Research-Based

Juice Plus Review – Vitamin Packed Fruit and Vegetable Capsules

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By Thomas Youngerman

Reviewed by Juliana Tamayo, MS, RDN - Last Updated

Juice-Plus-Review

Juice Plus is a nutrient delivery system comprising fruit, vegetable, berry, and omega-3 blends. These blends feature over thirty fruits and vegetables, making it easy to incorporate them into your diet. 

These supplements are often excellent ways to boost your diet; however, they don’t substitute a regular healthy diet. Today’s Juice Plus review details this supplement’s ingredients, company info, benefits, side effects, cost, and more. Juice Plus has a quite controversial pricing, so let’s find out if it’s worth the money!

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Juice Plus Company Info

To quote the site, “The Juice Plus+ Company has evolved from a small, direct-sales company into a highly successful, multimillion-dollar health and wellness company.” 

Schoolteacher turned entrepreneur Albert J. (Jay) Martin founded NSA (National Safety Associates) nearly fifty years ago. In the seventies, the company sold in-home fire detectors, and in the eighties, NSA shifted its focus to air and water filters.

In 1993 the company pivoted yet again to launch a new product in an entirely new category, Juice Plus+ nutritional supplements, to address the need for more fruits and vegetables required for a healthy diet and lifestyle (as well as going on to make additional supplements, such as Juice Plus+ Omega Blend). In ’93, less than 20% of American adults were consuming the recommended minimum of five servings of fruits and vegetables a day.

Two comments by the narrator in the About Us video piqued our interest:

  1. The founder created a “whole new business model” to support the sales of Juice Plus+ and,
  2. Jay Martin founded what has become a “multi-billion-dollar” international brand. 

The first comment led us down the path of discovering just what this new business model might be, and the second comment seemed a contradiction of their printed materials and a significant stretch from the $730 million in sales detailed in the Direct Selling News report.

MLM, Pyramid, Ponzi

There are several articles on the internet that make mention of The Juice Plus+ Company’s “whole new business model,” which is an MLM or multi-level marketing program. Let us be clear: Juice Plus+ is not a Ponzi scheme. The company has a real product, twenty-one different products, including combination packs. 

Many companies employ an MLM go-to-market strategy. Some of the largest are:

  • Amway, with annual sales approaching $9 billion, and yes, in this case, it is with a “b” as in billion
  • Avon, with annual sales of $5.7 billion
  • Herbalife, annual sales of $4.4 billion

However, marketers beware; even behemoths like Amway and Herbalife have been the subjects of litigation. In 2010, Amway paid $56 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that again accused it of being a pyramid scheme. And in 2016, Herbalife agreed to pay $200 million to consumers and to restructure its business in the U.S. to resolve Federal Trade Commission claims it had misled hundreds of thousands of people who signed up to sell the company’s products.

You should also know that NSA, the parent of Juice Plus+, was accused in 1991 that their sales structure constituted a Ponzi scheme. And in 1993, the United States Attorney General’s office followed up on complaints that the NSA deceptively required new distributors to make large upfront purchases of air and water filters. Remember this point as you read the Pricing segment below.

About Juice Plus 

Juice Plus+ Fruit, Vegetable, and Berry Blend Capsules are dietary supplements containing concentrated fruit and vegetable juice extracts fortified with added vitamins and nutrients. Juice Plus+ Fruit, Vegetable, and Berry Blends provide whole-food-based nutrition from thirty different fruits, vegetables, grains, and berries in convenient capsule form. The supplements are made by juicing whole fruits and vegetables. The juice is then dried and mixed to make the supplement blends. 

Very Important Note: Although the Fruit, Vegetable, and Berry Blends are positioned as a single unit, it is, in fact, three separate products in different containers, sold as a single unit on the company’s website.

Juice Plus+ products are vegan, gluten-free, and made from non-GMO ingredients. There are no artificial flavors, colorings, or preservatives. Manufacturing facilities are NSF certified as cGMP.    

Juice Plus Key Ingredients

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The fruit capsules are made from Apple, Peach, Cranberry, Orange, Mango, Acerola Cherry, Pineapple, Prune, Date, Beet, and Lemon Peel.

The vegetable capsules are made from Broccoli, Parsley, Tomato, Carrot, Garlic, Acerola Cherry, Beet, Spinach, Cabbage, Kale, Rice Bran, and Lemon Peel.

There is also a “berry blend” made from Concord Grape, Blueberry, Cranberry, Blackberry, Black Currant, Bilberry, Raspberry, Pomegranate, Elderberry, Acerola Cherry, Artichoke, and Cocoa. A lot of these ingredients, like broccoli and spinach, can be found in superfoods such as Green Vibrance and BoKU Superfood.

The supplements also include other added ingredients, including:

  • Calcium
  • Vitamin C
  • Vitamin E
  • Carotenoids
  • Soluble fiber (glucomannan)
  • Enzymes
  • Dried probiotics (Lactobacillus acidophilus)
  • Folic acid

Juice Plus+ products being from whole foods, use a Nutrition Panel rather than an Ingredient Panel. As such, only the macronutrients, Vitamins, and Minerals are listed. Other ingredients are listed separately, with no indication of the dosage or amount of each ingredient. 

Juice Plus Benefits

The number one benefit of Juice Plus+ products is that they bridge the gap between what you should eat and what you do eat. Other benefits include:

  • Immune system support
  • Healthy skin
  • Better heart health
  • Increased nutrient uptake
  • Reduced inflammation
  • Improved dental health

Juice Plus+ Berry Blend adds nutrition from Concord grapes and a wide variety of berries, including blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, bilberries, and elderberries, that provide some of the most powerful and healthful antioxidants in fruits and vegetables.

The clinical tests supporting the Juice Plus+ advertised benefits on the company website have been scrutinized by the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, the University of California Berkeley, Center for Science in the Public Interest. 

How to Take Juice Plus 

Adults should take two capsules of each blend daily, preferably at mealtimes and with water. Children under 13 are advised to take one capsule of each blend daily.

Juice Plus Performance

In addition to being cumbersome to order and very expensive, we feel Juice Plus+ advertising claims are overrated. And we are not alone; consider ConsumerLab.com, a third-party independent testing company. The Juice Plus+ Garden Blend failed Consumer Labs’ test as it contained less than the claimed calcium content, confirmed in two independent laboratories.

We question the efficacy of the blends as we cannot determine the precise amount of any ingredient in the product due to their Nutritional Facts panel. Still, others question the bioavailability of the nutrients. We have no doubt meeting your daily requirements for fruits and vegetables has significant benefits. We still question, however, the efficacy of capsules in imparting these same benefits.

Concerns have also been raised about the accuracy of product labeling. Three studies that included chemical analyses of Juice Plus products indicated nutrient amounts that differ from those listed on the product labels. 

As mentioned in our opening, few companies have been the subject of such scrutiny. The company, the products, and the go-to-market strategy have all come under attack from different governing agencies.  

Juice Plus Side Effects 

Gastrointestinal stress is the most common side effect reported using Juice Plus+ products. Some people also reported a hive-like rash, although most of these side effects are mild. People experience stomach upset and rashes from eating certain foods, too, so this is not a cause for alarm.

The risk of interactions with other medications is relatively low; however, as always, we recommend you consult your medical professional before starting any new supplement regimen. 

Where to Buy Juice Plus + Cost

You can buy Juice Plus+ products on the company website or from one of its MLM/ franchise members. It does not seem to be accessible through other e-commerce sites or brick-and-mortar retailers.

On the company website, each carton of Juice Plus+ Fruit, Vegetable, and Berry Blend contains a 4-month supply of:

  • Juice Plus+ Fruit Blend capsules (240 capsules)
  • Juice Plus+ Vegetable Blend capsules (240 capsules)
  • Juice Plus+ Berry Blend capsules (240 capsules)

Juice Plus costs $320.00 per carton, payable in one full lump payment or four installments of $80.00 each. It appears all products available on the site are in four-month increments. 

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Juice Plus Summary

Sloan-Kettering Cancer Clinic referred to Juice Plus+ as a “pricey supplement” that is “distributed through a multi-tiered marketing scheme with exaggerated value and cost.”

Also, Juice Plus is made by Natural Alternatives International of San Marcos, California, for National Safety Associates (NSA; Collierville, Tennessee). Further, an unrelated third party uses a proprietary process to produce the powder used in the capsules. Note: It is common in the nutritional supplement industry for products to be made for another company that is primarily responsible for the sales and marketing functions. 

While the ingredients contained in Juice Plus are beneficial to the body and can significantly boost your diet, it’s overly priced at $80 monthly. There are superfood alternatives in the market that work just as well or even better and cost far less. 

However, if you think Juice Plus is a perfect match, you can purchase it at your discretion. 

Overall Rating:
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Thomas Youngerman

Thomas Youngerman is an entrepreneur and author in the health and wellness space with extensive experience in the supplement industry. He has owned multiple sports nutrition stores and served as the Category Manager and Director of Business Development for a regional chain of nutrition stores. Thomas created a successful line of men’s healthy aging supplements that was distributed in GNC, The Vitamin Shoppe, and Kroger, and later sold to a West Coast corporation. Thomas was previously a certified nutrition coach. He has a strong understanding of nutrition, supplement formulations, DSHEA, cGMP, and FDA regulations.

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