MonaVie is a defunct, American multi-level marketing company that manufactured and distributed products made from blended fruit juice concentrates, powders, and purées. The company was the subject of several controversies. Health claims for its products had not been scientifically confirmed or approved by regulatory authorities, and its chairman had been previously involved in false health claims concerning another beverage company. According to Forbes, MonaVie's business plan resembled a pyramid scheme. In 2015, the company defaulted on a US$182 million loan and went into foreclosure. Florida-based Jeunesse Global took over MonaVie’s assets when it purchased the note for $15 million.
Company overview
Dallin Larsen, who held senior executive positions with the multi-level marketing companies Dynamic Essentials and USANA, founded Monarch Health Sciences in 2003 as a distributor of diet and weight loss supplements. Monarch Health Sciences launched MonaVie juice in January 2005, and the same year founded MonaVie LLC/MonaVie Inc., a privately held multi-level marketing company based in South Jordan, Utah. The newly formed company took over the bottling, distribution, and marketing of MonaVie juice products. MonaVie also owned and operated a charity organization, The MORE Project.
MonaVie products were sold by non-employee distributors who were eligible to receive commissions based on product sales. Individual distributors were encouraged to build their own sales networks by recruiting new distributors to sell the products (referred to in multi-level marketing parlance as a "downline"); the recruiter could have, in theory, received additional commissions based on sales by their downlines.
Products
MonaVie produced a variety of blended bottled fruit juices, carbonated energy drinks, dietary supplements and dieting products. MonaVie Kosher, one of the company's juice products, was certified as kosher according to Jewish dietary laws by the Orthodox Union of North America and the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.
Product research and physiological context
An analysis conducted by contract laboratory ChromaDex indicated that MonaVie contained low levels of antioxidant vitamin C and of phytochemicals such as anthocyanins and phenolics associated with antioxidant activity in test tubes.
MonaVie promoted that the juice had key polyphenol antioxidants from açai and other fruits in the blend; however, there is no physiological evidence that any fruit polyphenols have such actions in humans or that oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) has any relevance in the human body. Research shows that although polyphenols are good antioxidants in vitro, antioxidant effects in vivo are probably negligible or absent. As interpreted by the United States Food and Drug Administration, Linus Pauling Institute and European Food Safety Authority, dietary polyphenols have little or no direct antioxidant food value after digestion. Unlike controlled test tube conditions, most polyphenols are not absorbed following digestion, and what is absorbed is metabolized and excreted.
Interactions and adverse effects
A clinical case report showed an association between MonaVie ingestion throughout pregnancy and prenatal closure of the ductus arteriosus resulting in cardiac hypertrophy and dysfunction (pulmonary hypertension) at birth. Another case report noted that MonaVie Active may cause fluctuations in blood clotting (prothrombin time) in patients treated with warfarin or other coumadin blood thinners, and it was recommended that this combination should be avoided.