XanGo Mangosteen Juice

December 2, 2005 10:40 AM

Is mangosteen juice a scam?

Anybody have experience with XanGo mangosteen juice?

The only info I've uncovered smells like Amway-style MLM involving $35 bottles of something with exagerated health claims.

I'm familiar with the fruit from a trip to Malaysia, but haven't ever seen any stateside, only canned and once, some awful frozen at an ethnic grocery, which were horrible, perhaps because each one had been cut for some reason, which led to mixing of the white fruit and its red husk during thaw.

Wondering if the juice is any substitute.

posted by Rash to food & drink (22 comments total)

YES it is.
The dead giveaway is the fact that it is located in Utah. This is 100% a scam and I am speaking out in the hopes that I can save someone from the brainwashing of these types of operations.

ALL JUICES FROM UTAH ARE SCAMS. This might seem like a ridiculous statement, but there are in fact dozens of juice / health product operations based in Utah, and they are frauds.

E-mail me if you have any further questions.
posted by ac at 10:45 AM on December 2, 2005

Mangosteen juice itself isn't a scam... it might even be tasty. The potential scam is in the purported health benefits and promises of easy income. Miraculous health claims, like those purported for mangosteen juice, are always suspicious. Here are a couple of skeptical links that I discovered when looking for further information on this.

Skeptical mangosteen link 1

Skeptical mangosteen link 2
posted by nobodyyouknow at 11:01 AM on December 2, 2005

AskMetaFilter: ALL JUICES FROM UTAH ARE SCAMS.

Huh? Can someone back this up at all?
posted by driveler at 11:03 AM on December 2, 2005

ALL JUICES FROM UTAH ARE SCAMS.

That might be the funniest thing I've ever read on MetaFilter.
posted by xmutex at 11:13 AM on December 2, 2005

Huh? Can someone back this up at all?

THERE IS A TRULY MARVELOUS PROOF WHICH THESE MARGINS ARE FAR TOO SMALL TO CONTAIN. SORRY.
posted by fishfucker at 11:15 AM on December 2, 2005

Here's something on Utah and MLM scams, though I can't really speak to the bona fides of the site it comes from.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 11:26 AM on December 2, 2005

So name a juice from Utah that's not a scam. See? You can't do it. Q.E.D.
posted by kindall at 11:26 AM on December 2, 2005

Jesus Juice?
posted by fixedgear at 11:31 AM on December 2, 2005

Duck Butter?
posted by the cuban at 12:00 PM on December 2, 2005

Juice Newton? Is she from Utah?
posted by spicynuts at 12:03 PM on December 2, 2005

ALL JUICES FROM UTAH ARE SCAMS.

Hee hee. I love that statement on so many levels.
posted by Opposite George at 12:05 PM on December 2, 2005

THERE IS A TRULY MARVELOUS PROOF WHICH THESE MARGINS ARE FAR TOO SMALL TO CONTAIN. SORRY.

Oh man, I just burst out laughing at that one. Well done.

/sorry, I got nothing
//Whaddya mean, this isn't fark?
posted by splice at 12:19 PM on December 2, 2005

According to Wikipedia, it is illegal to import whole mangosteens into the continental US for fear that they will harbor parasites. So that's why the ones you see for sale here are cut open. Can't help you with the juice, though.
posted by nebulawindphone at 1:06 PM on December 2, 2005

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) + Juices = Scams
posted by LimePi at 1:14 PM on December 2, 2005

Metafilter: ALL JUICES FROM UTAH ARE SCAMS.

It's odd that the purported beneficial "xanthones" are also used as pesticides. That may be a tip-off that the "health benefits" deserve the scare quotes.
posted by klangklangston at 1:18 PM on December 2, 2005

Is the company a scam? Well, let's see:
"Utah County, home of Morinda/Tahitian Noni juice has the highest density of MLM's"

The language in the xango compensation plan looks like hot buttered bullshit to me.

A long and drawn out Scam.com thread between a site moderator and a xango distributor. Moderator produces several linked references as to why xango is a scam (hopped up medical claims, stupidly expensive, MLM) and the distributor produces a lot of bad logic (1, 2, 3)

Is the health claim a scam?
There are several abstracts in EBSCOHost and PubMed regarding xanthones, a class of antioxidant found in the mangosteen. Here are the titles for others who have access to these databases.

• Xanthones induce cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis in human colon cancer DLD-1 cells.
• Bangangxanthone A and B, two xanthones from the stem bark of Garcinia polyantha Oliv.
• Antioxidant and cytotoxic activities of xanthones from Cudrania tricuspidata.

The language in these articles is staggeringly dense, but there are several references to the efficacy of xanthones as a cancer treatment to varying degrees. Unfortunately, the full text isn't available online. I'm not a research biologist, but I suspect that the benefit of the substance is gained by direct application on cancer cells, rather than drinking xanthone heavy liquids.
posted by boo_radley at 1:28 PM on December 2, 2005

Also: Quackwatch on the mangosteen. Basically says people take various parts of the thing for a wide variety of reasons, none of which have been clinically proven.
posted by boo_radley at 1:32 PM on December 2, 2005

AnecdoteFilter: I've known only one person who tried mangosteen juice as a cancer therapy (in conjunction with all possible conventional treatments). It didn't work; nothing did, in the end.
posted by scody at 2:09 PM on December 2, 2005

If it's the sme company that peddles Tahitian NONI juice, it's a scam. They are MLM bullshit artists who avoid the wrath of the FDA by having their "individual sales reps" make the outrageous claims about the power of the juice. The company never said it would cure your cancer....it was the sales rep. There is quite a bit of research on Pubmed about noni, this just sounds like the next generation.
posted by cosmicbandito at 2:37 PM on December 2, 2005

Some choice typos from boo_radley's scam.com thread links:

"bubonic plaid"
"medically prescribed drubs"

And (almost) on topic, if a noni juice anecdote is any help (is it?), a friend of mine keeps a bottle of noni juice for his stepson's somewhat frequent constipation. Apparently tastes like crap, but clears him right up.
posted by attercoppe at 7:14 PM on December 2, 2005

bubonic plaid

Next time someone posts looking for a band name...
posted by AmbroseChapel at 11:17 PM on December 2, 2005

As I recall from growing up in Utah in the early 80's, Juice Newton had a place in Park City.

Orrin Hatch is such a dick.
posted by Good Brain at 11:55 PM on December 2, 2005