Over the last couple of years I have been approached by several people asking me to recommend and sell MonaVie, Goji Juice as well as a few other multi level marketing "health" products. I explained to each person that I would never sell a product that I would not take personally or give to my family. I went on to explain that these so-called health drinks contain 2 very toxic preservatives, Sodium Benzoate and Potassium Sorbate. They also contain "Natural Flavors" which is another name for MSG. And also that in combination with ascorbic acid (a chemical form of vitamin C, E300), sodium benzoate and potassium benzoate may form benzene, a known carcinogen.
"All Natural"
Goji Juice & MonaVie state on their label that natural flavors are used.
Most all "natural flavorings" are not in the least natural. They are almost always flavor esters which are chemically created in a laboratory and is used as a code name for MSG (
http://www.truthinlabeling.org/nomsg.HTML). Yet the FDA permits the legal use of the words natural flavoring for these concoctions.
This is a subject that goes into another entire realm. For now, please trust us when we tell you that the "natural flavorings" added to Himalayan Goji Juice (and almost all other products from Kraft through McDonald's) are almost always far from our definitions of natural. We call them artificial chemicals or MSG.
Please beware whenever you hear the word natural. There is no strict FDA definition of the word natural. This word is widely applied to many quite artificial food products.
Natural has become the most used and abused buzzword in the whole food industry. In the old days, maybe it meant something - well, at least a little something. These days, it seems the people who use it the most are often the very worst offenders for promoting what we would call unnatural products.
The truth is: sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate (the preservatives used in Himalayan Goji Juice) are highly refined derivative chemicals, which are no more "naturally occurring" than saccharin, gasoline, or crack cocaine.
Sodium Benzoate
The fact that these so-called "health" drinks from multi level marketing companies use of the words "naturally derived" serve only to confuse the facts that these preservatives are man-made, and therefore artificial chemicals. (Of course, this is a complaint we have with most food companies, not at all just the multi-level marketing companies.)
The fact that these preservatives are "derived" from trees is not relevant and certainly does not make these products "natural" or healthy. Methanol (wood alcohol), for example, is also a chemical derived from trees. Its ingestion can lead to blindness and death.
There are three methods for the commercial preparation of sodium benzoate (science.jrank.org). Here's what the FDA has to say about sodium benzoate (our emphasis added):
Sodium benzoate is the chemical benzoate of soda (C7H5NaO2), produced by the neutralization of benzoic acid with sodium bicarbonate, sodium carbonate, or sodium hydroxide. The salt is not found to occur naturally. FDA
Potassium Sorbate
Potassium sorbate is a potassium salt version of sorbic acid. Sorbic acid was first isolated from the oil of the unripened rowan berry (mountain ash tree berry).
Potassium sorbate can be produced by a refining process of the berries. So, while this preservative is derived from a natural substance, please remember that potassium sorbate is a highly refined product - not a substance that occurs in nature. That would be like saying that morphine is a natural substance because it is derived from poppy flowers.
Product Safety
The preservatives used in these so-called "health" drinks are listed safe by the FDA.
However, recent FDA scientific findings indicate that
In combination with ascorbic acid (vitamin C, E300), sodium benzoate and potassium benzoate may form benzene, a known carcinogen. FDA
According the the FreeLife Himalayan Juice label, there are 15 mg. of ascorbic acid in each serving. What happens when ascorbic acid interacts with the sodium benzoate? Has FreeLife Himalayan Juice been tested for benzene?
Professor Peter Piper of the University of Sheffield claims that sodium benzoate by itself can damage and inactivate vital parts of DNA in a cell's mitochondria:
The mitochondria consumes the oxygen to give you energy and if you damage it - as happens in a number of diseased states - then the cell starts to malfunction very seriously. And there is a whole array of diseases that are now being tied to damage to this DNA - Parkinson's and quite a lot of neuro-degenerative diseases, but above all the whole process of aging. Wikipedia
No organization can guarantee chemical safety. No scientist or doctor possesses the intellectual knowledge base or the resources to give a final answer to humanity as to whether any laboratory-made substance is safe for consumption.
At best, scientists can only tell us that, with their current limited intelligence and understanding, they are unable to link a particular substance to a harmful result.
Everyone knows that the FDA reverses their decisions from time to time. Drugs, food additives, and chemical fertilizers that were once "proven" safe are many years later proven again as dangerous and subsequently banned.
This pattern seems to be the rule rather than the exception. Assuming that man will never possess the almighty intelligence of Nature, we would not be surprised if, sooner or later, all man-made ingested substances could be linked to health-damaging effects.
If you want to consume acai berries, buy them as whole berries and eat them. Although studies show that blueberries and other fruit still have greater antioxidant properties then the acai berry and the jury is still out on the power of the acai berry.
If you want to consume Goji berries, eat those in their pure state as a berry. You may purchase whole Goji berries at www.jhwellness.com
You would be much better off eating organically grown fresh foods from Nature and stay away from chemical preservatives altogether. Please be sure to read all your labels of your food and your "health" drinks.
