lower than that of Welch’s Grape Juice.” That’s a 500% difference. The 30% swing in either direction can’t make up for a 500% difference.

    As you can see, the 15% difference doesn’t really amount to anything. And, of course, Dr. Schauss’ own testing backs up the results that we see here.

  20. Rest of the story Says:

    . MonaVie is not and never was meant to be a vitamin supplement, nor a source of significant proteins or omega- 3 fatty acids.

    We are not an ORAC drink either, albeit this aspect is of significant importance and is becoming more widely understood by the public. ORAC values come from many phytonutrients. You will see other products marketed primarily on their touted ORAC values. But, here again the scientific literature is telling us a much bigger story than simply ORAC. It is precisely because MonaVie has 19 fruits that it is more effective, more powerful, more balanced, than any single fruit product, or even the Acai mixed with chocolate. Yeah, chocolate has high ORAC as well, but tens of thousands of scientific papers tell us it is the higher amounts of mixed fruits, wide varieties, whole fruits….this is key, not one fruit mixed with some other ingredient. Your job is to understand this and educate your contacts and customers about the importance of these compounds, what they do inside each of us and how vital they are. You have the USDA and the newly redesigned “Food Pyramid” firmly behind you, as well as the American Heart Association, and many other organizations.
    This short document cannot hope to cover all the research out there on the power of these phytonutrients. There are over 300,000 published papers on various aspects of fruits!

  21. MonaVie Scam Says:

    Well if MonaVie is not an ORAC drink why do they tout it in it’s FAQ? Why is MonaVie lying to inflate it’s ORAC score?

    “It is precisely because MonaVie has 19 fruits that” it should stop talking about acai as being a super fruit as it’s diluting it. I can make a 19 fruit beverage from various V8 Fusion for just a few dollars and it will have actual vegetables too. (Aren’t vegetables good for you? Why aren’t they in MonaVie?)

    The USDA food pyramid says to eat fruit… it does not say to drink fruit juice… MonaVie Product Specialists say THESE ARE NOT THE SAME.

    Show me the value of MonaVie, and don’t talk about potential phytonutrients or number of published papers on them. No one is doubting them. The doubt is that MonaVie provides value for the dollar over the phytonutrients that in regular fruit, other fruit juices, and whether that’s proven to help a person more than simply taking a vitamin.

  22. Rest of the story Says:

    Next you will be saying that V8 acai fusion is so much better.

  23. Rest of the story Says:

    Here is your King v8 juice.

    V8 Acai Mixed Berry Juice
    Made by Campbell Soup Company
    Ingredients
    Reconstituted Vegetable Juice Blend (Water and Concentrated Juices of Purple Carrots, Carrots, Sweet Potatoes)Reconstituted Fruit Juice Blend (Water and Concentrated Juices of White Grapes, Apples, Acai, Blueberries, Limes)Less than 2% of the Following: Plant Sterols, Natural Flavoring, Lemon Juice Solids, Malic Acid, Ascorbic Acid, Natural Flavoring (contains Malic Acid)Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate)
    There sure is alot of water in there.
    Acai is way down on the list also. Wow this is your King juice? Im sure you will come back with some logical post. It is so obvious that you are just Anti-Monavie.

  24. MonaVie Scam Says:

    V8 Fusion Acai Berry and MonaVie is “100% juice.” When you see “Fruit Juice from Concentrate” on MonaVie’s label, it’s reconstituted with water.

    Sure looks like MonaVie is omitting the water from their label.

    There’s potentially more acai in V8 Fusion Acai Berry than MonaVie as it’s diluted by fewer fruits. For example read this.

    Yes, I’m going to come back with a logical post, because I’ve gone through these arguments a few dozen times in the 3700 comments here.

    You are right that I’m Anti-MonaVie. Did you get it from the title of the blog? The reason I’m against it is because they charge $45 for juice that isn’t shown to be better than $4 juice. The Men’s Journal article mentioned at the top of this shows that through an independent lab testing.

  25. Rest of the Story Says:

    You dont know what they reconstitute it with you are assuming. You know if you were to put this much time and energy in something more productive, like helping needy kids or the homeless and such you could do a great service. You act like people dont have enough since to make thier own decisions. This is a waste of time. Do something that makes a difference in the World. You wont bring Monavie down.

  26. MonaVie Scam Says:

    The lack of water on the label is another reason why MonaVie is skirting things. There are people who are industry experts who have opined on this. See this post:

    “I’ve mentioned my concerns with the MonaVie label before. Particularly with them not adding water as an ingredient. Anyone who has worked in a fruit juice plant knows that water is always an added ingredient.

    Unfortunately, unless there is a potential health issue involved, the FDA rarely will use their limited resources for label verifications.”

    So V8 Fusion is doing the right thing (probably because they are a publicly traded company responsible for millions of shareholders) by adding water. Don’t try to turn that into a negative thing.

  27. Food Tech in CA Says:

    Rest of the Story wrote: “It is precisely because MonaVie has 19 fruits that it is more effective, more powerful, more balanced, than any single fruit product, or even the Acai mixed with chocolate.”

    **You’re missing a very important part. The total amount of the product consumed is only 4 fluid ounces. You need to look at the total number of milligrams of each phytonutrient consumed. Looking at it from your perspective, a fruit juice with 20 fruits should be more nutritional than MonaVie.

    4 TOTAL ounces is what you’re drinking. Adding additional fruits dilutes the contribution of the original fruits. So, unless you can produce any scientific analysis that shows 4 oz. of MonaVie contains X TOTAL number of a nutrient, your point is invalid.

    Rest of the Story writes: “MonaVie is not and never was meant to be a vitamin supplement, nor a source of significant proteins or omega- 3 fatty acids.

    We are not an ORAC drink either”

    **Don’t forget that it’s not a good source of polyphenols either, especially the anthocyanins which at 0.095 mg/ml. is lower than red grape juice, which tested at 0.77 mg/ml. (Dietsche, et al). This confirms the low-level of acai, that is, unless MonaVie is using the portion of the plant that is expected to have low anthocyanin levels (stems, etc..). That is a possibility. Afterall, nowhere does it say acai puree needs to contain the anthocyanin-rich acai berry.

    The FDA does not have a standard of identity regulation for acai puree, so any portion of the plant can be used.

    This may be a clever way around the predominant ingredient label regulation.

  28. The Rest of the Story Says:

    You need to quit lieing to everybody. Here some facts for you.

    http://www.RealHealthAnswers.com/acai-TV/Dr-Clayton-part1.htm

  29. Food Tech in CA Says:

    That’s the best response you can form? Please, point out where I’ve lied.

  30. Food Tech in CA Says:

    I’ve watched the presentation by Dr. Clayton, and I have a few quick questions:

    1) What’s his PhD in? I understand his undergraduate training is pharmacology, but the info regarding his PhD seems to be scarce.

    2) The entire presentation was pretty much about the benefits of Wellmune. I imagine he could give the same presentation to any group that adds Wellmune to its product.

    3) I didn’t see where there was any synergistic benefit to adding Wellmune to MonaVie as oppossed to adding it to water.

    4) So, by taking Wellmune, the study group was absent from work 1.38 times less than the control group? Yawn. Considering, a worker will take an entire day off when calling in sick, this is unimpressive. How often will a co-worker call in a half day sick?

    This borders on Schauss-like weasel science.

    5) Dr. Clayton mentioned the Wellmune dosage concentration as 2 mg. per kilogram.

    So, a 170 lb. individual would need 154 mg. of Wellmune added to the daily serving of MonaVie to make it effective.

    Is Wellmune added at that level? Or is it another “guess how much acai we added” game?

  31. The Rest of the Story Says:

    Food Tech what are your credentials? Dr.Clayton is very qalified. What he says about Monavie (M)mun has scientific and medical proof. Food tech you could be a fake for all we know. The truth about Monavie could hit you and monaviescam in the face and you still would say it’s a lie. I am through with this you 2 are a waste of time.

  32. Food Tech in CA Says:

    Actually, I clean the shelves down at 7-11. Does that change anything that’s been presented? You are always welcome back after you find a new stack of YouTube videos.

  33. MonaVie Scam Says:

    Food Tech’s response was part of what I wanted to say… don’t kill the messenger if the message is on target. If you read what Food Tech has said here and other places on the Internet, you’d know that he’s very, very qualified. He’s shown his qualifications again and again… even on pro-MonaVie sites.

    Dr. Clayton hasn’t addressed any of the topics here or any place that asks critical questions about MonaVie.

    We don’t say that the truth is lie. We explain WHY it’s a lie. No one has come up with any reason why what we are saying are lies. It’s another form misinformation from a MonaVie distributor.

  34. the rest ofthe story Says:

    So this is your Mens Journal looking out for everyone? http://www.mensjournal.com/store/oakley-pit-boss-sunglasses/

    You rant and rave about $37 a bottle juice, and use a Company that sells $595 sun glasses to help you. How can anyone pay any attention to a Company that sells $595 sun glasses?
    You are naive to think Chromadex cant be bought off. So i dont think your sources are all you hope them to be. As for your Dr.Edell he could have been having lsd flash backs from when he was a hippie.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Edell

  35. MonaVie Scam Says:

    Lot’s of people pay attention to Amazon and they sell the same glasses for about the price – Oakley Men’s Pit Boss Sunglasses. That fact is that’s the price of fashion – it’s not a commentary on Men’s Journal. If you want cheap sunglasses, you can buy them for $10. I wouldn’t suggest paying $600 for glasses that can’t prove that they are better than the $10 variety. This is why I wouldn’t suggest paying $1500 a year for juice that can’t show it’s better than $75 a year juice. At least no one is fraudulently pitching that a fashion accessory can cure autism.

    I didn’t say that Chromadex can’t be bought off. It’s just not likely. They are innocent until you can prove them guilty. I’m pretty sure that neither Chromadex nor Men’s Journal are going to risk their reputation. Plus, do you think that all the juices at http://www.mensjournal.com/superjuices-on-trial conspired against MonaVie? That’s really a crazy theory. And then MonaVie’s Dr. Schauss’ whitepapers back up the Men’s Journal and Chromadex study… so why do you doubt it again?

    Dr. Edell has been running his nationally syndicated shows for how many years with no LSD Flashbacks? I’m pretty sure that you have to be pretty respected to be a syndicated doctor in 90 markets. Let me know when you have reached that level.

  36. the rest of the story Says:

    Something seems fishy about this whole Mens Journal deal.

    http://onesuperjuice.com/superjuices-on-trial.html

    Id say the above paid a pretty penny for that.

    Lets hear some more of your warped logic.

  37. the rest of he story Says:

    Looks like Chromadex is a competitor of Monavie
    or has Customers that are.

    http://www.cosmeticsdesign.com/Formulation-Science/Chromadex-plans-to-scale-up-anthocyanin-manufacturing-process

  38. MonaVie Scam Says:

    What’s fishy? You think they are happy that they are shown at the top? By that logic how much did MonaVie pay for this placement?

    If you think that Vemma paid for that, because they own One Super Juice why weren’t they rated the best juice there? The regular grape juice was much better at a much cheaper cost. So what’s your logic there?

    I give Vemma credit for putting up an article where they don’t come out looking that great. Why isn’t MonaVie being as truthful?

  39. Candace Says:

    @ the rest of the story.

    Have you ever stopped to consider why you are so over the top willing to trash every other company, every other individual, every other expert…to make insinuations about what their motives “may” be, to imply that they are doing something illegal or have been bought off…..but you are COMPLETELY unwilling to even consider the remote possibility that MonaVie LLC, their experts, and their representatives may be the parties that are truly guilty of what you’re insinuating about the other parties you mention?

    What’s wrong with that picture?
    You sound like a 5 year old child…..it is always someone else’s fault, someone else’s responsibility.

    Grow up, get a clue, look around, face the facts.

    The Emperor has no clothes.

  40. MonaVie Scam Says:

    Candace has a good point in that you are pointing fingers are Men’s Journal, Chromadex, Vemma, and all the other juices rather than take the simplest, most logical explanation.

    Here’s a logical explanation… MonaVie starts out with a tough road to hoe. Welch’s serving size is 8 ounces while MonaVie’s is 1 ounce. It’s like asking a 1-cylinder lawnmower to compete with an 8-cylinder car. It’s quite a battle to make that 1-cylinder perform equal to that 8-cylinder car.

    The claim MonaVie is trying to make is that the 1-cylinder is better than the 8-cylinder and worth 50% more (using per serving costs). This is despite the fact that a large portion of that 1-cylinder engine (white grape juice) is similar to the 8-cylinder one.

    No one would expect the 1-cylinder engine to win. When the results are that it loses badly it is no surprise.

    MonaVie can easily perform better on these tests by upping their serving size and lowering their price to match it’s competitors.

  41. Food Tech in CA Says:

    The Rest of The Story,

    You seem to have an issue with the Chromadex analysis. Why? Do you really think they’d risk their reputation over some fruit punch?

    The analysis is corroborated by AIBMR’s (Dr. Schauss). Other, more antioxidant potent juices are found in the study by UCLA (Journal of Agricultural & Food Chemistry). Are they in your conspiracy, as well?

    I suggest that you take one of the stacks of money that you made selling MonaVie, and pay for a simple analysis yourself.

 
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