Frequently Asked Questions About MonaVie & The Acai Berry
 

Only 17% of the population consumes the recommended 2 to 3 servings of a variety of fruits each day. By not getting our recommended intake of fruits, we are missing out on the health benefits of vitamins, antioxidants, phytonutrients and fiber, needed for optimal health and disease prevention. Hence, the development of MonaVie, the perfect blend of nineteen rare and lesser-consumed fruits from around the world. One serving of MonaVie each day contains a variety of the most nutritionally dense fruits available for families on the go and picky-eating children.

What is the nutrition information for MonaVie? Why aren’t there more vitamins and minerals, etc., listed on the label?
MonaVie is a natural food source of antioxidants and phytochemicals that are available only in whole foods. It is the wide spectrum of a small amount of numerous phytochemicals that provide Monavie’s nutritional power. While there are over 50 phytonutrients contained in MonaVie, it is not required to list, nor is it useful information. Labeling laws require you list vitamin C, fat, protein, and other vitamins and minerals if a serving contains any. However, MonaVie is not intended to be a source of macronutrients, vitamins and minerals. For your information, one 1-ounce serving contains 20 calories and 4 grams of carbohydrate.

Can you tell me how Monavie and the Daily Essentials either compliment each other or counteract one another?
By taking the Daily Essentials and MonaVie daily, you are getting a very wide spectrum of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and phytonutrients. While the Daily Essentials provide adequate and balanced levels of the essential vitamins and minerals, in a concentrated form, MonaVie is a natural food source of antioxidants and phytochemicals that are available only in whole foods. In addition, the MonaVie Active contains glucosamine and celedron, which are shown to restore joint health and significantly reduce joint pain and inflammation.

Why are the phytonutrients found in MonaVie important to our health?
Phytonutrients are dietary components that are somewhat new to the field of nutrition. Phytonutrients are generally described as chemical components of plants that favorably alter the structure or function of the body. They have been shown to have beneficial effects on health and disease prevention. In an era of remarkable nutritional discoveries, it is appropriate to broaden our definition of a nutrient to include substances proven by rigorous scientific methods that are involved in disease prevention.

We include 19 deeply pigmented fruits from around the world, since this provides the widest spectrum of disease-fighting, health-enhancing phytonutrients and antioxidants.

An antioxidant is a phytonutrient that prevents or delays oxidation. They are common components of foods that prevent changes in color or flavor caused by oxygen in the air. They prevent rancid tastes and odors from developing in foods containing fat.
An antioxidant is most helpful when it spots a “free radical” (a molecule which has an unpaired electron) roaming in our bodies looking for ways to cause damage. An antioxidant neutralizes the free radical by supplying the missing electron and forming a complete pair. Once the free radical is neutralized, it is no longer reactive and capable of causing vascular damage such as heart disease, stroke, and diabetes, or cancer, or even the typically problems of aging like Alzheimer’s, cataracts, and macular degeneration.

What is the Acai berry and what makes it so potent?
The Acai berry is the leading fruit, by weight, in MonaVie. The Acai has been harvested and consumed for centuries and consumed by the Yanomami Indians who, as NBC Today reported (5/13/2003), “have believed for centuries that the Acai holds unique power…and is believed to help women after birth and to give anyone who drinks it a burst of energy.” Brazilian folklore has made the Acai berry a legendary treatment for numerous ailments, and the natives often refer to it as the “Amazon Viagra” or “the Wine of the Amazon.” But it is only in the last 3-5 years that the benefits of the Acai were discovered by the Brazilian elite and North Americans who ate the imported and highly perishable berry primarily as a frozen slush.
The astounding properties of the Acai are quickly gaining recognition worldwide. Dr. Nicolas Perricone in his book, The Perricone Promise as featured on The Oprah Winfrey show, lists the Acai as the world’s number one “superfood for age-defying beauty.” Vogue magazine calls it “the next big workout cocktail.” (6/03) The Washington Post writes, the Acai “has a beguiling berry-like flavor with intense chocolate overtones.” (8/11/02) The US Health Sciences Institute describes Acai as “nature’s perfect food”.

Scientifically, the Acai berry stands up to the praise and the scrutiny. This little, dark purple berry that dangles in clusters from the 25 foot Acai palm, nutritionally, has the ingredients of an ideal food:

• the protein profile of an egg
• essential fatty acids (omega 3,6, and 9) similar to olive oil
• a low glycemic index
• a leading source of anthocyanins, often reported as 30 times that of the protective potential of red wine. (Of the many attributes of anthocyanins is its anti-inflammatory qualities)
• high in fiber
• more than 16 phytonutrients and anti-oxidants
• copious amounts of trace (i.e. Co, Cr, Cu, Mo) and macro minerals (i.e. Ca, Fe)
• packed with vitamins, including natural vitamin E (mixed tocopherols and tocotrienols)
• an excellent source of plant sterols, particularly Beta-Sitosterol which is associated with cholesterol lowering

If the Acai berry contains a complete protein, why are there 0 grams of protein in MonaVie?
The Acai berry does contain a small percentage of complete protein, which is very unusual for fruits. Because the serving size is only one ounce, and there are 19 other whole fruits - seeds, skin, and pulp - the protein level is less than .5 grams, and therefore, reads on the label as 0 grams. The power of MonaVie comes from the blend of 19 lesser known, deeply pigmented fruits, which contain health-enchancing antioxidants and phytochemicals.

If someone drinks the recommended 2-ounces of MonaVie Juice per day, would they need to eat any other fruits?
MonaVie is a very concentrated source of the phytonutrients contained in a variety of deeply pigmented fruits. Some of the fiber from the whole fruits is missing, in order to make the drink palatable. You can get fiber from other sources (whole grains, vegetables, and whole fruits), but the bottomline is that we recommend that you consume MonaVie as part of a well-balanced, high fiber diet, preferable including some whole fruits not contained in MonaVie.

How does Regular MonaVie differ from MonaVie Active?
MonaVie Active is the original MonaVie with two additional ingredients meant specifically to help relieve joint/muscle pain and inflammation, as well as regenerate the cartilage that is lost through the normal wear and tear of the body. Even with the full impact of all the nutrients available in fruits, your body needs extra care and attention as we age. MonaVie Active contains all-natural Celadrin® and Glucosamine that reinforce the original fruit blend by controlling and repairing the damage our bodies experience. By helping to repair previous damage, the benefits of these powerful fruits can then be felt as they make a significant difference in the body. MonaVie is a unique proprietary blend, the only blend of this kind, where scientific techniques have allowed a water-based fruit mixture to be mixed, or emulsified, with a fat (Celadrin® is made up of fatty acids), and then made available as a stable and appetizing product.

What is Celadrin®?
Celadrin® is a proprietary blend of the necessary essential fatty acids that lubricate your body’s cells and revitalize the membranes that cushion the bones and joints. The essential fatty acids have also been shown to be useful in countering heart disease and rheumatoid arthritis, as well as assisting in the regulation of your immune response. Research indicates that Celadrin® significantly contributes to improved joint function and pain reduction for anyone struggling with aches and discomforts resulting from arthritis.

What is Glucosamine?
Glucosamine has been promoted and researched for over 20 years as a viable supplement for regenerating cartilage, reducing pain, and improving function in people who struggle with joint pain. The glucosamine in MonaVie Active is the same form (crystalline glucosamine sulfate) used in scientific research that has proven glucosamine effective in restoring flexibility and as a natural building block of healthy cartilage.

Are there any safety issues with Glucosamine and Celedrin in the MonaVie Active Product?
Although there is no scientific evidence that glucosamine or celedrin are harmful to any population groups, we recommend that children, and pregnant and lactating women consume the MonaVie instead of MonaVie Active, since there are no long-term safety studies. Extremely high levels of glucosamine (much, much higher than the dosage in MonaVie Active) can lead to gastric fluctuations, soft stool, diarrhea, and nausea, and extreme cases, Abdominal pain, dyspepsia, diarrhea, increased blood pressure, decreased blood pressure, fatigue, depressed mood, dizziness, increased CPK, and photosensitivity.

Are individuals with allergies to shell fish able to consume the MonaVie Active?
Glucosamine comes from shells of lobsters, crabs, and shrimp. People allergic to shellfish are usually allergic to the protein portion. Glucosamine is derived from chitin, a carbohydrate. The process used to extract glucosamine destroys proteins and antigens that the body would normally react to.

Are diabetics able to take the MonaVie Active?
Technically glucosamine is a carbohydrate. The body is not able to convert it into glucose so it does not provide additional sources of glucose. If you are a diabetic, check first with your doctor and always monitor your blood sugar. In diabetes, many factors can lead to changing blood sugar levels. Studies show glycosamine did not affect insulin sensitivity in humans. (Pouwels 2001).

How much glucosamine and Celadrin® are in MonaVie Active?
At the current time, this information is confidential. Because MonaVie is packaged as a “food”, it cannot be patented. In order to protect the time, money and resources Monarch Health Sciences has spent developing this product, we have chosen, for now, to keep the amounts of each ingredient as proprietary information.

Has MonaVie Active, as a propriety new blend, been tested by standard scientific methods?
With empirical evidence already available that shows MonaVie Active will produce beneficial results, we are currently in the next phase of testing to determine if this proprietary formulation will provide additional benefits with the unique combination and enhanced bioavailability that has not been achievable prior to MonaVie Active. We are currently seeking to network with several leading research institutions and international clinical testing sites to complete this research.

Is MonaVie pasteurized? What is the significance?
MonaVie is flash-pasteurized. This is for safety reasons, to ensure that that are no harmful bacteria, etc. transmitted in the product. Pasteurization, when warranted, is important to rid one of the very real risks of pathogenic contamination and health threatening diseases. Avoiding this very real threat to our health takes precedent over the theoretical and unlikely risk of inactivating food enzymes, which have no recognizable purpose in human nutrition (See next question and answer). As to the effect of pasteurization on heat labile vitamins, it would not matter since measurements are made after the process of pasteurization is complete. You are guaranteed getting the amounts listed. Minerals are heat stable and are not influenced by the pasteurization process.

What is the nutritional significance of plant enzymes?
There is an undocumented belief, by some, that the body’s ability to produce enzymes is exhaustible and that we need to ingest plant enzymes to do the work of digestive enzymes. However, humans continue to produce enzymes into their nineties. Perhaps there is a reduction in the ability to produce enzymes, but the inability to replicate secretory cells would be a more sound explanation than exhaustion of the cell’s ability to synthesize enzymes.
Even if our bodies’ were unable to produce digestive enzymes, ingesting plant enzymes would not help. Food enzymes do not digest food in the stomach, as they are destroyed during digestion and therefore fail to enter the body.

Are preservatives added to MonaVie?
Sodium Benzoate is the preservative used in MonaVie. Once the bottle is opened, the fruit mixture would be an ideal medium for pathological organisms were it not for an insignificant and harmless addition of 0.1% sodium benzoate.

Foods containing this preservative are much healthier than non-preservative foods since harmful microorganism growth are inhibited, food oxidation is prevented, and food nutrients are preserved. Sodium benzoate is completely out of the system within ten hours of consumption. It does not cause cancer. The limit of sodium benzoate in foods is not because of its toxicity or potential ill effects; rather, it is a taste issue -- levels higher than 0.1% will leave an unacceptable aftertaste.

Are MonaVie products safe?
Yes, MonaVie product are safe and contain only well-tolerated foods. MonaVie contains fruit juices and purees naturally found in the food supply that have been consumed by various cultures for hundreds of years. However, if you have any health concerns, you should consult a physician before starting any new product or program.

Are MonaVie products FDA Approved?
There is no special approval or certificate needed from the FDA to approve the sale of a juice product. As long as the ingredients contained in MonaVie products are generally recognized as safe, which they are, and FDA approval is not necessary.

Do MonaVie products treat, cure, or prevent disease?
It is not the purpose of a natural product like MonaVie to treat, cure, or prevent disease; the FDA approves drugs to treat, cure, and prevent disease. MonaVie's product are made with a specific selection of fruits and other natural compounds such as glucosamine hydrocloride and esterified fatty acids. These fruits and compounds have been shown in some studies to protect from various ailments.

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