A friend is waxing lyrical on Facebook about ‘Juice plus’, which is concentrated fruit & veg in the form of capsules, and supposedly cures multiple ailments. I admitted I was a tiny bit skeptical, so she added me to the Facebook Juice plus group, which is crammed with testimonials. The claims that people are making include:

Cure/vast improvement in: migraine, eczema, IBS, irregular periods, polycystic ovary syndrome, panic attacks, anxiety, autism, ADHD, energy levels, arthritis (rheumatoid and osteo), familial high cholesterol, acne, Crohn’s disease, period pain, insomnia, thicker & faster-growing hair, lupus, and pregnancy-related issues (including symphysis pubis dysfunction, miscarriage, stretch marks, swollen feet).

Plus numerous claims for dramatic weight loss (like 2 stones in 6 weeks).

I’m trying to keep an open mind here (as I would love to find a cure for my migraines). I can see that some of these conditions have an inflammatory component which could be a common factor in how these capsules exert their benefit, but all of this seems a little too good to be true to me. And how can powdered fruit and veg cause such dramatic weight loss or cure autism?

Wondering if anyone from STW has heard of them or tried them? Am I being too cynical?

Struggling to think how you’d “cure / vastly improve” miscarriage. 😯

Sounds like it contains 100% woo to me. Eat some vegetables to achieve same effect.

Well, I was a bit too concise in my OP, but the miscarriage one was from a woman who had experienced 2 early miscarriages but her 3rd pregnnacy was proceeding well after taking Juice plus.

I’ve got a hologram bangle that I can sell you…..?
It aligns the polarity of your blood & cures arthritis, makes you sleep better, increases/decreases* your libido (* delete as applicable), makes your hair shiny, increases athletic performance by 16.4% and freshens your breath.

In all seriousness – RUN AWAY! It’s nonsense. Just eat a healthy, balanced diet.
If a capsule of concentrated fruit & veg really was proven to help with all of those symptoms the NHS would be all over it!!

vickypea – Member

Well, I was a bit too concise in my OP, but the miscarriage one was from a woman who had experienced 2 early miscarriages but her 3rd pregnnacy was proceeding well after taking Juice plus.

I think that’s called statistics. I know plenty of women who have miscarried but then gone onto have successful pregnancies.
None of them were taking Juice Plus.

plus one for healthy diet, if your eating enough fruit and veg you will get all you need. What you don’t isn’t stored its dumped. Same with these and other quackery pills.

Save your money eat a good healthy diet.

just because its on the internet dosent make it true

experienced 2 early miscarriages but her 3rd pregnnacy was proceeding well after taking Juice plus

you think a doctor would back Juice plus for this?

Is it still around? I thought it had moved on to Aloe Vera although Coconut Oil seems to be pushing its nose in.

I am pretty sure that all the good stuff in fruit and vegetables can not be concentrated into a capsule without destroying pretty much everything that is good.

Is it still around? I thought it had moved on to Aloe Vera although Coconut Oil seems to be pushing its nose in.

Just waiting for pies and black pudding to get a slice of this woowoo action.

a woman who had experienced 2 early miscarriages but her 3rd pregnnacy was proceeding well after taking Juice plus

I’ll tell my wife that’s where she went wrong all those years ago. I’m sure it’ll act as a great relief to know that no-one need suffer again, now we have this miraculous breakthrough.

how can powdered fruit and veg cause such dramatic weight loss or cure autism?

It can’t. IANAD, but I’ll stick my neck out here.

Just waiting for pies and black pudding to get a slice of this woowoo action.

The pills would need to be fully enclosed in pastry……apparently.

The pills would need to be fully enclosed in pastry……apparently.

could make them bigger. Maybe get some good quality protein in them too. Win.

Watch this – it cures Asthma

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dp6LT2MdaPI[/video]

i always feel better after a pie……

maybe pie plus is a thing…. if not it should be…..

can you lease pies ? 😉

Its a pyramid scheme type set up I believe. You convert other people and you make money from it. Facebook is now full of it.

Plus numerous claims for dramatic weight loss (like 2 stones in 6 weeks).

they neglect to mention you also have to follow a very strict diet. Shock horror, when Fatties stop eating processed carbs, they lose all that water they’re holding onto, and lose shitloads of weight in a very short time

Watch this – it cures Asthma

Nope. Beer cures asthma.

I was repeatedly hospitalised with chronic asthma throughout my childhood.

Haven’t had a serious attack since I was about eighteen.

*Beer.

* any corellation with massive improvements in asthma medication in the late 80’s is purely coincidental. It’s the beer.

Quackery works because, as your GP knows, 95% of cases heal themselves over time and this often coincides with starting to take the remedy.

It’s nothing new, the French doctor/philosopher Voltaire said: “Most medicine consists of keeping the patient happy while Nature does her work.”

Juice Plus is what people move onto once they’ve whored themselves to every friend, neighbor and relative possible to sell Herbalife, Mega Aloe or whatever other pseudo-scientific bullshit multi-layered marketing snake oil they’re pedaling.

The testimonials are lies, written by other sellers to sell more crap, or at best people who’ve had a lucky placebo effect from their over-priced jelly beans.

Marketing it as a ‘cure’ for miscarriage is frankly unforgivable in my book, if there is an after-life, I hope people who spout that crap suffer for it.

There was a docu on TV a while ago on placebos – usual thing with giving a cycling team supposed performace enhancers and they get PBs, then told it was a placebo, etc.

But the interesting one was a former clinical nurse who was suffering with very bad arthritis pain – she was asked to take a placebo instead of her meds for 2 weeks.

As she was told it was a placebo she didn’t expect it to work, but was surprised when the pain was kept away.

When it ran out the pain returned and she tried to buy placebo, but even in the states she couldn’t find any.

Minds a powerful thing…

First thing I was going to ask was “Is it a multilevel marketing thing?”

Reason for asking that was I (well mainly friends/acquaintances) were involved with another herbal MLM years and years ago, and they were always getting a rollocking for medicinal claims like that. If it is not a licenced medicine, you cannot claim medicinal effects, nor that it cures health ailments.

Sure herbal and vegetation based products may well have beneficial effects, but you can’t claim it, unless it’s been thru a trial and certified.

AFAIK/IANAD/IANAL

Nothing wrong with the MLM side of things, in principle, but it’s a cult and every single person you interface with becomes a potential customer. Friends, family, colleagues, your local newsagent, checkout staff. If you speak to them, they’re a potential source of sales. And MLM only works by being overpriced and having repeat sales.

also see ActiDerm….

Another thing about placebos is that they work better if they are expensive and the right colour.

I have experinced the power of the placebo; I went through a bad patch of stress when working in Spain and my GP at home gave me some pills. They worked and I felt much much better. It wasn’t until I got home from Spain that my sister, a nurse, told me: “Yeah, they’re sweets”.

Most of the testimonials are probably made up nonsense as others have said already.

However, some may well be genuine, and proof of the mad power of placebo.

It’s worth getting this weeks New Scientis mag and reading the article onp32 about placebo. Fascinating stuff.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2079643-tap-the-placebo-effect-to-unlock-your-bodys-healing-powers/

Just to be clear- I’m also more than a ‘tiny bit’ skeptical. My interest is really because a friend has told me that 3 of her significant, long-term medical conditions have been turned around by these things. When I see examples of potential quackery and hype, it’s usually just from unknown berks on the internet, not from a friend.

I did ask her if she was getting commission from promoting them, and she denied it but then said I could buy them through her if I wanted to.
Regarding claims- the company probably keeps on the side of the law by allowing people to make these testimonals and anecdotes whilst refraining from making official claims themselves.

I’m tempted to air my skepticism on their FB page to see if my comment gets deleted (as Dettol did when I politely pointed out that antibacterial detergent does not ‘protect your family’) 😀

I had a young patient early 40s diagnosed with a grade 4 malignant brain tumour a few years back. Basically incurable. Young kids. Think his wife might have been pregnant at the time too. Absolutely awful situation.
In desperation they sought out some quack on Harley street who put him on some sort of high carrot juice diet. Told him also to stop taking the conventional meds (steroids etc) as they prevented the carrot juice working. Did scans and proclaimed that the treatment was working.
It wasn’t. All lies. The family still lost their husband and dad at a cruel young age but were given false hope and wasted God knows how much in the process. Made it very difficult for his medical team to provide proper evidence based care and good end of life care.
Anyone who pushes this sort of bollocks is either deluded or evil.
Vickypea you aren’t being anywhere nearly cynical enough.

If it is MLM or sales a bit like Avon, then it’s not just the company, but those that sell and get commission that must also abide by the law.

The one I was in the similar situation with, with friends, was the pear juice and 30 odd botanicals one, around the same era as Herbalife.

But MLM is a cult. If a friend can get it for you, she’ll be making commission (so long as she gets a minimum level of sales), and will be making more commission by recruiting you to sell too.

but if it is not expensive, has nothing toxic (but who really knows), doesn’t require you to stop your normal meds, and you ‘believe’ enough for it to stop your symptoms, then why not?

It’s not just the medical profession; in the cosmetics industry the “extracts” that are addded to shampoos and bodycare products are just a simple maceration of plant material in water/propylene glycol. This highly diluted “tea” is added to the batch at about 0.1% dosage (one kilo per ton) to justify what’s claimed on the label. There may be some kind of benefit to the hair or skin but who could ever prove it? The benefit is entirely in the consumer’s mind.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BD2kWCfTcaU[/video]

globalti- I bought a shower gel because I liked the smell, and later noticed that it said “contains 100% natural honey” – which means absolutely nothing at all – a load of tripe. 😀

docrobster – I know I don’t sound very cynical, it’s just that I’d hope my friend would be telling the truth.

TurnerGuy – I also had the same thought, but then wondered if these people are losing weight at what sounds like an alarming rate, have they sneaked in some kind of stimulant?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juice_Plus

A friend of mine is into this, she’s a normally rational person but it seems like that’s when it’s worst, it gets stuck on the wrong side of the bullshit filter and you can’t get it back out

TBH if you made this product and said it helps with 2 or 3 vaguely diet related conditions, I could be convinced. As soon as you throw all this stuff together it’s obvious bollocks.

in the cosmetics industry the “extracts” that are addded to shampoos and bodycare products are just a simple maceration of plant material in water/propylene glycol. This highly diluted “tea” is added to the batch at about 0.1% dosage (one kilo per ton) to justify what’s claimed on the label. There may be some kind of benefit to the hair or skin but who could ever prove it?

Do you work in that area, Globalti. Because claim substantiation is a huge area for the reputable companies.

https://www.cap.org.uk/News-reports/Media-Centre/2014/Compact-guide-to-cosmetic-ad-claims.aspx#.Vugu5-KLRaR

” It goes without saying that you must hold appropriate and adequate scientific evidence to substantiate an efficacy claim, whether explicit or implied (rule 3.7 and 12.1). “

The grey area is loading stuff with natural ingredients (like the honey example cited) and the consumer assumption that it must therefore be good for you. Sadly, misconception in many cases; i can cite lots of harmful ‘natural’ ingredients and lots of beneficial ‘synthetic’ ones. Unfortunately all it takes now is someone with access to a computer and an opinion, plus a few twitter / FB followers, and someone’s opinion can easily become a trend. And then when reputable scientists counter it, the response is as easy as ‘well you would say that, you sell it!’

From that wiki link,

National Safety Associates, the owner of Juice Plus, claim that it is “the next best thing to eating fruits and vegetables”,

So there you have it, straight from the horse’s mouth. Eating fruit and vegetables is better than their product. And last I checked, eating food wasn’t a cure for zarking autism.

When I see examples of potential quackery and hype, it’s usually just from unknown berks on the internet, not from a friend.

As others have said, she might well believe it (doubly so if the alternative is “I’ve just wasted a load of money on snake oil”); confirmation bias, placebo effect and all that.

I bought a shower gel because I liked the smell, and later noticed that it said “contains 100% natural honey” – which means absolutely nothing at all – a load of tripe

Oh yes, it certainly will have contained 100% natural honey. That would be a watery liquid with 5% honey dissolved in it along with a good preservative, then that liquid added to the shower gel at 0.1%. The perfume may have had a honey note just to reinforce the marketing message.

i can cite lots of harmful ‘natural’ ingredients and lots of beneficial ‘synthetic’ ones.

Natural materials can be quite harmful, for example bergamot oil, which is a photosensitiser. Most synthetic raw materials are quite harmless to most people.

vickypea – Member
Wondering if anyone from STW has heard of them or tried them? Am I being too cynical?

Nope never heard of them before.

Are you trying to recruit us to your Downline? 😛