Facts About Monavie Juice

MonaVie is the name of a Utah-based beverage company formed in January 2005 and whose main product is nutritional juices. Like most manufacturers, the company claims its beverages are superior to those of its competition. This is a risky move on any manufacturer's part in which matters of health are concerned. It's one thing to claim a product will make you more "beautiful," because that's a subjective judgment. Claims that a product will improve your health are far more easy to investigate and to disprove.

MonaVie's Main Ingredient Is Acai Berries

• MonaVie uses both freeze-dried acai berries as well as their juice. The company applied for a patent on its freeze-drying method, but it had not been approved as of July 2009. Other ingredients listed on its products are the juices of apples, aronia, blackberries, blueberries, bilberries, cherries, cranberries, elderberries, grapes, pineapples, pomegranates, prickly pears, raspberries, strawberries and yumberries. Not all products contain all of these juices.

  The ingredient lists also include plant sterols, omega-3, citric acid and preservatives. The result is a collection of thick, richly-colored juices with a not-too-sweet taste, which are sold in wine-like bottles.

MonaVie Juice Is Less Nutritious Than Apple or Grape Juice

• A December 2008 study done by "Men's Journal" had ChromaDex, an independent laboratory, test several kinds of juices to see which were the most nutritious, which lived up to their manufacturer's claims and which did not.

  MonaVie juices were found to have very low levels of anthocyanins, which help prevent memory loss. MonaVie also has less phenolics than apple juice, which has very few. Phenolics fight harmful viruses and bacteria and are useful in slowing the growth of certain cancers. The vitamin C levels in MonaVie are five times lower than those of Welch's grape juice.

MonaVie Is Expensive

• The "Men's Journal" article also compared the prices of the different juices that ChromaDex analyzed. MonaVie was not the most expensive at $1.20 per serving, but it was in the high end of prices, which ranged from 75 cents to $1.88 per serving in 2008. As of September 2009, a bottle of MonaVie costs about $30.

MonaVie Is Not Available in Stores

• Taking a page from Avon, Amway and Mary Kay, MonaVie is sold only by representatives who are encouraged to build "sales trees" of associates who help them sell the juice drinks. As of August 2008, the initiation fee was $39, and at least one distribution team--Diane Nafziger and Sherry Whitaker--had built a sales tree of 30,000 people and were making $1,000,000 each in yearly commissions.

  Their story is not typical. According to an article in an August 2008 issue of "Newsweek" states that most people purchasing MonaVie are apparently drinking it themselves. In 2007, according to financial disclosures, less than 1 percent of MonaVie "wholesalers" earned commissions, and only 10 percent of those people earned more than $100 per week. "Newsweek" also reported that, according to an unnamed "top recruiter," the dropout rate for MonaVie wholesalers is 70 percent.

MonaVie Is Being Sued by Oprah and Dr. Oz

• According to an August 20, 2009, article in the "Chicago Sun-Times," Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Mehmet Oz filed suit against 40 companies, including MonaVie, for falsely claiming that the two celebrities endorse their products. The complaint states that these companies are "fabricating quotes or falsely purporting to speak in Dr. Oz's and/or Ms. Winfrey's voice about specific brands and products that neither of them has endorsed."

  In addition, a statement on Winfrey's website reads, in part: "Consumers should be aware that neither Oprah Winfrey nor Dr. Oz are associated with nor do they endorse any açaí berry product, company or online solicitation of such products, including MonaVie juice products."

  The founder and CEO of MonaVie, Dallin Larsen, has complied with Food and Drug Administration warnings about false claims, has instituted guidelines and tried to investigate distributors who are making false claims. But Larsen has said that "it's next to impossible; like herding cats."

MonaVie Supports a Brazilian Children's Charity

• MonaVie founded a children's charity called M.O.R.E. (MonaVie's Operation Rescue), which is based in South Jordan, Utah. According to its official website (www.themoreproject.org), the charity's aim is to "focus on providing individuals with skills, resources and support so they can free themselves and their families forever from the cycle of poverty and begin new lives filled with hope, health and dignity."