Fruit Juice

0oTITANo0

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0oTITANo0
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First Post

The other day someone at work had a very expensive bottle of juice wrung from some sort of exotic fruit from a far off land. And by expensive I am talking $25 for 18 fluid ounces or so. This magical juice was alleged to "support" the immune system and be "very good for you". The owner of the bottle was impressed by the fact that this fruit did not even grow on the North American continent. After my colleague explained to me the exotic nature and function of her elixir I jokingly mused that "its amazing that we have survived at all on this continent without that juice"

From my point of view I have always found the idea behind these "health supplments" to be insulting. Its hard for me to think of our distant ancestors who would kill large and dangerous animals with tools and teamwork through the ingenuity of the human mind pathetically burdened with a constant need for special fruit juices. My god how could they go out in the cold without immune system support? Malnutrition and starvation certainly were factors in the shorter lifespans of our ancestors, along with the dangers of hunting beasts and poor hygiene. Its a rough world out there in the wild. Which is exactly why our bodies and the bodies of all plants and animals can create the chemical tools and building blocks they need if given the right raw materials. The human body needed to be able to make do with whatever it was able to find and eat. The simple truth is that if you eat enough vegetables and meat and get regular moderate excercise your human body will be as happy and healthy as it can be. I prefer the idea that I am strong and capable and I don't need any strange juices, pills or powders to get along.
 
Lots of "Tahitian Nookie" didn't do Marlon Brando any harm... though the lack of it drove Van Gogh to cut off his own ear. Addicting?
 
0oTITANo0 said:
First Post

The other day someone at work had a very expensive bottle of juice wrung from some sort of exotic fruit from a far off land. And by expensive I am talking $25 for 18 fluid ounces or so. This magical juice was alleged to "support" the immune system and be "very good for you". The owner of the bottle was impressed by the fact that this fruit did not even grow on the North American continent. After my colleague explained to me the exotic nature and function of her elixir I jokingly mused that "its amazing that we have survived at all on this continent without that juice"

From my point of view I have always found the idea behind these "health supplments" to be insulting. Its hard for me to think of our distant ancestors who would kill large and dangerous animals with tools and teamwork through the ingenuity of the human mind pathetically burdened with a constant need for special fruit juices. My god how could they go out in the cold without immune system support? Malnutrition and starvation certainly were factors in the shorter lifespans of our ancestors, along with the dangers of hunting beasts and poor hygiene. Its a rough world out there in the wild. Which is exactly why our bodies and the bodies of all plants and animals can create the chemical tools and building blocks they need if given the right raw materials. The human body needed to be able to make do with whatever it was able to find and eat. The simple truth is that if you eat enough vegetables and meat and get regular moderate excercise your human body will be as happy and healthy as it can be. I prefer the idea that I am strong and capable and I don't need any strange juices, pills or powders to get along.
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Kevin Trudeau claimed that mangosteen juice helps lower cholesterol. He also talked about noni and gogi juice among others. He recommends whole food supplements such as the green powders, bee pollen, royal jelly and propolis.
 
I have known many people just like your co-worker. I have found, that for some reason, these people assign increased nutritional value to foods such as this juice. I'd consider it a form of mysticism. I find people like this are also prone to alternative health and some form of spiritualism. Often times, it comes with an anti-science attitude. Dig a little deeper and see if there is a pattern.
 
Well, I already assume that based on the credulousness already displayed. I think that there are many different reasons beople believe these strange things all sprouting from the root of hope. A false hope unfortunately. I generally draw the line and step in when I see someone about to seriously endanger their health. My father is getting old and is starting to experience degeneration in his body. Hes practically grasping at straws looking for fountains of youth. Last spring he wanted to drop something like $4000 on some sort of full body MRI or something like that. I tried to explain that it was a completly unnessecary procedure since he has no health problems that would indicate a need for this scan. I told him that it was a violation of medical ethics to scan him for no good reason and that any doctor willing to do so was probably a quack. He blew me off, he was very emotionally invested. I explained medical ethics to my Mother and told her that she should not allow their family finances to be wasted this way and she got him to back out. Its very frustrating to hear my Father deride the AMA as a bunch of greedy pill pushers while he is trying to make appointments for unnessecary procedures with doctors of questionable ethics.
 
I've got a friend (normally an intelligent guy) trying to turn me on to this stuff.

Here's what I know:

- Tahitian Noni got in trouble with the FDA for making unsupported medical claims. They have since stopped making those claims but their distributors (it's an MLM) keep getting in trouble for it.

- They mention clinical trials on their website, but pubmed only lists two. The first is to set the Non-Observable Adverse Effects Levels - that is, how much can you drink before it makes you sick, and does not address any beneficial effects it might have. The second is an early trial on the effects of Xeronine on cancerous tumours in mice, however they were at much higher doses than you can get from drinking the juice. No trials were done on humans.

- They also mention a patent, as if just having a patent means something. It turns out the patent is a method for using Xeronine to clean grease traps and sewer lines. You can read it here

- It's apparently 80% sugar water. Evidently, it tastes so bad no one will drink it at higher concentrations. And there are rumors that they use artificial sweeteners despite their claims of being "all natural".

- Here's the Quackwatch page.

I find it interesting that everyone I know who drinks the stuff is also selling it ....
 
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cbish said:
I have known many people just like your co-worker. I have found, that for some reason, these people assign increased nutritional value to foods such as this juice. I'd consider it a form of mysticism. I find people like this are also prone to alternative health and some form of spiritualism. Often times, it comes with an anti-science attitude. Dig a little deeper and see if there is a pattern.
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You know what I love about this post? It kinda sounds like something Feynman would say, so as I read it and was looking at your avatar out of the corner of my eye, it was like having a little chat. How nice!

Regarding the juice, I doubt anyone, especially a colleague, would take kindly to being told that they are wrong about something they just invested a chunk of cash in. If I were you, ooTITANoo, I'd only approach the person about it if they are open to receiving advice. You have to work there, after all.
 
0oTITANo0 said:
This magical juice was alleged to "support" the immune system and be "very good for you".
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I see Orange Juice advertised like this all the time. I hadn't heard of this particular juice before other fruit juices can have similar vitamin content.
 
Blue Wode said:
ETA: I've just realised that the juice in question probably is Tahitian Noni juice, but be wary of Mangosteen too. It's being heavily promoted in the UK at the moment.
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Mangosteen and Tahitian Noni are supposed to be having a "blood feud". It turns out they're both owned by the same parent company.
 
Hardenbergh said:
Kevin Trudeau claimed that mangosteen juice helps lower cholesterol. He also talked about noni and gogi juice among others. He recommends whole food supplements such as the green powders, bee pollen, royal jelly and propolis.
Click to expand...

He also thinks that prescriptions drugs are the cause of illness. Not exactly the best person to use for supporting an argument.
 
tkingdoll said:
You know what I love about this post? It kinda sounds like something Feynman would say, so as I read it and was looking at your avatar out of the corner of my eye, it was like having a little chat. How nice!

Regarding the juice, I doubt anyone, especially a colleague, would take kindly to being told that they are wrong about something they just invested a chunk of cash in. If I were you, ooTITANoo, I'd only approach the person about it if they are open to receiving advice. You have to work there, after all.
Click to expand...

Feynman did, on the other hand, record a drum chant honoring (or perhaps requesting) orange juice!
 
tkingdoll said:
You know what I love about this post? It kinda sounds like something Feynman would say, so as I read it and was looking at your avatar out of the corner of my eye, it was like having a little chat. How nice!

Regarding the juice, I doubt anyone, especially a colleague, would take kindly to being told that they are wrong about something they just invested a chunk of cash in. If I were you, ooTITANoo, I'd only approach the person about it if they are open to receiving advice. You have to work there, after all.
Click to expand...
Why thank you! Actually I am Richard Feynman reincarnate (even though I was 22 when he died). However, I'm much, much dumber but better looking!

I have to agree with tking here. You do have to work with these people. I'd stick to eyerolling and snikering
 
Cherry juice....mmmmm!

Makes your cups pink and your teeth fall out, but...mmm!
 
Perhaps a good response would be sympathy, as in, "I'm so sad to hear that your immune system needs support. Do your doctors know what causes this condition? I'm so glad that my immune system needs only a balanced diet and regular exercise to work optimally."
 
How about:
"Your immune system needs support? Sounds like some sort of immune deficiency. I wonder how you acquired that?"
 
I did some research on this a while back. Turns out the very healthiest fruit juice is ... apple.

Your granny was right, it does keep the doctor away!

Modern science meets ancient wisdom, or what?

Second best was cranberry.

Moral : efficacity is not an increasing monotonic function of price.

Personally I'm addicted to mango juice.
 
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