Balance Of Nature fruit and vegetable capsules.

[LuckyCharms]

I keep the TV on for background noise while I'm working at my desk.

Commercials for this product are on many times per day.

How is this not a complete and obvious scam?

I can't find a picture of the label for these capsules that is large enough to be readable on DU, but here's an amazon link in which you can zoom in on the labels. Go to the second picture and hover over it to zoom in:

https://www.amazon.com/Balance-Nature-Vegetable-Supplement-Tablets/dp/B07KQWXRGM

The red bottle is fruit. let's take a look at that.

It appears that these capsules are loaded with dried and powdered fruit of all types, listed as different types of "blends".

A serving size is THREE capsules that gives you two whole grams of carbs, that's all...2 grams (less than 1% of the recommended daily value).

3 capsules gives you the following:

Maintain blend 731 mg
Protect blend 719 mg
Repair blend 561 mg

Total mg of powdered fruit is 2,011 mg or just over 2 grams of fruit.

An apple weighs between 150 grams 250 grams Let's call it 200 grams.

So an apple is giving you about 100 times more fruit than 3 of these capsules are.

So eat an apple, a banana, maybe a few grapes everyday, and you are getting many many more times the amount of fruit than three of these expensive capsules are giving you.

There are no other ingredients (beneficial or otherwise) listed on the bottle of capsules.

So, this soft spoken "doctor" in these commercials, with his vague references to "perfect balance of ingredients" is full of shit in my opinion.

Take a little nibble from an apple or banana with your front teeth, and you're getting about as much fruit that is in these capsules.

I'd be happy to be proven wrong.

[WarGamer]

1. I think you're forgetting about water...

ONE large fresh strawberry and a FULL CUP of dried strawberries weigh the same.

Apples are 86% water

[LuckyCharms]

3. OK, let's be conservative and say an apple is 75% water.

Now the apple is down to 50 grams of actual fruit, as compared to 2 grams for three capsules.

Still 25 times more fruit in one apple than in 3 capsules.

[WarGamer]

4. It depends... as a Engineer and Chemist I'd need to know

What exactly are they adding?

Just an entire blueberry, dried? Or a more concentrated blend of anti-oxidants FROM the blueberry?

BTW the ad you're talking about clearly says "If you won't, don't or can't eat fruit"...

[OhNo-Really]

12. See FDA Warning letter below

[WarGamer]

13. I'm not a proponent of BoN

I'm just saying you need to know WHAT is in the capsules to know if there is nutritional value.

[OhNo-Really]

16. Ingredients: Psychological Decoration.

Your point is exactly why FDA is on BoN’s case.

No records to substantiate claims and “serious violations of the FDA & Cosmetic Act”

See link below.

[hlthe2b]

5. Yes. I'm not promoting this product as I agree that FRESH or Frozen fruits and veggies are far

superior to any kind of supplement. But you can't compare a whole apple in grams with dehydrated fruit based on weight. The latter is always going to be more concentrated without the natural water.

As to whether or not this is a scam, well, it is not inexpensive and again, hardly a substitute for all your fruit/vegetable servings. But it might be useful as a supplement for some who try but do not always get the full servings recommended. But, the $$$ is what bugs me.

[LuckyCharms]

6. +1

[WarGamer]

7. price sure is silly

[ProfessorGAC]

14. $70 For 28 Days Supply

That's both fruits and veggies. But, $2.50 a day. That's if you set it up for every 28 days.
A bottle of 200 Centrum caplets is $13.
One could take 2 Centrum each day and spend 13 CENTS per day.
You said "price sure is silly". You're a master of understatement.

[OhNo-Really]

18. Most of the folks in ads are "on fixed income"' ages

Really amoral imo

[ProfessorGAC]

26. Agreed!

It's way overpriced & makes highly dubious claims as to the benefits. Targeting oldsters.
Don't like it.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

2. I'm not going to say your wrong because I don't know precisely

But you're counting water weight when you talk about fresh fruits.

Water is pretty inert stuff

[chowder66]

8. Scientology connection

Last year in February we revealed that an employee at the dietary supplement company Balance of Nature had contacted us, wanting to expose that the company has a cozy relationship with the Church of Scientology.

How cozy? As in, the Balance of Nature headquarters in St. George, Utah actually has a “Hubbard College of Administration” housed inside the building, and employees are encouraged to take courses there, which are given by Scientology instructors flown out regularly by Balance of Nature.

We learned this not only from the employee, but also in a series of photographs of the offices and even an excerpt from the employee manual. As a result of the story, the company had its VP of public relations, Dennis Leavitt, try to lean on us and get us to retract some of the article. But the photos and the employee manual spoke for themselves, we figured, and we didn’t change the story. (We did, however, gladly include Leavitt’s statement as the final word in the story.)

Balance of Nature promises all sorts of health benefits if you consume their capsules containing ingredients from fruits and veggies. The company is all over the place, particularly on conservative talk radio, and its Internet ads pop up all over. Before our story in February, some of our readers had spotted a set of Scientology manuals in one television ad for the product.

Video at link....

https://tonyortega.org/2022/05/02/a-balance-of-nature-employee-wanted-to-prove-scientologys-influence-so-they-sent-video/

[AnotherMother4Peace]

20. Tony Ortega has my utmost respect. Scientology is constantly "fair gaming" him for his

journalistic investigations. It's no surprise that they tried "to lean on us and get us to retract some of the article."

[chowder66]

28. Mine too.

[chowder66]

9. We rate this product a nonsensical waste of money, based on:

GROSSLY exaggerated CLAIMS - The testimonial claims are subjective, exaggerated and not verifiable
Expensive, grossly over-priced for freeze-dried vegetables and fruit
Fresh fruit and vegetables are better
The FDA sent them a letter demanding they cease making medical claims;
The Better Business Bureau has numerous complaints from customers (see below)

snip....

Who is "Dr. Howard"
The first thing that comes to our mind, is the "Three Stooges" (Moe Howard, Shemp Howard, Curly Howard, Larry Fine). Remember the hospital episode, where they posed as doctors in a hospital? "Paging Dr. Howard! Paging Dr. Fine. Dr. Howard". Humor aside,
Dr. Howard is a chiropractor.

That's right, a chiropractor. Not a research epidemiologist, dietitian or even a U.S. medical doctor.

The Balance of Nature Twitter account tells us:
"Dr. Howard earned his Doctor of Chiropractic degree at Cleveland Chiropractic College and had a very successful practice. He was invited to study medicine at Pavlov first Medical Institute in Saint Petersburg, Russia."

https://www.consumerfraudreporting.org/Balance-of-Nature.php

[PCIntern]

19. Pavlov makes sense...

Ring bell…WOOF! …Sent money….Scam pills.

[hlthe2b]

21. Yeah, I caught that too. Probably not unintentional but certainly cynical.

[OhNo-Really]

10. 2019 FDA Letter of Warning to Balance of Nature

Home based St George, Utah

Sometimes Utah is referred to as the “Multi-Level Marketing Capital of the World”

https://www.fda.gov/inspections-compliance-enforcement-and-criminal-investigations/warning-letters/evig-llc-dba-balance-nature-580888-08202019

FDA response to all the MSNBC advertising was “they use professional actors”

Btw, multi-level marketing is milostly one of 3 things

A Lotion

A Notion

Or a

Potion

And in this case, a flat out misrepresentation.

As if a few capsules could replace real food.

One born every day

A man and his money are easily parted

Etc

Great post

From FDA link

“ August 20, 2019

WARNING LETTER



Ref: # HAF4W (DEN)-19-09-WL

Dear Mr. Howard:

On February 4 – 8, 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA or we) inspected your facility located at 785 E. Venture Dr., St. George, UT. During the inspection, our investigator collected product labels and written material accompanying your products. In addition, we reviewed labeling on your firm’s website at www.balanceofnature.com and your YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/user/balanceofnature1. The inspection and our review of your product labeling revealed serious violations of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the Act) and applicable regulations. You can find the Act and its implementing regulations through links on FDA’s home page at www.fda.gov.”

YOU ARE CORRECT 👍🏼

And shame on MSNBC. Do they get a $cut?

[BigmanPigman]

36. I see those commercials constantly along with Lume deodorants.

Running ads like these non-stop and sometimes twice in a row is so annoying that I turn the channel or hit the "mute" button. Don't these companies see that their ads are not drawing in new buyers but are actually repelling people, the opposite of their desired effect? They piss me off so much that I run for my remote control so I do not have to hear one more word of their crap.

[hlthe2b]

43. If I ever see that OB/GYN at a medical or health conference of any kind, I will not be able to

contain myself from confronting her ( "Dr" Shannon Klingman) over her abject lack of professionalism and apparent desire to promote her product like a porn movie--"buttcrack," indeed. I'm no prude, but this is beyond the pale for any physician or other medical professional to produce/promote in this manner. One can speak to a general or lay audience of dramatically varying backgrounds and education without using such crude terminology. I'd love to "smack" some sense into her, but I would only give her a verbal equivalent. But, I can assure you she'd be anxious to remove herself from my presence.

BTW, if rumor has it right, some of her colleagues have already confronted her as I describe. Good.

[BigmanPigman]

44. I have written to that company

complaining about their not stop commercials and it turned out that I am in the majority. Many, many people are "put off" by their terminology which is clearly marketed to cause people to take notice. It is gross to hear once, let alone 15 times in 2 hours.

[eShirl]

11. same old snake oil if you ask me

[True Blue American]

15. It is a scam.

There have been many complaints about how much it costs and how impossible to get off the plan once you sign up. They say there is no place to end it.

But if Was dumb enough to sign I would simply call my credit card and stop them.

[doc03]

17. Has Oprah endorsed it yet

[BigmanPigman]

34. Ha!

[madinmaryland]

35. I don't know, but Dr. Oz and Dr. Phil probably did!

[NewHendoLib]

22. If it is advertised, I tend to not believe it.

You did good analysis in your post - and came up with the proper answer.

It is snake oil - but there is a strong, unexplainable placebo effect, so many who take it will perceive improvement.

I don't want to get on my pseudoscience rant (such as with homeopathy)...so we'll leave it at that.

[AnotherMother4Peace]

23. Everything about it seems deceptive. Not only is it not FDA approved, but has issued them a warning.

BofN has refused to say where it sources it's ingredients from, could be China, could be Mexico, could be Thailand......

[Wounded Bear]

24. Gimme a pill to fix my ills...

Only in America.

[Celerity]

38. polypharmacy is as American as apple pie

[Mr. Ected]

25. Reminds me of a product I used to use in the 1990's called "Juice Plus"

And IIRC, a pre-murder spree OJ Simpson was one of its chief spokespersons.

Same freeze-dried fruit and vegetable capsules. First couple times I took them I felt like I was on speed or something.

Took them to a friend of mine in Germany and he laughed and threw them in the trash. "Why eat these when I have a kitchen full of fresh fruits for you?"

Later that year I bought a Vitamix and started making fruit and veggie smoothies, whole food. And I've had one daily ever since.

Many people would allow themselves to be fed by the capsule-full if it was possible. For supplementation, sure. For the main course? Pass me the apples, please.

[peppertree]

31. Loaded with caffeine, no doubt

And caffeine, as you know, is addictive.

[IA8IT]

27. Sister and husband both with myriad health issues rate the stuff as expensive bullshit.

[ashredux]

29. Beware of anything advertised that often on cable television. Period.

If it was as great as they say it is, they wouldn’t have to have an ad every 10 minutes to sell it

And you would not have to sign up for multiple monthly deliveries. It’s a scam.

[Harker]

30. That explains a few things. n/t

[ificandream]

32. What really gets me in the ad is it saying it's so cheap ...

Well, as shown in this thread, it's not. Not to mention that fresh fruits and vegetables at the market are way way way cheaper than this crap. It is a royal scam. Not to mention the guy's explanation about how he "started" it.

[ToxMarz]

33. It's like the my pillow guys woes has left a giant hole in this type of marketing

and these guys are rushing to fill the void.

[senseandsensibility]

37. But obviously you can't expect a tiny capsule to weigh

the same as a whole piece of fruit. They've obviously taken out the water, which is a huge part of the weight. It's condensed. Now I have no idea if the vitamins remain intact. Does it give the vitamin content on the label?

[LuckyCharms]

42. See reply #3 above concerning the water content.

Also, no nutritional or vitamin information at all is included on the label.

[malaise]

39. I eat fresh fruit every single day

at least twice a day and then sometimes I snack on raisins, nuts or chick peas before going to bed.
Other times I snack on chocolates, ice-cream or home made pastries 😀

[ironflange]

40. Barnum was right

[vapor2]

41. thanks for this

My dad emailed me the other day and said how annoyed he is with this commercial and that "soft spoken nurse" who claims she now has more energy couldn't give me a free bottle. I actually wrote the company saying how she has NO energy and is surely NOT a good choice to sell their product.

[GoodRaisin]

45. I regard this product's advertising

as a crock of shit. Like most advertising, full of lies.