Safety of Noni & Mangosteen Juice

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Multilevel marketing companies accused of using exaggeration and pseudoscience to promote potentially dangerous products, such as Metabolife and Hydroxycut, by designing studies that appear to purposely mislead consumers.

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Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.

Another case report of acute toxicity linked to noni juice ingestion—this time in a 14-year-old. At least his liver didn’t fail more completely, like in two of the earlier cases. But, what might you expect from a product also known as “vomit fruit?”

The multi-level marketing company that sells noni products blamed aloe vera juice the boy had also consumed, which is, indeed, something else I’d encourage folks not to drink. But, what about all the scientific studies promoting these types of products bandied about on their respective websites?

Recently, a public health researcher took the time to review the “Science in liquid dietary supplement promotion”—evidently a “23 billion dollar market. “Central to the marketing of many [such] products is the citation of ’scientific studies’ supporting the product’s health claims. While these studies seem deliberately created for marketing purposes, their findings and quality are generally presented in a manner that appears designed to mislead potential consumers.”

Here, they use the case of mangosteen juice—another product I’ve warned about in the past—as an example of “how widely marketed and consumed liquid dietary supplements use exaggeration and pseudoscience to bolster their web promotions of product effectiveness and safety.”

The multilevel marketing company that sells mangosteen cited a study they paid for to support its assertion that their product is “shown to be safe at all dosages tested,” and indeed “safe for everyone.” The study involved exposing just 30 people to their product, though, with another 10 given placebo. As the researcher notes here, with that few people exposed, the stuff could kill 1 or 2% of people, and you’d never even know.

This study of the multi-level marketing supplement Metabolife had 35 on the stuff, and they seemed to do just fine until it was withdrawn from the market—after being linked to 18 heart attacks, 26 strokes, 43 seizures and 5 deaths. Oops.

Hydroxycut was studied on 40 people. No serious side effects, and same story—withdrawn after dozens of cases of organ damage including massive hepatic necrosis, requiring liver transplants, and death.

And, oftentimes, the multilevel marketing study researchers don’t disclose their funding sources, pretending to be objective scientists. But, a little detective work exposed a whole web of financial conflicts of interest, “at best reduc[ing] the face-validity of findings, and at worst [they] represent deception.”

Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.

Image thanks to Tijuana Brass via Wikimedia. Thanks to Stephane Lahaye and Ellen Reid for their Keynote help.

Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.

Another case report of acute toxicity linked to noni juice ingestion—this time in a 14-year-old. At least his liver didn’t fail more completely, like in two of the earlier cases. But, what might you expect from a product also known as “vomit fruit?”

The multi-level marketing company that sells noni products blamed aloe vera juice the boy had also consumed, which is, indeed, something else I’d encourage folks not to drink. But, what about all the scientific studies promoting these types of products bandied about on their respective websites?

Recently, a public health researcher took the time to review the “Science in liquid dietary supplement promotion”—evidently a “23 billion dollar market. “Central to the marketing of many [such] products is the citation of ’scientific studies’ supporting the product’s health claims. While these studies seem deliberately created for marketing purposes, their findings and quality are generally presented in a manner that appears designed to mislead potential consumers.”

Here, they use the case of mangosteen juice—another product I’ve warned about in the past—as an example of “how widely marketed and consumed liquid dietary supplements use exaggeration and pseudoscience to bolster their web promotions of product effectiveness and safety.”

The multilevel marketing company that sells mangosteen cited a study they paid for to support its assertion that their product is “shown to be safe at all dosages tested,” and indeed “safe for everyone.” The study involved exposing just 30 people to their product, though, with another 10 given placebo. As the researcher notes here, with that few people exposed, the stuff could kill 1 or 2% of people, and you’d never even know.

This study of the multi-level marketing supplement Metabolife had 35 on the stuff, and they seemed to do just fine until it was withdrawn from the market—after being linked to 18 heart attacks, 26 strokes, 43 seizures and 5 deaths. Oops.

Hydroxycut was studied on 40 people. No serious side effects, and same story—withdrawn after dozens of cases of organ damage including massive hepatic necrosis, requiring liver transplants, and death.

And, oftentimes, the multilevel marketing study researchers don’t disclose their funding sources, pretending to be objective scientists. But, a little detective work exposed a whole web of financial conflicts of interest, “at best reduc[ing] the face-validity of findings, and at worst [they] represent deception.”

Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.

Image thanks to Tijuana Brass via Wikimedia. Thanks to Stephane Lahaye and Ellen Reid for their Keynote help.

Doctor's Note

Other beverages to avoid include alcohol (see Breast Cancer & Alcohol: How Much Is Safe?), soft drinks (see Is Sodium Benzoate Harmful?), and yerba maté (see Update on Yerba Maté).

I prefer water (see Does a Drink of Water Make Children Smarter?), white tea (see Antimutagenic Activity of Green vs. White Tea), and hibiscus tea (see Better Than Green Tea?).

Other cautionary tales about supplements can be found in:

I offer another update on spirulina in Infant Seizures Linked to Mother’s Spirulina Use.

For additional context, check out my associated blog post: Is Noni or Mangosteen Juice Safe?

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