Suddenly, fruits and vegetables look different through the prism of the new Food Pyramid. The USDA's revised food guidance system (mypyramid.gov) focuses on weight control and making healthy food choices. This makes fruits and vegetables--naturally low in fat and calories, while nutritionally rich in vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber--especially important in our daily diet. But who has time to prepare and eat the minimum four to six servings a day.
Food for Thought
Food supplements--hype or healthy?
That's where food supplements come in. If you can't eat enough of the right foods to acquire your recommended daily allowance (RDA) of fruits and vegetables, you supplement the foods. The scientific community is divided on whether food supplements really work, however, two established supplement manufacturers--Juice Plus and Metagenics--provide compelling food for thought.
Next Best Thing to Fruits and Vegetables"
17 fruits, vegetables and grains.
This claim earns Juice Plus+, a fruit and vegetable powdered food supplement concentrate, $300 million annually, according to John Blair, Juice Plus+ Vice President of Product and Research. Promoted through an international network marketing channel since 1993, Juice Plus+ also offers an antioxidant supplement, chewable fruit and vegetable supplements for kids, and a meal-replacement balanced-nutrition formula.
With that kind of revenue, clearly lots of people believe in, and are using, the products. Still, controversy swirls around Juice Plus+. Is it because much of the clinical research cited in Juice Plus+'s promotional materials appear to have been commissioned by its own manufacturer and distributor. Or, perhaps, it is because its distributor, National Safety Associates (NSA), is more widely known for successes as a multi-level-marketing organization, primarily interested in moneymaking product trends, than good health good will.
Nevertheless, Juice Plus+ offers an easy way to obtain the nutrients of "17 fruits, vegetables and grains".
Genetic Potential Through Nutrition
Metagenics: food as medicine.
Third-party research is the validation on which Metagenics has built its reputation, and how it promotes its more than 200 nutritional food supplements. Available exclusively through licensed health care providers, Metagenics formulates its products based on nutrigenomics -- how nutrition influences health at the cellular level.
Founded in 1983, Metagenics, Inc. boasts an impressive international Scientific Advisory Board. Its Chief Science Officer, Jeffrey Bland PhD, FACN, CNS was inducted into the Orthomolecular Hall of Fame in July 2009. "Orthomolecular", coined by double-Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling, refers to preventing or treating disease by providing the body with natural substances--vitamins, minerals, amino acids, trace elements, essential fatty acids.
Patient-centered health solutions, with measurable results, are the focus of Metagenics' product development engine. A unique menu of "medical foods" provides targeted nutrients to manage common health conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, children's food allergies, cardiovascular disease.
Food Supplements Big Business
According to The Economic Impact Report, completed by Dobson/DaVanzo - a Washington, D.C.-based economics research firm, the dietary supplement industry is growing at an annual rate of 5 percent, generating $20 billion in annual sales and creating 450,000 jobs. The industry's impact on the US economy is estimated to be $61 billion. Regardless of scientific debate, the numbers show us a lot of people seem to believe food supplements work. Among the thousands of companies manufacturing dietary supplements, two internationally successful brands--Juice Plus+ and Metagenics--stand out for their different approaches to providing nutritional options for good health.
Marketing or Medicine?
Bottom line: if you had to choose one or the other--would it be Juice Plus+ or Metagenics food supplements? Both companies' products have devoted users. Juice Plus+ pays commissions to independent distributors to sell its food supplements, markets to consumers, and invites much controversy.
Metagenics lacks complaints about its products or business practices. That Metagenics is available only through licensed health providers--whose reputations rely on offering patients well-researched, high-integrity food supplements--tends to make this brand a more reliable choice.
Tags: Juice Plus, food supplements, fruits vegetables, Juice Plus Metagenics, Plus Metagenics, fruit vegetable