12 May Juice Plus: Health or Bussiness
Products like Juice Plus promise weight loss in a easy and comfortable way. However the only think that is empirically proved is the massive amount of money that independent sellers are generating on all over USA and Europe.
The cult of the body is an element that has been present trough history of the human being. However, with the transition into a digital world the traditional media has shifted from a written based content into a more visual based format.
The Celebrities and the people we look up to are closer than ever. If twitter have made their thoughts approachable to us, social networks like Instagram or Snapchat have done so with their image. They are presented as a standard we should aim for. They carry the banner of a “Healthy body” which is now associated to slim people with no body fat and in most of the cases with an artificial body. People want to be like celebrities but they don’t want or sometimes they can’t invest the same amount of resources as them. As per many other things people want to achieve their objectives with no effort and trough shortcuts.
Miraculous diets have been there for a long time. Most them are based on people’s misconception and most of the times their results are quite subjective. If you dig a little bit into the “healthy business” you will find products like Herbalife or Juice Plus. Even though they try to differentiate themselves from the others most of them share the same characteristics. They promise to be a suitable substitution of real food, they assure you will lose weight almost instantly, their products are supported by “solid scientific studies” and all them are sold through a multilevel scheme. I’m always looking for innovative ways to improve my lifestyle and that includes exercise and diet. I went to investigate these products to see if I could integrate them into my diet without being dangerous to my body or my wallet.
First time I heard about this product is was from someone of my immediate environment. He had tried the product and it worked for him. As part of the multi-level scheme he started to sell it and share his journey with more people. As I mentioned before all of them are sold through this business scheme. Anyone can become seller on its own although you are not working directly for the company. However, you take a percentage from your sales and give it to the person that is over you. I’ll talk about this scheme later but I think is important to have a view on this at this point.
I went to ask him for my investigation. After some years struggling with overweight and an unhealthy lifestyle he found Juice Plus. This dietary supplement substitutes his regular foods in daily basis so it loses weight within just a few weeks. It costs about 200£ for four months, so that is at least 600£ per year if you only do the supplements. He lost 15kg in nearly 6 months and started to sell the product. It seems quite impressive, we are talking here about a product that is almost a miracle. On the other hand, the product is expensive and it is sold by unqualified people. They only receive training provided by the company which is not revised or approved by any other external organization. Sometimes he seems more invested on creating his nets of sellers than promoting his lifestyle than the actual results and loss of weigh part.
I knew his story already so I went and I asked about the product. When I confronted him about what the product contains he stated “These capsules contain dried fruit and vegetables. They’ve been processed with a proprietary method so they don’t lose their nutrients. The shakes are protein shakes made with the same process” When I asked him about the exact amount of each nutrient on the capsules he couldn’t ask and it is not stated on the package either. I asked him if the product was enough to make it lose weight alone and so he answered: “Obviously, it will work better along with a diet and exercise but the product is powerful enough for you to notice the results by using it on itself”. I tried to ask him some more technical questions but he couldn’t answer most of them and the rest of answers I got where vague and not precise enough.
Firstly, I went to the web and I checked how the product is presented and depicted. If all the statements that appeared there were true we will be talking about a product that could be a revolution. However, there are many experts that advice not to use this kind of products so I kept looking through the web to see if they could convince me.
The product is described as “The best thing when fruit or vegetables aren’t available”. A motivational video is heading the web explaining the story of the product and how it has helped thousands of families. There is also one section with all the links to the scientific studies supporting the product and some pictures of the experts involved on the studies. These studies were my next target, understanding them was key to understand how the product works. Surprisingly there were no studies showing loss of weight, most of them were based on the improvement of vitamin C and A. Others of them try to confirm how the “wellbeing” of the body improves after a few weeks on the products. I couldn’t find a study proving with no doubts the loss of weight, which is weird as it is supposed to be its main aim. Anyway, I wanted to check the studies and the results with an expert.
Alexander Hornero is nutritionist and personal trainer. I asked him about the product and the scientific evidences behind it. His opinion will help to clarify and understand the product. After reviewing the studies, he shared with me some facts that definitely withdrawn the remaining veracity that I had on the product.
Most of the studies aren’t double blinded, most of them use only a few people and they don’t extend on the time long enough. Placebo wasn’t always used which is important because the power of the mind and the self-suggestion is important. Finally, I’ve also learnt that they relied way too much on smokers and they didn’t control their diets at all during the study. There is no need to be an expert to see why the results aren’t valid for most of the studies. Alex told me that even though the products have been approved by the authorities to be sold its effectivity haven’t been verified yet unlike other products that are used by professionals. As an expert, he emphasized that there are not perfect substitute of real food and it won’t probably be. The product is far more expensive than any specialized product and its effectivity is not even proved at the same level. I asked him about his thoughts on unqualified people selling this kind of products and even overstepping on the industry. He stated, “There is a lot of unqualified practice on industry, anyone with limited knowledge thinks that is able to advice and sell this products to people” he continued “it might be dangerous on the long term, it is completely wrong to establish a general formula that expects to obtain the same results on everybody. As a professional you should research the diet, habits and even environment of your client. There are no shortcuts to a healthy lifestyle but eating well and doing regular exercise is not as difficult as people may think it is”.
After the nutritional and scientific part of the product was clear to me I wanted to know more about the product environment, its impact on people and if possible find someone experienced on multi-level marketing to see how it was in the inside.
I interviewed Elena and Lydia as Juice Plus Users. Elena used the products one year ago but since then she hasn’t tried any of them. Lydia on the other hand is starting on the process. Elena told me that after the initial loss of weigh of around 10kg she struggled to keep losing it and she felt weak and hungry most of the time. Around this time, she discovered that she was losing from chronical iron deficiency or anaemia so she couldn’t keep on track with the product. First statement I have heard from Lydia was complaining about the price of the product. She has been struggling to keep a healthy lifestyle and a friend who sells and use the product told her that Juice Plus might be a good place to start. She is concerned because she works as a cleaner so she needs a good amount of energy to keep going every day and she is sceptic about the product providing it.
Finally, I talked to David, he’s been selling the product for five years and although he left the company one year ago he is currently on another multi-level scheme business. I had to ask him about the difference between multi-level scheme and a pyramid scam. He said “On a multi-level scheme your direct revenue comes from the sales not from the people under you. A pyramidal scam most of the times doesn’t use a physical product and its main source of income comes from the royalties paid by people on inferior levels” This was kind of contradictory as I don’t think the people at the highest level of United Kingdom are busy going home by home selling the product. I asked him about Juice Plus as a product and he stated “It is an excellent product. It is supported by scientific studies and even though it won’t make miracles it can help you to feel better” As I noticed every person defined the product differently. David was being careful so he won’t be caught up with his words. The last final question was about him leaving Juice Plus. He didn’t want talk to about his reasons but from I could understand on their declarations was that the product was selling differently on its original country (USA) than on Europe. He argued “I was in a conference on Phoenix a couple of years ago and I see a different business model. The European market is money and revenue based and it doesn’t focus enough on the wellbeing of the people”.
As I expected these of products are on a thin line between dietary supplements and practices like homeopathy or alternative medicine. They are not fully scientifically proved and its effects will variate from one person to another. Suggestion is powerful and your mind can do a lot when you truly believe that a product that is costing you 200£ pounds must be great. Truth is you are better off these products and eating real food. Processed food is one of the cancer of society so we should always look for fresh and unprocessed food. There is no doubt about the popularity of this product, it will probably maintain its trend or even increase it. It is left to ask if it is because of its real nutritional power or the massive business model created around it.
