“I was wondering if you knew anything about Fruta Vida?”
If you’ve investigated fruit juice scams before, you won’t be surprised by many of the claims made about Fruta Vida. Comments like these abound on internet discussion boards and chat rooms: “I’ve lost 38 lbs in just over 7 weeks on Fruta Vida alone!”
In fact, on the same website hosting that weight loss “testimonial” we found other comments from people who, among other things, quit smoking, were able to throw away various medications and saw amazing bursts of energy after consuming Fruta Vida.
Sound a little too good to be true? Sound like every other juiced-based multi-level marketing scheme? That’s because, like every other fruit juice product we’ve reviewed so far, Fruta Vida is a little bit of science marketed with a whole lot of hype.
What Fruta Vida Really Is
According to Fruta Vida’s label, it contains “ultra-filtered” water, apple, acai and capuacu juices, yerba mate tea and various preservatives and “natural” flavorings.
What Fruta Vida Is Supposed To Do For You
When it comes to claims that teeter on the absurd, Fruta Vida is fairly typical. We saw “testimonials”, mainly from sellers of this juice, suggesting that Fruta Vida had helped with just about everything from weight loss to children’s developmental disorders.
Fruta Vida’s official web site steers clear of claims like that and sticks with the same-o-same-o about “phytonutrients”, “vitamins” and such. (And you’ll be happy to know that Fruta Vida “may be a healthier alternative” to coffee, too.)
Lisa’s Opinion of Fruta Vida
Like so many of these types of products, Fruta Vida uses a little bit of science to sell an expensive dietary supplement. Some of the fruit ingredients in Fruta Vida do contain powerful antioxidants and a growing body of evidence suggests that these antioxidants may help with a number of common health issues.
But, and this is a big “but”, there’s no evidence that consuming Fruta Vida is any healthier than just getting those same fruits and eating them fresh from the market.
Is Fruta Vida a scam? Well, it’s not a product I’d recommend. The absurd claims made on some of the web sites we visited smack of fear-mongering and that alone is enough to turn us off. But throw in the fact that there’s nothing in Fruta Vida you can’t get from a healthy diet rich in fresh fruits and you’ve effectively reduced Fruta Vida to a convenient but very expensive dietary supplement.
Then there’s the multi-level marketing aspect. Are you comfortable taking health advice from someone with little or no formal health education? I’m not but that’s a category most “wellness consultants”—even the “certified” consultants fall into. Their “education” is often nothing more than a couple of hours spent watching a sales DVD.
Does all this make Fruta Vida a scam? We’ll leave that up to you.
Sources:
Anifowoshe, L. The Following are stories submitted by people using Fruta Vida. Fruta Vida International. Accessed on April 22, 2007, from
http://www.tryfrutavida.com/frutavidalink/thebuzz.htm.
Schauss, A., Wu, X., Prior, R., Ou, B., Huang, D., Owens, J., et al. (2006). Antioxidant capacity and other bioactivities of the freeze-dried Amazonian palm berry, Euterpe oleraceae mart. (acai).