Juice Plus Research Blog

From Ginger Sue (April 29, 2008) Re: David Katz and Juice Plus
Have you seen his reference to Juice Plus in a recent article on vitamins?[1] Whether Juice Plus has any benefit or not, it is my opinion that he should not be involved in this. Does he have anything to gain?

JPRB Response
David Katz has a lot to gain. Katz, an associate professor adjunct at Yale University School of Public Health, was featured on the cover of the Spring 2004 issue of Prevention Plus, a Juice Plus promotional magazine published by manufacturer National Safety Associates (NSA). In November 2004, Yale University News reported that Katz was approached by NSA at a nutritional conference and offered more than $200,000 to conduct a study on Juice Plus.[2] Documents from Griffin Hospital, an affiliate of Yale University, confirm the exact amount as $200,850.[3] The one-year study Katz was paid to conduct was scheduled to begin on or before January 2005 but has not been published to date.

In April 2006, Katz was one of four featured speakers at an NSA-sponsored meeting[4] of the American Nutraceutical Association (ANA), held in Phoenix in conjunction with a Juice Plus national sales training meeting. The ANA meeting was chaired by the organization's leader Mark C. Houston, who had also previously received funding from NSA to conduct a Juice Plus study, published 2 months prior to the ANA meeting.[5] Houston serves as editor-in-chief of the ANA’s journal (JANA), publisher of the infamous and poorly-designed 2005 pregnancy study conducted by Juice Plus distributor C. Doug Odom.[6]

In the article mentioned above by Ginger Sue,[1] which was published earlier this month, Katz makes a vague, non-committal pitch for Juice Plus, saying: “I also like a supplement called Juice Plus, which compresses the nutrients from fruits and vegetables into capsule form, while preserving their native proportions.” Unfortunately, Katz’s statement does not make it clear that Juice Plus contains vitamin additives, and it is the same type of misleading claim that recently got NSA into hot water with the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and Food & Drug Administration (FDA).[7]

Others agree with Ginger Sue that Katz should not be involved with Juice Plus. That’s why he was nominated for a Rotten Tomato in 2006.[8]

References:

1. Katz, D. Do you need an antioxidant supplement? Shine; Apr 17, 2008.
   http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/is-your-multivitamin-hurting-you-3f-160328
2. Kahn, S. Pill may supplement fruits, vegetables. Yale Daily News; November 29, 2004.
   http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/12439
3. Research Report. Griffin Hospital Departments of Medicine and Preventive Medicine.
   July 25, 2005.
   http://www.griffinmeded.org/downloads/ResearchReport2004to2005.pdf
4. The role of nutraceuticals, diet and nutrition in disease prevention. American Nutraceutical Association Spring 2006 Conference (Nutraceuticals and Medicine); April 1, 2006, Phoenix, AZ.
5. Houston MC, Cooil B, Olafsson BJ, Raggi P. Juice powder concentrate and systemic blood pressure, progression of coronary artery calcium and antioxidant status in hypertensive subjects: a pilot study. eCAM. 2006.
   http://ecam.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/nel108v1
6. Odom CD. et al. Phytonutrients may decrease obstetric complications: a retrospective study. JANA. 2006; 9(1):23-27.
   http://www.ana-jana.org/reprints/JANA9-1ReprintOdomrevised9-15-061.pdf
7. FDA Advised to Halt Marketing of Juice Plus. Juice Plus Research Blog; March 12, 2008.
   http://juiceplusresearch.blogspot.com/2008/03/fda-advised-to-put-end-to-juice-plus.html
8. Rotten Tomato Awards. Juice Plus Research Blog; July 29, 2006.
   http://juiceplusresearch.blogspot.com/2006/07/rotten-tomato-awards.html

# posted by The JPRB Team @ 9:45 PM 1 comments