Anybody here supplement with "Juice Plus" (ala Dr. Sears)? - Page 3

[FLDoula]

The study at MD Anderson is just one of many studies being done on Juice Plus. The results may take time to get, but these are reputable organizations/schools that are doing the studies and THEY are the ones wanting to do the studies. Maybe the research done at first by NSA was not the best of the best. There are people who discredit it because it is paid for by NSA. However, this is how ALL research is paid for. These places like MD Anderson, University of Sydney, Brigham Young, Vanderbuilt are not going to do things for free. That is a ludicrous thought. If you go to the MD Anderson center website, there is a FAQ page. On it it states who pays for the studies.

One of the great things about one of the studies being done on Juice Plus is that it is being funded by the National Institute of Health, NOT NSA and is being conducted at Wakeforest University.

The other thing to contemplate is that Juice Plus is a natural product. It may not work the same on everyone. Just like the way any natural product is done. That is the same premise as homeopathy - you have to find the right one for the person. The majority of people who take Juice Plus do love it, but there are some that don't. Please listen to the majority of people here that are talking about Juice Plus and make a choice for yourself. Don't just believe what others say. The more people talk about something the more they fear it, most of the time. Natural medicine is the wave of the future and it is scarring the pants off the pharmaceutical industry because thousands of people are turning to naturopathy, chiropractic, homeopathy, etc., and away from the BIG BUSINESS of KEEPING people sick.

And, FWIW, those docs that we all "love" and "trust" to take care of us.....THEY are getting BIG TIME kick backs from the pharmaceutical companies if they prescribe their medicines. The pharmaceutical companies get a list every week or month of the # of prescriptions written for their product and they REWARD appropriately.

Now that is food for thought.

[FLDoula]

Originally Posted by Brenda Damachuk

The antioxidant screening test that FLDoula referred to is made by a company called Spectrox.

Actually, that is wrong. The I was talking about was the BioScan by Pharmanex.

[Brenda Damachuk]

Originally Posted by FLDoula

Actually, that is wrong. The I was talking about was the BioScan by Pharmanex.

My mistake...the comments stand but I was refering to Phamanex. Spectrox markets another lame assay....more later.

[FLDoula]

My point in stating what I said about the antioxidant scan is that Pharmanex consumers and Juice Plus consumers are the only ones that consistently test high on their machines, which says something to me.

As far as what your question was on the D. Salina - the definition of algae is basically a microscopic plant. It is not a mineral or artificial or an animal product. Juice Plus is a whole food based supplement that has many fruits and veggies in it, and then they add in acidophilus and other ingredients for enzymes, etc. It is a whole food supplement and actually the capsules have a "nutrition" label on them because they are a FOOD not a supplement, as per the FDA.

[apple_dumpling]

Originally Posted by FLDoula

OBVIOUSLY Brenda is out to knock Juice Plus, since these are the ONLY posts she posts too and has nothing positive to say about it. That is her perogative, but it is unusual activity, don't you think? There are a TON of wonderful experiences that have been shared here on the forums, so read those and make your own choices everyone.

Actually, her negativity made me want to try it even more and I just ordered the combo for myself and the chewables for dd I figured it must be worth a try if someone is trying so hard to defame it! So, I guess she backfired, at least where I am concerned, because all she did was make me research it more and the more I did, the more impressed I was and decided to try it.

On a slightly different note, my dd is 16 months old... I'd love to start her on the chewables (and she is very good at chewing stuff) but how big are they, would I need to break them in half or in quarters? Is 16 months too young for the full dose of a chewable? I'd love to hear from other mama's who are giving it to their younger kids... and at what age did you start.

I am excited personally. I have never been able to eat enough veggies and my health is going downhill lately... I need a pick me up and I am super ready to try this.

[Brenda Damachuk]

My point about the Pharmanex test is that all it is measuring is the beta-carotene that is added to the product. Should it be a surprise that people who take megadoses of beta-carotene wind up with high beta-carotene levels in the skin (which is all the Pharmanex test measure…carotenoids in skin, not ANY other part of the body). You can take any old supplement with ADDED beta-carotene and expect exactly the same results. I don’t care if someone wants to consumer cheap algae, but most Juice Plus customers are not told that and would be very surprised to hear it. They don’t show any algae in those NSA brochures that show baskets of fruits and vegetables do they? If the capsules actually contained adequate amounts of nutrients, it wouldn’t be necessary to add them, but as was confirmed by one of NSA study leaders, the nutrients are added to restore nutrients LOST DURING PROCESSING (that is a quote). As for discrediting JP research, the fact that NSA sponsors it is only one of many criticisms. The biggest criticism is that the research was poorly designed and very misleadingly presented by NSA. Despite what NSA says, the majority of the studies showed that JP DID NOT HAVE ANTIOXIDANT EFFECTS. NSA and JP distributors are not forthcoming in discussing NSAs sponsorship of the research (they still misleadingly refer to it as independent third party research), and in every case, it has been NSA that has approached these researchers to conduct JP studies on the company’s behalf, not vice versa. And NSA continues to fund the majority of these studies, including the one being done by Katz – he received over $200 K from NSA. I think it a joke to call JP a “natural” product, unless you consider it natural to combine a fleck or two of nutritionally inert fruit and veg dust with algae and added vitamins and put into a gelatin capsule. Rather than natural, I think it is a freakish abomination. Don’t kid yourself into thinking that this is a debate between “conventional” vs “alternative” medicine. Juice Plus is pure crap no matter which angle you approach it from, and there are many professionals on both sides (even including Andrew Weil) who think the product is overpriced garbage. But it’s very convenient for NSA to have JP defenders tell people that they should ignore valid criticism and buy the product anyway.

[TexasSuz]

You know despite everything said on both sides, iIhave decided not to try Jp because of the selling practice of only making it availavble through individual suppliers and only selling it in 4 month supplies. If the product was so great then they would not need to make it difficult on a working family to afford it or have access to get it. The combination of the two makes me wonder.

Also, everyone I have ever talked to who liked JP was also a distributor of it thus making their opinion biased.

Not buying it...

[FLDoula]

TexasSuz: I am sorry that you are not willing to give JP a try. There have been people on these boards who have talked about JP and the results they have seen, and they are NOT distributors. They have great stories to tell. If you ask other distributors, I am sure they could give you names of their customers who are happy on JP and they would talk to you. I have customers that tell me they love it and there are many more out there. In fact, 85% of the people taking Juice Plus are customers and NOT distributors.

As far as they way it is marketed, it is affordable in that you only have to pay for one month at a time even though they send you a four month supply. The company trusts you that you will make those payments for the product, which is very generous and gracious , if you ask me. The company has been in business since the 1970s and Juice Plus has been on the market for more than 13 years. That should tell you something about what kind of company and what kind of product it is. There are VERY few products that are still on the market after 2 or 3 years from conception because they are a fad, whereas Juice Plus is something that people take and love for MANY years. It is marketed in a direct distributor type of way like most products that are nutritional today. There are basically two ways that nutritional products that are any good are provided to the public - health food stores and direct marketing (with the exception of a few that are for health care professionals only). With health food stores you are paying multiple people to provide you with that product from the delivery and production of it to the stocking of the shelves and the cashiers, etc. This is all absorbed in the price. With direct marketing you are paying for it in a different way, HOWEVER the products that are sold via direct marketing if they were on the shelves would have a MUCH greater inflated price because of the delivery costs, cashiers, managers, etc.

Think of the many products that are out there - Mary Kay, Avon, Natures Sunshine, Partylite, Princess House, Pampered Chef, Pharmanex, MonaVie, Noni Juice, Arbonne, Juice Plus, etc., etc., etc. All of these are products that choose to deal with distributors instead of big corporations to do business. It is a business choice, but does not make the product any less valuable. In fact I think that most of us have done business with one or more of these companies without thinking twice about it.................

So, my advice to you is to think about it. Remember that JP has a money back guarantee on any unopened product. And some JP distributors will sell you a one month supply to "try" if you choose, but this is not the norm because of the money back guarantee.

Just my thoughts.

[FLDoula]

Originally Posted by apple_dumpling

Actually, her negativity made me want to try it even more and I just ordered the combo for myself and the chewables for dd I figured it must be worth a try if someone is trying so hard to defame it! So, I guess she backfired, at least where I am concerned, because all she did was make me research it more and the more I did, the more impressed I was and decided to try it.

On a slightly different note, my dd is 16 months old... I'd love to start her on the chewables (and she is very good at chewing stuff) but how big are they, would I need to break them in half or in quarters? Is 16 months too young for the full dose of a chewable? I'd love to hear from other mama's who are giving it to their younger kids... and at what age did you start.

I am excited personally. I have never been able to eat enough veggies and my health is going downhill lately... I need a pick me up and I am super ready to try this.

I am glad you decided to try the product. I put my younger son on it at 1 year of age. He took 1/2 of a capsule until he was able to chew and then I put him on one chewable. Here is the rule of thumb.......an adult would take 2 of each capsule, 4 of each of the chewables. A child probably after about age 3 would be on a regular child's dose, which would be two of each of the chewables. Your 16mo taking one of each of the chewables is a great start. There is a pediatrician in the Orlando area that has seen an 80 to 90% reduction in sick visits and antibiotic use when his patients take Juice Plus, which is significant. He recommends they start with a half of a capsule of each of the fruits and veggies starting at 6 months of age.

[FLDoula]

As far as the research done on the product, NSA funding it does not make the results invalid. If you ask a pharmacy rep about the research done on one of their products, they would say it was independent also, because that is what it is. They test the product and the publish the results. Nothing more. Of course there are critics on both sides of the issue. There are those that think Juice Plus is fabulous and those that don't. That is why we live in a free country able to express whatever our opinions are.

There are people like Dr. Isadore Rosefeld from Fox News that do not recommend taking vitamins because they are isolated and produced in a pharmacy, yet he does recommend Juice Plus. He is considered a "doctor's doctor" because people trust his opinions and doctors go to him for advice.

And as I have said before, maybe the studies done on JP previous to this were not as good as they could have been. They were done a number of years ago, and science and technology have stepped up and said that we need to have more rigid standards for testing. This is why the NEW research being done on Juice Plus is double blind, placebo controlled, randomized. That is what counts.

And putting research aside, there are many people that say they don't care about the research they care about they way they feel and the results they have seen in themselves and in their families. That is the true test of the product.

I had a personal story with the bioscan........I was taking handfulls of vitamins every day from health food stores, including beta carotene. My tests were no where near what they should have been based on their machine. When I started taking Juice Plus within a few months they were above the 30,000 mark where they state it should be. SO the beta carotene I was taking was not affecting my antioxidants and Brenda stated.

[SimoneRitchie]

Hi Apple, welcome to our Juice Plus discussion (LOL). I'm glad that you decided to try Juice Plus even based on the not so factual information given by Brenda. FLDoula has done a GREAT job at setting the record straight. Brenda obviously has no idea how the internal struction of NSA works, how the research is actually funded (other than stating NSA funded it, which is again INCORRECT, NAI is the funder, they are the company that encapsulates Juice Plus, not the ones that market it). So, to listen to someone put information on a post to try and get others to believe, is what makes people scratch their heads about natural/alternative products. But, the world is full of them, including like FLDoula stated, the people that are backed by the big pharmaceutical companies. Also for a comment on the "research" about Juice Plus, I personally want to hear the good, bad and average results of Juice Plus. I wouldn't expect all research to be 100% showing favorable results from any product. There is no golden pill out there, so if a product shows favorable results in cardiovascular health for example, I think that is noteworthy enough to educate the public on, and vise versa, if it didn't show that great of results, I think the public should be advised also. Unfortunatley, any study (even early on), that showed not so favorable results about Juice Plus are being thrown in peoples faces by nay-sayers saying, see see see, I told you Juice Plus was "crap" when in fact, I would look at it as well Juice Plus doesn't necessarily show good results in this aspect of health. Again, Juice Plus is NOT a golden pill to cure, treat, make you skinny, cure all solution. It is simply away to get more fruits and vegetables into your diet if you are not going to do that the regular way. And in ALL of their literature, including their website, Juice Plus first and foremost states, this is NOT a substitute for fresh fruits and vegetables. So if this company was out to "get" the public, why would they make sure to remind you, this is not the way to get your recommended nutrition everyday, but will fill in the gaps when you cannot or will not eat the recommended amounts. With comments from Brenda, I think it is easy to see this is a nay-sayer, without knowledge or facts trying to sway you on her own personal beliefs of a product that is highly recommended by over 20,000 healthcare professionals (and not all of them are distributors or making profits off their recommendations), continues to be addressed from leading universities, teaching hospitals and other research facilities, wanting to set up research and trials of this product (at their request, not NSA's/NAI's) and hundreds of thousands of happy, healthy customers that repeat their orders because Juice Plus DOES work for them. It won't necessarily work for everyone, but for those of us that it does, that is why we are passionate about getting the CORRECT message out to you to make an informed decision, not try and cram down your throat our own personal beliefs just to sell the product. When we see blatnely WRONG information being given, those facts need to be corrected, and people like Brenda, that bring WRONG facts to a forum, it needs to be set straight instead of her trying to make you believe what she is stating is correct to steer you away, just because she doesnt' believe in Juice Plus. Again, her credability should be quickly being disolved because of all of the wrong information she is giving and remind everyone, that she has only posted negatively to any topic on this forum about Juice Plus (no other posts), so she obviously has her own agenda.

[Brenda Damachuk]

Originally Posted by SimoneRitchie

Brenda obviously has no idea how the internal struction of NSA works, how the research is actually funded (other than stating NSA funded it, which is again INCORRECT, NAI is the funder, they are the company that encapsulates Juice Plus, not the ones that market it).

I personally want to hear the good, bad and average results of Juice Plus. I wouldn't expect all research to be 100% showing favorable results from any product.

Unfortunatley, any study (even early on), that showed not so favorable results about Juice Plus are being thrown in peoples faces by nay-sayers saying, see see see, I told you Juice Plus was "crap"

With comments from Brenda, I think it is easy to see this is a nay-sayer, without knowledge or facts trying to sway you on her own personal beliefs of a product

It won't necessarily work for everyone, but for those of us that it does, that is why we are passionate about getting the CORRECT message out to you to make an informed decision, not try and cram down your throat our own personal beliefs just to sell the product. When we see blatnely WRONG information being given, those facts need to be corrected, and people like Brenda, that bring WRONG facts to a forum, it needs to be set straight instead of her trying to make you believe what she is stating is correct to steer you away, just because she doesnt' believe in Juice Plus. Again, her credability should be quickly being disolved because of all of the wrong information she is giving and remind everyone, that she has only posted negatively to any topic on this forum about Juice Plus (no other posts), so she obviously has her own agenda.

I am taking a wild guess that I know a lot more about JP than Simone does, but in contrast, I am willing to share the truth about the product. Simone essentially called me a liar but doesn’t have a leg to stand on.

Regarding the funding of Juice Plus research, I have 3 quotes for you all. The first is from page 10.14 of the JP distributor’s manual. It states: “Why did NSA commission research on Juice Plus? In order to replace “testimonials” as a selling tool”. The second quote is from the JP study by Kiefer et al (J Am Coll Nutr 2004): “This research project was supported by NSA International, Memphis, TN”. The third quote is from David Katz of the Geffen Center who is currently conducting an NSA-funded JP study. He was quoted as follows: "Katz met with the NSA Corporation at a nutrition conference and was asked to conduct a study analyzing the health effects of Juice Plus. NSA provided a grant of around $200,000 for the study, Katz said." So clearly I was telling the truth about NSAs funding of projects. However, even if the manufacturer (NAI) sponsored and co-wrote some of the studies (which they did), that still makes the credibility of the studies questionable, and the fact that NSA and the distributors always try to hide these facts is most revealing.

Furthermore, if the existing research has shown bad results in many cases (and it did), how is it naysaying to accurately relay that information to people? Shouldn’t Simone and the JP distributors be telling people the truth in the first place instead of withholding what the research actually showed? Their failure to do so strikes me as very deceptive.

As for Simone’s accusation that I am trying to cram a message down people’s throats, I have the following to say. First, I don’t care if someone wants to or does not want to try the product, but I do care that they have enough reliable information to make an informed decision, and they apparently aren’t going to get it form Simone or FLDoula. Second, Simone and FLD both encouraged people to make their own choice about JP, but when someone actually decides not to try it, like Texassuz did, FLD continued to try to sway them to try the product. What happened to respecting personal choice? That seems very disrespectful, not to mention hypocritical.

Lastly, Simone repeatedly makes the accusation that I am only posting about JP, yet almost all of her posts on this forum have been about JP, and more importantly I have seen her posts on 3 other health forums where all she did was plug JP. And even though Simone says she is not a distributor, she is always driving traffic to the same JP distributor, Kimberly OConnell. What does that say about her agenda and impartiality?

[Gale Force]

It is odd how many people are on this thread who are not active members of the MDC community.

[FLDoula]

TexasSuz was stating that she did not want to try Juice Plus because of the way it was sold by distributors and how they do it in four month supplies. All I did was clear up the reasonings behind both of those, nothing more. I am not being hypocritical. I want her to make a choice based on the product itself and not based on what she did not know about the business practices.

I think that it is VERY odd Brenda that you have ONLY posted about Juice Plus on this web board. I have been a member here for a long time. I have read the posts for many months, but most of the time do not answer or question. That is just me. What I wonder about is WHY are YOU here? If you are on other health boards and know about SimoneRitchie talking to people about Juice Plus on those boards, then you MUST have your own agenda against Juice Plus. Why, I don't know. Just does not make sense that you apparently are only posting negative findings about Juice Plus and nothing else. At least SimoneRitchie has other topics she has posted on here, unlike you.

And again, all research is funded by someone, usually the manufacturer of the product (although there are two cases I know of that this did not happen with Juice Plus - money was from other sources). When the makers of Celebrex, Fosamax, Claritin, etc., wanted their products tested THEY had to pay money to see what happened with them. There is NO issue with NSA funding their own studies. At least they are studying the product, unlike most natural products out there. And the results are being published no matter what the results. Again, some people see results and others do not. I am more apt to believe what others have seen in their family and try it for myself than to discredit a product because someone says the results show XYZ and in this study they did not show XYZ.

My suggestion is to try it for yourself if you want to or don't try it. No big deal either way. Many people are happy with the product, just like there are people who take MonaVie, Gogi Juice, Noni Juice, Xango Juice, etc. Everyone has to choose what they want to take and be happy with their choice. Everyone will find their own product they like. It is up to them.

[Brenda Damachuk]

Originally Posted by FLDoula

Just does not make sense that you apparently are only posting negative findings about Juice Plus and nothing else.

Actually, it makes perfect sense given that there is no merit whasoever to this product. But I'll indulge and say something positive...the bottle labels look nice!

[apple_dumpling]

Actually, I did a little bit of research on it when I saw this thread before I decided to try it.

Yes there are positive and negative things about it... some studies claim it works, others don't... but how is that ANY different from ANY other vitamin/med/etc out on the market today? there are always going to be people who swear by stuff, and people who say it doesn't work. That's life and we are all different.

I decided to try it because since I have been sick (RA) my diet hasn't been great, I just can't eat very much.. my medicine and my illness cause a lack of appetite, and I really do want to try and get some nutrients in. Yes I know that eating fresh fruits and veggies is the best... but in my case I just can't do that all the time.

You know, if you look at any pharmaceutical med, there are studies claiming that it works, studies that say it causes cancer, ulcers, etc... and people on both sides of the spectrum. For some medicine saves lives... for others, it causes more problems. You just have to do the research and decide for yourself if you are willing to take the risk or not.

I don't see juice plus as a "risky" thing for my health. Sure, it may not work... and yes it's kind of expensive, but if it DOES work for me it will be money well spent. And how will I ever know if it works for me or not unless I try it.

I could care less how it is sold... like a pp mentioned there are lots of companies that do business this way... I have a friend that I buy avon from once in a while.. I don't hold it against her that I can't buy it from a store or something... it's just the way the company is run, and that's whatever floats their boat...as long as I feel I am getting value for my money (or in the vitamin case, if it is improving my health) then I am happy.

I just don't see the point of all the arguing.... I think most people are not going to take one positive review, or one negative review, and base their decision on that. We are all smart women (and men too ) and we know not to take one person's word on something... we need to research for ourselves and make our own decisions.

[FLDoula]

Originally Posted by Brenda Damachuk

Actually, it makes perfect sense given that there is no merit whasoever to this product. But I'll indulge and say something positive...the bottle labels look nice!

Actually, it sounds like you are trolling around message boards to discredit one product. There is a point behind the mothering.com community discussion boards, and it is not to hunt out those questioning a product and bring to light everything you find against it. Yes, it is good to have both sides of the story, but it seems odd coming from someone who is here for nothing else!

As far as cost, I agree that it is all in how you feel taking it as to if it is expensive or not! In comparison to some of the many other products on the market, it is reasonably priced. Most of the "miracle" juices on the market (marketed by testimonials only) cost about $40 a bottle and you need 3 a month per person, and then you get the "if you sell it you can make money and it is only $25 per bottle". Still that costs $75 per month! A lot of money, if you ask me, and that is not something I can reasonably afford, even if I was a distributor and loved their product.

[SimoneRitchie]

Brenda, I am not on other boards "promoting" Juice Plus. I have probably 1 or 2 other boards that I came across that I have posted the EXACT same message on those boards as I did here. I have never stated to buy from the distributor that we use, only giving an avenue because many people have not heard about Juice Plus or where to find it. We use this distributor based on what I have already stated. I have also very clearly stated in those posts that if a person was not interested in using our distributor to call the corporate offices and give your address, and they will assign you to a distributor. How is that impartial???? I'm simply answering a question and providing details, I'm not making any statement that our distributor has to be used. You are way out in left field my dear and it is scarey that you are actually believing the BS you are flinging on this forum. I back everything I say on this forum or the forums I have commented about Juice Plus on. And I highly doubt very much (and it shows in most of your answers on this form), that you know more about Juice Plus then me because the information you are giving shows your ignorance on the product and how the business is run.

[Brenda Damachuk]

Whatever! The facts are on the table...let the chips fall where they may.