How does Perfect Acai compare to Monavie (Mona Vie) Juices?
While we like to stay positive and just focus on the benefits of Perfect Acai™ - we have received so many questions
about Monavie™ juices that we decided it was time to write an article on how the Perfect Acai compares to the Monavie products.
Let's get the legal stuff out of the way...
Monavie, "Mona Vie" and "Mona·Vie" are all registered trademarks of Monarch Health Sciences. All the articles on the Monavie
website and the promotional material they distribute are copyrighted by MonaVie Inc.
We are absolutely in no way affiliated with MonaVie, Inc or Monarch Health Sciences. The opinions expressed on this website
are our own and based on publicly available documents.
In laymen terms - we will offer our own assessment of Monavie, but we in no way speak for the Monavie company and suggest you contact
Monavie directly if you have any specific questions about their products.
Part I: The Background on MonaVie
What is Monavie?
Monavie is a juice that blends 19 fruits together. While the exact amount of Acai in Monavie is not known (more on this later),
MonaVie, Inc states that the Acai Berry is "the foundation of the MonaVie blend" (quoted from "The Premier Acai Blend" - promotional brochure by MonaVie Inc. #8102 1106).
Monavie juices
come in 25.35 ounce bottles and need to be refrigerated.
The MonaVie line has been expanded to include MonaVie Active - which includes Glucosamine and MonaVie active gel.
What are the exact ingredients of Monavie?
Mona Vie juice is a blend of 19 fruits. The fruits are - Acai, Apricot, Aronia, Acerola, Purple Grape, Passion Fruit,
Camu Camu, Banana, Lychee Fruit, Nashi Pear, Kiwi, Pomegranate, Prune, Wolfberry, Pear, Bilberry, Cranberry, Blueberry and White Grape.
Yes, but exactly how much Acai is in each serving?
There is no way to tell how much Acai is in a serving of Monavie. The blend of the 19 fruits in the Monavie Juice is a
proprietary blend. Simply put, MonaVie does not discuss how much Acai is in each serving of MonaVie.
How is Monavie sold?
Monavie juices are sold through a multi level marketing (MLM) system - also known as network marketing. Customers who use Monavie are encouraged to become
Independent Distributors of the Monavie products. Distributors try to bring in more distributors and get a percentage of every sale
made by distributors in their line (upline). MLM has been around for a long time and products such as Amway and Herbal Life are
well known examples of multi-level-marketing plans.
While the specifics of the Monavie Compensation plan get very complicated, the general idea is that if you can bring in a network of
people to sell Monavie juices, and they sell to their friends, and their friends sell to their friends (and so on and so on) - you
will make money.
What is the monthly cost of Monavie?
If you use the Monavie as recommended, one bottle will last you about 1 week. You will need at least 4 bottles to last you one month.
The retail price per bottle is between $40 and $45. This means that a one month supply will cost between $160 and $180 a month.
Part II: Our views on the Monavie Products
Now that we have some general information about what Monavie is, we can better discuss our opinion of the Monavie product line.
In a nutshell, what do we think of Monavie?
First the positive - we applaud Monavie for bringing attention to the health benefits of the Acai berry. We also think
that any juice made from a blend of healthy fruits is much better than the soda and sugar filled juices most of the population
is drinking now.
Unfortunately, we do see a number of negatives with the Monavie juices...
- The proprietary formula means that customers have no
way of knowing how much Acai is in each serving.
- Monavie does not state that they purchase their Acai from Sambazon
(click here to read our article on why Sambazon Acai is the best).
- Monavie does not use 100% freeze dried Acai - they use a blend of acai puree and freeze dried Acai.
- Distributors of Monavie have made unsupported health claims for Mona Vie on various websites.
- We can not find any documentation proving the Acai in Monavie is Fair Trade.
- We feel Independent Distributors of Monavie can abuse the MLM system and try to recruit endless representatives.
- At $180 a month, the Monavie is beyond most people's budget.
Wow, that is mouthful we just said! Don't worry, we will go over each point to provide more information.
Why do a proprietary formula?
We understand the need to keep certain aspects of your recipe a trade secret. Isn't the recipe for Coke still locked in a
vault somewhere? Still, Mona Vie has made it very clear that Acai is the foundation of their formula. In fact their
tag line is "The premier acai blend". If Monavie is better than other blends and the foundation of their formula,
why not release how much Acai is in each serving? MonaVie could still keep the rest of the formula a secret.
Monavie Does Not State that they Purchase their Acai from Sambazon
If you have read through our site you are probably sick of us praising Sambazon as the best source for Acai. In case you
missed it...
Why Perfect Acai only uses Sambazon Acai
Sambazon-THE-source for quality Acai
The case is very clear - Sambazon is the best source for Acai. Where does Monavie get their Acai from? We just don't know.
Monavie uses a blend of freeze dried Acai and Acai puree.
Acai puree is made by removing the seed from the acai berry and crushing the berry. Obviously, Acai Puree contains a decent
amount of water in the puree. Freeze Dried Acai is made by removing the water from Acai puree and freezing the remaining powder.
Depending on how thick the Acai puree was, you usually get a concentration of at least 6:1 of Acai Freeze Dried Powder
to Acai puree. This means it takes 6 grams of Acai puree to make 1 gram of Acai Freeze Dried powder. Simply put,
Freeze Dried Acai is much more potent and concentrated than Acai puree.
What is the ratio of Acai Puree to Acai Freeze Dried Powder in the Monavie? We don't know since that information is proprietary.
Is it 90% Acai Puree and only 10% Freeze Dried? We don't know. Is it 90% Freeze dried and 10% Acai Puree? We don't know.
You see how annoying these secret formulas can be?
If we were spending $45 a bottle, we sure would like to know exactly how much freeze dried Acai we were getting.
No - Monavie Juice does not cure every disease known to man!
We do not blame the Monavie corporation for this one, but some of their independent reps have been making
outrageous claims online. Saying that Monavie can cure diseases is dishonest and irresponsible. We of course believe
that Acai has tremendous health benefits, but a number of Monavie reps have crossed the line and sold some very sick people
a false set of promises.
Making untrue and unfounded health claims for Monavie and Acai is bad for everyone. We hope that the Monavie corporation
will do everything in its power to stop representatives from making unfounded health claims.
Monavie does not appear on the Fair Trade Federation list.
Monavie on their website explains how buying Monavie helps preserve the Amazon rainforest. The only way to ensure that the
harvesting of the Acai berry is sustainable is to pay the indigenous people of the Amazon a fair living wage. The Fair Trade Federation
was established to...
"The Fair Trade Federation (FTF) is an association of fair trade wholesalers, retailers, and producers whose
members are fully committed to providing fair wages and good employment opportunities to economically
disadvantaged artisans and farmers worldwide."
-Fair Trade Federation website (http://www.fairtradefederation.org/index.html)
Sambazon is a member of the Fair Trade Federation, this can be verified here...
http://www.fairtradefederation.org/memwhl.html#S
Here is the exact write-up on Sambazon from the Fair Trade Federation website...
"Through market-driven conservation, Sambazon pioneered the first fair trade and certified organic supply
chain of acai, helps to create sustainable employment opportunities for thousands of
small family farmers, and helps protect biodiversity in the Amazon."
As of this writing (3/12/08) we can NOT find Monavie or Monarch Health Sciences listed anywhere on the Fair Trade Federation site.
If Monavie was completely committed to helping to save the Amazon rainforest, why aren't they a member of the Fair Trade Federation?
Where does MLM end and a pyramid begin?
We have no problem with a company using MLM to promote their product. If people are out there selling your product because they
believe in it - that is great. The problem comes when people are just selling the idea of making money! Again, this gets complicated and
we are not lawyers but, for a MLM program to be legitimate the majority of your sales should be to end users. If distributors are
just trying to recruit distributors who will just recruit more distributors - this becomes an illegal pyramid in the eyes of the FTC.
We want to be very clear here - we are NOT saying the Monavie MLM system is an illegal pyramid.
We believe Monavie is a legitimate company with good intentions, but we do feel that a number of independent distributors have been
acting in a questionable manner.
Does anyone really have $180 a month to spend on juice?
Maybe we are in the wrong business - but we don't have $180 available each month to buy a fruit juice. Why spend $180 for a "acai blend"
when you can get 100% Pure Sambazon Organic Freeze Dried Acai for $29.95 a month
(click here for the blatant plug for Perfect Acai).
So, is Monavie a scam?
No, we do NOT believe that Monavie is a scam. It seems like most the people using the Monavie juice have had a decent experience.
We also do NOT have any knowledge of problems with distributors getting paid by the Monavie company. Our view is that the
Monavie juice is a good juice but if you are looking for a way to take pure Acai, without all the mystery that the proprietary Mona Vie
juice introduces, there are much better alternatives.
Part III: How does Perfect Acai compare to Monavie Juices
The best way to compare the Perfect Acai with the Monavie juice is to ask some basic questions
that our customers ask us everyday. Let's look at how these questions can be answered for the Perfect Acai vs Monavie...
How much Acai is in your product?
PERFECT ACAI™:
Perfect Acai contains 1,000mg (1 gram) of 100% freeze dried Sambazon Organic Acai per serving. There are 60 servings in a bottle.
Most clients do 2 servings a day, so they get 2 grams of Acai per day and 1 bottle last 30 days.
MonaVie™ Juice :
Unknown. Monavie is a proprietary blend of 19 fruits and there is no way to know how much Acai is in each serving.
What is the source of your Acai?
PERFECT ACAI™:
Perfect Acai exclusively uses Sambazon 100% Freeze Dried Organic Acai. Sambazon Acai is Fairly Traded.
Sambazon Acai is certified organic - click here to see the Organic Certification. Sambazon is
a member of the Fair Trade Federation.
Click here to read why Perfect Acai only uses Sambazon Acai
Click here for a letter from Sambazon verifying Perfect Acai exclusively uses Sambazon Acai
MonaVie™ Juice :
Unknown. A review of the Monavie website and promotional material does not state where they purchase their Acai from.
How is your Acai processed? Puree? Freeze Dried? Spray Dried?
PERFECT ACAI™:
The only ingredient in the Perfect Acai is 100% Organic Freeze Dried Sambazon Acai. Here is some information on how Sambazon
processes their Acai:
In June 2006, Sambazon inaugurated the world's largest Acai fruit receiving and processing facility - situated right
in the Brazilian Amazon. The facility adheres to all GMP and FDA guidelines and has strict quality control. This means
that fresh Acai Berries picked in the Amazon are immediately (within 24 hours of being picked) freeze dried right in the Amazon.
Sambazon Acai is covered by an independent third-party Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) plan.
Both the Sambazon plant and drying facility conduct annual food safety audits with the American Institute of
Baking, AIB. Both plants have received an "Excellent" rating. Sambazon açaí is OU Kosher, Fair Trade
and certified organic.
Freeze Dried Acai is about 6-7 times as concentrated as Acai Puree.
MonaVie™ Juice :
Not exactly known. The Monavie juice uses a blend of Acai Puree and Freeze Dried Acai. The exact ratio is proprietary.
A review of their website (http://www.monavie.com) does not discuss how quickly they process the Acai berry. There is also
no mention of food safety audits or GMP guidelines.
I am concerned about the state of the Amazon Rainforest - is your product Fairly Traded and
Sustainable?
PERFECT ACAI™:
Perfect Acai exclusively used Sambazon Acai. Sambazon pioneered the first of
its kind Fair Trade and Certified Organic supply chain of Acai which benefits
thousands of local families and protects the biodiversity of the Amazon Rainforest
through sustainable agriculture.
Sambazon is a member of the Fair Trade Federation, this can be verified on their website -
http://www.fairtradefederation.org/memwhl.html#S
Sambazon won the Secretary of State's 2006 Award for Corporate Excellence (ACE)
This is like the Oscar for socially responsible companies. In presenting the award to Sambazon, Condoleezza Rice, U.S.
Secretary of State said "Sambazon was selected for efforts to promote sustainable development in
the Brazilian Rainforest, while improving the conditions of indigenous people through creative marketing of the açaí fruit."
When you purchase Perfect Acai you know that the indigenous people of the Amazon have been paid a living wage to harvest the Acai.
In fact, the people of the Amazon can make more money selling Acai to Sambazon than they could chopping down the Acai Palm Tree and
selling its lumber! This is only possible because Sambazon often pays DOUBLE the market price for Acai.
MonaVie™ Juice :
Unknown. Monavie does discuss "helping the rainforest" in general terms - which we of course applaud. However, as of this writing (3/12/08) we can not find Monavie
or Monarch Health Sciences listed anywhere on the Fair Trade Federation site.
If Monavie was completely committed to helping to save the Amazon rainforest, why aren't they members of the Fair Trade Federation?
What is the format of your product? Liquid or capsules?
PERFECT ACAI™:
Perfect Acai comes in capsule form. One bottle has 120 vegetable capsules, with 500mg of pure Freeze Dried Acai per capsule. There are
no other ingredients. Users can swallow the capsules or open them up and add the Acai to a smoothie, yogurt, ice cream, juice, tea or
just water.
Perfect Acai can be stored at room temperature and does not need to be refrigerated.
MonaVie™ Juice :
Monavie is a juice that is sold in glass 25.35 fluid ounce bottles. The Monavie juice, once opened, needs to be refrigerated.
What is the price per serving of your product?
PERFECT ACAI™:
One serving is 2 capsules and there are 120 capsules in a bottle. One bottle is $39.95 and if you buy 3 bottles the price drops down
to $29.95 a bottle. One serving of Perfect Acai will cost between 50 and 67 cents.
MonaVie™ Juice :
One bottle of Monavie juice is 25.35 ounces and cost about $45. One serving is 2 ounces. The cost per serving of the Monavie juice
is about $3.55.
How is your product sold?
PERFECT ACAI™:
You can purchase the Perfect Acai right here on our site. The Perfect Acai is also available wholesale,
if you have a store and would like to offer the Perfect Acai please click here.
Do you sell Monavie now? Why not add our Perfect Acai to your product line? We have an affiliate program and would love to help
Monavie representatives offer the Perfect Acai. Click here if you want more information on our Acai
Affiliate program.
MonaVie™ Juice :
Monavie is sold via Multi-Level-Marketing (MLM).
Part IV: Conclusions on Mona Vie™ and Perfect Acai™
When it comes to the MonaVie juice we feel there are too many unknowns and mysteries. We believe in keeping things simple.
If you have heard of Acai and want to try Acai - why not just take Acai? The Perfect Acai is simply 100% Organic Pure Sambazon
Freeze Dried Acai. Nothing else added, no proprietary formula, no MLMs - simply the best Acai in the world!
Why complicate life? Sometimes simple is best.
and Anthocyanins
