How to Urinate Money
Why JuicePlus+ Nutrition Supplements Didn’t Work Out For my Body, Wallet, or Mind
How does someone who believes in eating simple whole foods end up spending over £130 ($180) a month on nutritional supplements?
Three words: multi-level marketing.
I am health-conscious and had never taken supplements before because I believe we can still meet our nutritional needs from whole foods; if you eat seasonally and relatively locally, you will have a nutritious, delicious and diverse diet. If there are greens on my plate and I can understand easily how what’s on there grew, I’m happy.
So what went wrong?
Lesson 1. Silly-clever minds can easily justify against one’s basic principles
In this case, my silly-clever mind’s logic said:
Health is number one priority
⇩
Do a 4-month experiment of having a health coach for £500…
⇨ with a free trial of nutritional supplements
You want to eat more healthily but often do not have enough time to plan every meal perfectly. Juice Plus+ can help: our products bridge the gap between what we eat every day and what we should eat every day.
In reality, the logic was:
Many businesses including JuicePlus+ capitalise on the belief that health is number one priority
⇩
A seller in a multi-level marketing scheme receives commission for selling a 4-month subscription of nutritional supplements
⇨ while practicing as a health coach
I signed up for the whole suite; a 4-month supply of vegan protein milkshakes, omega blend, and powdered fruits and vegetables in capsules, costing £531 or £132.75 per month. On each of the four pots of capsules, it said said “take 2 a day”. I took two a day from one pot and two from another the next, rotating through all of them over four days. After one month, the health coach asked me “have you been taking your capsules?” which made me feel rather like an old lady forgetfully taking her medication. Turns out I was supposed to take two capsules a day from each pot, ‘enough to make a smiley face’. When I looked again at what I’d received, I wondered whether there was another shipment to come — did I really just spend £531 on this?
Lesson 2: Isn’t it called ‘recommended intake’ for a reason?
Looking at the labels on the products, I noticed the high percentages compared to recommended intake and wondered, is there really value added from consuming this much? How much can the body actually make use of? These supplements are in addition to the foods you eat throughout the day. I believe in recognising ‘enough’ and avoiding over-consumption of anything, including ‘healthy stuff’.
JuicePlus reminds us that vitamin C helps “to support a normal collagen formation for the normal function of teeth and gums”; vitamin A, vitamin C and folic acid help “to support a normal immune system function”; and vitamin C and vitamin E help “protect cells from oxidative stress”. Sophie Medlin, Chair for the British Dietetic Association for London, points out that you can buy a cheap multivitamin including all your basic vitamins and minerals for £1 instead of £60 or more. She analyses the research which JuicePlus use to back-up the health benefits they claim and concludes that the studies merely confirm what we already know — that vitamins and minerals are good for us. They do not prove that JuicePlus provides these nutrients better than other supplements nor that the body benefits from their excessive consumption. Others have disputed the reliability of the purported health claims for various reasons, including that the trials are usually paid for by the company itself, compare the supplements to a placebo rather than another supplement, and rely too heavily on self-reporting of existing customers. It’s also concerning that the adverse effects of taking JuicePlus were not monitored in the majority of published studies.
Lesson 3: Adverse effects on more than just your wallet?
Two weeks after taking a smiley face worth of pills each day, I had a strange pain which reminded me of period pains despite not being that time of the month. It was especially painful with a full bladder and worsened over a week, so I went to the doctor, who recommended ‘watchful waiting’. At my next monthly check-in with my health coach, she said that the JuicePlus products are ‘scientifically backed to reduce inflammation’ and recommended I continue. But when I reflected on the unexplained pains, the only significant change in my diet was taking the supplements. While I understand that correlation does not mean causation, I no longer felt comfortable taking the capsules and stopped. A couple of weeks later, the pain went away and has not returned. When I asked for a refund, I started reading about the JuicePlus company and felt like an idiot for not having done my research earlier.
Evidence suggests some questionable goings-on in the history of JuicePlus. Only after requesting a refund did I discover that my subscription was set to automatically renew after four months. I was guilty of not reading — or seeing — the fine print. A class action lawsuit in California contends that the US JuicePlus website fails to make it sufficiently clear that customers enter into an automatic renewal agreement. The consumer review website Trustpilot shows significant polarisation; 69% rate the company ‘excellent’ while 23% review it badly. 19 of the 20 ‘excellent’ reviews on the first page were people invited by JuicePlus, at least some of whom are trying to sell the products themselves. In 2019, Italy’s Competition and Market Authority (AGCM) fined three companies operating under the JuicePlus brand (under UK, Italian, and German law) €1m for the use of “consumer experiences that are not necessarily authentic”, namely, sellers presenting themselves as consumers without declaring their commercial interest. Negative reviews describe payment demands for products not received, persistent threats for debt collection, and money taken out of accounts beyond the termination of subscription. Hundreds of reviews make the pattern clear:
JuicePlus are very clear that sellers must not make any medical claims nor implications that the product can “prevent, diagnose, treat or cure any disease or medical condition” and crucially, sellers “are not allowed to convey the impression that Juice Plus+ products are equal to fresh fruits and vegetables.” Since they cannot claim to be of equal value, instead, they claim to be ‘the next best thing to fruits and vegetables’.
Why settle for the next best thing when it’s cheaper, more fulfilling, and extensively scientifically proven to benefit your health, to eat real fruits and vegetables?
Lesson 4: Gratitude for Food
Whole foods are greater than the sum of their parts. Growing up, my family ate our evening meals together and enjoyed a weekly special Sunday roast with leftovers going into the next days’ meals. Wherever you are, sharing food is a non-verbal form of communication, offering food is an act of friendship, compassion, and love. Every time you eat, you certify your connection with nature and with yourself. The French say bon appetit, the Japanese say いただきます ‘itadakimasu’ — all around the world, people pause to reflect and give thanks for the food they are about to receive. Not once did I give thanks before popping my supplements. I gained no pleasure from getting them down my throat with a glug of water nor did I expect anyone to enjoy sharing them with me. When we look only at nutritional content, we risk detaching food from its cultural, environmental and spiritual value. We are humans, I see you, I feed you, we eat together, we connect.
If you are what you eat, do you choose to be the next best or the best?
