Scamming Grandma: Balance of Nature Snake Oil
“No man ever went broke overestimating the ignorance of the American public.” - P.T. Barnum
If you watch Fox News or listen to talk radio for more than 20 minutes, you are bound to see or hear a :30 or :60 second ad for Balance of Nature.
Balance of Nature might be the most lucrative health supplement SCAM of the 21st Century.
These con artists are preying on the sick, the old and the senile by running non-stop ads for capsules that purportedly pack vitamins and nutrients from TEN servings of fruits and vegetables into convenient capsules.
Balance of Nature :60 TV Spot: “Honest” Reviews from “Real” Customers
Here are the ingredients on the Balance of Nature Fruits label:
Ingredients: Proprietary Whole Fruit Maintain Blend (Tomato, Papaya, Banana, Apple, Grape, Wild Blueberry, Strawberry, Aloe Vera), Protect Blend (Orange, Tart Cherry, Cranberry, Wild Blueberry, Grape, Apple, Grapefruit, Aloe Vera), Repair Blend (Raspberry, Pineapple, Mango, Sweet Cherry, Lemon, Aloe Vera)
And here are the Balance of Nature Veggies ingredients:
Ingredients: Proprietary Whole Veggie Maintain Blend (Broccoli, Spinach, Soybean, Green Cabbage, Wheatgrass, Kale, Cauliflower, Celery, White Onion, Zucchini), Protect Blend (Garlic, Red Cabbage, Red Onion, Soybean, Carrot, Kale, Cayenne Pepper, Shiitake Mushroom, Wheatgrass, Sweet Potato), Repair Blend (Carrot, Kale, Green Onion, Soybean, Spinach, Cauliflower, Celery, Zucchini)
Looks like Balance of Nature Fruit and Veggie capsules must be jam-packed with TONS of vitamins and minerals!
Then you examine the label and ask:
“WTF is going on here?”
An entire bottle of Balance of Nature contains 0% of your recommended daily vitamins or minerals.
None!
The only nutritional data on the entire label:
Serving size is 3 capsules
Bottle contains 90 capsules
One serving = 10 calories + 2g carbohydrates
One bottle = 300 calories and 60 grams of worthless powder
Balance of Nature is clearly 21st century Snake Oil.
After freeze-drying ten servings of fruits and vegetables, somehow they end up with a powder that contains no vitamins or minerals.
The fruit capsules are made from oranges, grapefruit, mango, tomato and berries. After freeze-drying all those fruits, you’d think the powder would at least contain a few milligrams of Vitamin C.
But according to their own label, Balance of Nature Fruit & Veggie capsules don’t contain a single milligram of ANY vitamin.
It should already make you livid that this predatory company is preying on senior citizens by bombarding them with non-stop ads for a nutritionally worthless product.
But this scam gets way worse when you consider the price.
Balance of Nature wants suckers to sign up for their $69.95 monthly subscription.
To get started, you must pay a dubious $24.95 ‘one-time member fee’.
That’s $94.90 for just your first order of snake oil capsules. Then you get billed $69.95 every 28 days forever.
Which means gullible fools are paying these con artists roughly $935 every year!
Why is there a one-time member fee of $24.95? And why do you need a ‘membership’ in the first place? You aren’t joining a gym. You’re just buying a supplement.
Do you realize how many fruits and vegetables you can buy with a monthly budget of $70?
Even with inflation, you can still get a ton of bananas, apples, tomatoes, spinach, cucumbers and broccoli for $17.50 per week.
Instead of eating healthy fruits and vegetables every day, these suckers are blowing $70 a month on garbage.
So hhy doesn’t the Food and Drug Administration step in and do something?
Well, the FDA sent Balance of Nature a very stern warning letter in August 2019, accusing the company of mislabeling and making false claims.
“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.”
For example, Balance of Nature’s YouTube channel featured a video titled ‘How to Help Overcome Relapsing MS’.
The FDA said the title of the video alone constitutes a claim that “your products are intended for use in the cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of Multiple Sclerosis (MS).”
The FDA cites several other dubious claims made in Balance of Nature commercials, from asthma and prostate problems to aging and cancer.
“Balance of Nature will give you over 10 servings of fruits and vegetables every day. ‘The American Institute for Cancer Research’ and the ‘USDA’ have confirmed that eating 9 to 11 servings of fruits and vegetables every day is the key to preventing cancer and other lifestyle diseases.”
In addition to Fruits and Veggies, Balance of Nature also sells a product called ‘Fiber & Spice’.
Balance of Nature describes Fiber & Spice as, “a revolutionary fiber drink with whole psyllium husk, whole apple, flax seed, and a blend of 12 spices. The specific blend of fiber regulates your bowels.”
The first ingredient listed on the label is ‘Psyllium husks’.
Ingredients: Proprietary Balanced Whole Fiber Blend (Psyllium husk, Flax seed, Whole Apple, Whole Monkfruit), Protect & Repair Whole Spice Blend (Cinnamon, Ginger, Turmeric, Fennel, Cardamom, Cumin, Fenugreek, Coriander, Clove, Allspice, Mustard, Nutmeg)
Psyllium husks are legendary in the health food world for allowing individuals to shatter all previous personal records for the largest dump they’ve ever taken.
Fiber supplement brand Metamucil is mostly psyllium husk powder.
Fiber & Spice capsules actually contain some nutrients, including 40mg of calcium, 9 grams of carbs and a whopping 8mg of Dietary Fiber.
That’s 29% of your daily fiber in two scoops of powder!
But wait…
The FDA letter cites EIGHT mislabeling violations for Balance of Nature’s Fiber & Spice.
The worst violation might be #2c, which says:
It’s scientifically impossible for 9g of carbohydrates to contain 8g of fiber!
“Your Whole Food Fiber & Spice product label declares dietary fiber in an amount that is greater than the quantitative amount declared for total carbohydrate.”
“Total carbohydrate must be greater than or equal to the sum of carbohydrate components including dietary fiber and total sugar.”
Balance of Nature is making false claims about their product, lying on the label, claiming it helps with everything from asthma to cancer, and charging people almost $1,000 a year for a monthly subscription.
Q: Did the FDA ever follow up on this letter with fines and punishment?
A: Nope.
Despite having over 222 complaints with the Better Business Bureau over the past 12 months, these Balance of Nature con artists have never been slapped with a fine or penalty.
Once these scammers get your credit card information and lock you in for a monthly subscription, good luck trying to cancel.
Read some of these complaints on BBB.
Typical BBB complaint (January 2022):
“I have been trying to get a hold of a representative from Balance of Nature and I’ve not received any response. I’ve called and left voicemails. I’ve also emailed them at their customer service email address…”
“I’m trying to cancel my subscription which is set to auto renew on January 10, 2022. I’ve waited several days in between trying again in an attempt to stop the next order from processing and have not been successful in connecting with a representative.”
“I’m unable to cancel the subscription online.”
The 2019 FDA letter cites so many major violations, you’d imagine the owners would get slapped with hefty fines and penalties.
But flip on Fox News right now and you are guaranteed to see a Balance of Nature ad at least once every 30 minutes.
Later this week, we will put two other snake oil supplement scammers under the microscope:
If you don’t want your grandparents to get scammed out of $1000 in the next 12 months, make sure you tell them to sign up for the Teddy Brosevelt Substack newsletter right this second.
That’s all for now.
Until next time,
TB22
