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MonaVie

Type	Private
Founded	2005
Headquarters	Salt Lake City, Utah
Key people	Dallin Larsen, Henry Marsh, Dell Brown, Randy Larsen, Amy Cowley, Mark Iscaro
Industry	Multi-level marketing
Products	MonaVie Original Blend, MonaVie Active Blend, MonaVie Pulse Blend, MonaVie Gel Packs, MonaVie Active Gel Packs
Website	MonaVie.com

MonaVie bottles.

MonaVie is a multilevel marketing (MLM) company with juice products made from blended fruit juice concentrates, açaí pulp powder and purée. 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.

[edit] Company Overview

MonaVie juice was originally launched in January 2005 by MLM company Monarch Health Sciences, which was founded in 2003 as a distributor of diet and weight loss supplements. In 2005, the executives of Monarch founded MonaVie LLC/MonaVie Inc., a privately-held MLM company based in Salt Lake City, Utah. The newly formed company took over the bottling, distribution, and marketing responsibilities for MonaVie juice products. Monarch Health Sciences and MonaVie, Inc. were both founded by Dallin Larsen, who graduated from Brigham Young University with a B.S. degree in Finance. ^[1] Larsen previously held senior executive positions with the MLM companies Dynamic Essentials and Usana. According to company sources, MonaVie juice was originally developed by Ralph E. Carson, now the company's Chief Science Officer.

[edit] Executives

• Dallin Larsen, Chairman and CEO ^[2]
• Henry Marsh, Executive Vice President ^[3]
• Randy Larsen, Executive Vice President/Chief Operations Officer (former) ^[3]
• Dell Brown, Chief Operations Officer (current) ^[3]
• Charles Brink, Chief Counsel ^[2]
• Ralph E. Carson, Chief Science Officer ^[2]
• Mike Kennedy, Chief Medical Officer ^[2]
• Devin D. Thorpe, Chief Financial Officer ^[3]
• Amy Cowley, Vice President of Finance ^[4]
• Jeff Graham, Vice President of Product Development ^[5]
• Steven King, Vice President of Distributor Services and Human Resources ^[6]

[edit] Medical Advisory Board ^[7]

• Ralph Carson
• Mike Kennedy
• Denise Bruner
• Lyle Mason
• Jose F. Allongo
• Vicki Berkus
• Roger Rinn

[edit] 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 suggested retail prices for MonaVie Original, Active, and Pulse juice are $39, $45, and $46 respectively, 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 açaí (freeze-dried powder and purée); 100% fruit juice from concentrate (white grape, apple, acerola, 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 açai (freeze-dried powder, purée), 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, cupuaçu, 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 açaí powder (Opti-Açaí) used in MonaVie was submitted to the World Intellectual Property Organization in 2004 by developers Alexander G. Schauss and Kenneth A. Murdock. ^[8] 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, ^[9] and as of 2008, the patent had not been approved. Opti-açaí is marketed by K2A International, a business partnership between Schauss, Murdock, and MonaVie vice-president Jeff Graham.

[edit] Product Research

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study in 12 healthy adults suggested that consumption of MonaVie Active raised antioxidant activity and inhibited lipid peroxidation in serum. ^[10]

[edit] MORE Project

The company founded and operates a charitable organization known as The MORE Project or MonaVie's Operation Rescue. ^[11] based in South Jordan, Utah. The organization's director is Katy Holt-Larsen.

[edit] 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. ^{[12] [13]} According to Men’s Journal , a nutritional analysis conducted by ChromaDex, ^[14] 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”. ^[15] The report also noted that “MonaVie’s vitamin C level was 5 times lower than that of Welch’s Grape Juice.”

Bowden, Newsweek correspondent Tony Dokoupil, ^[16] and Palm Beach Post reporter Carolyn Susman ^[17] commented on the use of misleading promotional testimonials by MonaVie distributors in which the product was said to prevent and treat a variety of medical conditions. Dokoupil noted that “the FDA warned MonaVie about medicinal claims on its Web site” in reference to the Food and Drug Administration's action against MonaVie distributor Kevin Vokes in July 2007. According to the FDA's warning notice, Vokes had promoted MonaVie as a drug in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act [21 U.S.C. § 321(g)(1)] by claiming that it was effective for treating inflammation, high cholesterol, and muscle and joint pain. ^[18] In a 2008 article in Forbes magazine, reporters Emily Lambert and Klaus Kneale described MonaVie as a pyramid scheme and noted that a MonaVie video testimonial by distributor Louis “Lou” B. Niles implied that the product could cure cancer. ^[19]

MonaVie CEO and founder Dallin Larsen was previously a senior executive with an MLM company that sold a similar juice product prior to being shut down by the FDA for illegal business practices. According to Newsweek correspondent Dokupil, Larsen, who was “a 20-year-veteran of the multi-level marketing industry", "left a senior post at another juice company in 2002, a year before the FDA destroyed the company's ‘bogus products’ that were being falsely promoted to treat ‘cancer, arthritis and attention deficit disorder’." The company in question, Dynamic Essentials, distributed an MLM juice product known as Royal Tongan Limu juice.

[edit] Litigation

On July 11, 2007, Monarch Health Sciences, the company that originally launched MonaVie, filed a lawsuit with the Utah district court against rival açaí juice manufacturer Amazon Thunder, ^[20] alleging that owner/founder Todd Reum had made “harmful, false, and defamatory statements" about MonaVie which "purportedly injured Monarch’s reputation”. ^[21] The suit sought $75,000 in damages. On November 15, 2007, the Utah district court ruled to dismiss the case against Reum.

On March 17, 2008 MonaVie preemptively filed a lawsuit with the Utah district court asking for a ruling as to whether Quixtar Inc. and Amway Corp. had been over-reaching the boundaries of its non-compete agreements and address whether or not such agreements are enforceable for independent distributors. ^[22] On March 18, 2008, Quixtar North America filed a multi-count federal court complaint against the MonaVie company and 16 of its distributors (John Brigham Hart, Lita Hart, Jason Lyons, Carrie Lyons, Lou Niles, Farid Zarif, and 10 anonymous defendants) for unfair competition. ^[23] The complaint alleged that MonaVie competed unfairly by making false claims about its products. ^[24] According to a company press release, MonaVie filed to dismiss the Amway/Quixtar lawsuit on April 15, 2008. ^[25] On November 12, 2008, MonaVie et al. filed a lawsuit in the Colorado District Court against Quixtar ^[26]

On May 5, 2008, the MonaVie company, its board of directors, and several of its senior distributors were sued by Imagenetix, Inc. for $2.75 billion over trademark infringement arising from false claims that Monavie Active juice contained the ingredient Celadrin. ^{[23] [27]} The case was settled out of court and the lawsuit was dropped on May 20, 2008. ^[28]

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Ferguson A. Superfruit: Antioxidant-rich acai berry is newest trendy ingredient, Gwinnett Daily Post, October 21, 2007.
• Fryer J. MonaVie and superjuices, worth the price?, KARE 11 News, July 21, 2008.
• Arango T. Sumner Redstone's anti-aging secret, CNN.com, September 4, 2007.
• Gale C. FOX 13 Investigates MonaVie, FOX 13 News, November 10, 2008.
• Unmasking MonaVie, WSAV 3 News, April 29, 2008.

[edit] External links

• Company website
• MonaVie U.S. 2008 Mid-Year Income Disclosure Statement
• MonaVie Canada 2008 Mid-Year Income Disclosure Statement