MonaVie Addiction

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Description

MonaVie is a nutritional beverage company that distributes beverage products made from blended fruit juice concentrates with acaí pulp powder and purée through a multi-level marketing (MLM) business model. Marketing claims made about the products suggest that they provide antioxidants and health benefits. MonaVie has been the subject of recent media controversy, and several sources have questioned both the product's value and the legality of claims regarding its reputed health benefits. The manufacturer of MonaVie products, as well as some of its senior distributors, were involved in four lawsuits between 2007 and 2008.

Product overview

The MonaVie product line consists of three forms of bottled juice-MonaVie Original, MonaVie Active, and MonaVie Pulse-as well as gel pack versions of the products. The juices are sold at a suggested retail price of $39 (MonaVie Original) to $45 (Monavie Active and Pulse) per one 750-mL (25.5 oz.) bottle. The manufacturer's recommended daily serving size is 2 to 4 ounces.

MonaVie Original and Active juices list the following ingredients: blend of acaí (freeze-dried powder and whole juice); 100% fruit juice from concentrate (white grape, apple, acerola, aronia, purple grape, cranberry, passion fruit, apricot, prune, kiwifruit, blueberry, wolfberry (goji), pomegranate, lychee, camu camu); fruit purée (pear, banana, bilberry); citric acid, sodium benzoate. In addition to these ingredients, MonaVie Active lists d-glucosamine hydrochloride and esterified fatty acids as additives.

Monavie Pulse juice, launched on September 25, 2008, lists the following ingredients: blend of acai (freeze-dried powder and whole juice), reconstituted fruit juice blend (Concord grape blend, pineapple, apple, prickly pear, pomegranate, elderberry, yumberry, bilberry, blackberry, blueberry, cherry, cranberry, raspberry, aronia), puree fruit blend (acerola, strawberry, cupuacu, camu camu), plant sterols (emulsified with corn syrup solids, polyglycerol esters of fatty acids, gum acacia), Apple Phyto-Phenolics (polyphenol blend), omega-3 (cranberry seed oil), resveratrol, natural flavors, potassium sorbate (preservative), sodium benzoate (preservative), citric acid. According to the company, 4 ounces of MonaVie Pulse provide 0.8 g plant sterols.

A patent application for the freeze-dried acaí powder (Opti-Acaí) used in MonaVie was submitted to the World Intellectual Property Organization in 2004 by developers Alexander G. Schauss and Kenneth A. Murdock.[10] WIPO's Preliminary Report on Patentability deemed that many of the claims in the patent application did not support the novelty, inventiveness, or industrial applicability of the process,[11] and as of July 2009, the patent had not been approved. Opti-acaí is marketed by K2A International, a business partnership between Schauss, Murdock, and MonaVie vice-president Jeff Graham.[12]

Product research

A study on the antioxidant activity of MonaVie Active juice reported that it had an ORAC score of 22.8 μmol/mL and that it contained 0.47 μg/mL total proanthocyanidins and 1.48 mg/mL total phenolics.[13]

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study in 12 healthy adults suggested that consumption of MonaVie Active led to a modest increase in the resistance of red blood cells to in vitro oxidation by hydrogen peroxide, which was demonstrated using the authors' newly developed "CAP" assay method.[13] ORAC in serum was not increased nor was serum lipid peroxidation significantly inhibited in test subjects who consumed MonaVie.

MORE Project

The company founded and operates a charitable organization known as The MORE Project or MonaVie's Operation Rescue.[14] based in South Jordan, Utah. The organization's current director is Katy Holt-Larsen, who took over the position from Charles Brink (now serving as Chief Counsel for Monavie LLC).[15]

Criticism

Critics of MonaVie include physician Andrew Weil and nutritionist Jonny Bowden, who claim that MonaVie's nutritional and health benefits are not proven and that the product is exorbitantly priced relative to more cost-effective conventional antioxidant-rich foods, such as blueberries, raspberries, and pomegranates.[16][17] According to Men's Journal, a nutritional analysis conducted by ChromaDex,[18] a contract-testing laboratory, showed that MonaVie Active juice "tested extremely low in anthocyanins and phenolics" and that "even apple juice (which also tested poorly) has more phenolics".[19] The report also noted that "MonaVie's vitamin C level was 5 times lower than that of Welch's Grape Juice."

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