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Breaking news:
RIPPED TO SHREDS:
New report blasts FreeLife's "research"
The Scientific Invalidity of the
FreeLife GoChi Juice Study
Source: FreeLife.com
Above: FreeLife tries hard to win your hard-earned dollars with its eye-popping graphics and its self-proclaimed "proven research."
The truth is, according to preeminent berry expert Dr. Paul Gross, FreeLife's "Master Molecule polysaccharides" have "no foundation in science."
He says "the FreeLife GoChi Juice report is an egregious extension of exaggerated unscientific marketing statements."
According to Dr. Paul, FreeLife's GoChi juice "research":
1. Violates good scientific practice
2. Contains exaggerated statements and absent or misinterpreted science
3. Misleads consumers to believe there are health benefits from drinking GoChi juice
4. Lacks appropriate randomization and blinding
5. Was "published in a journal with questionable editorial practices"
and which "neglected rigorous scientific standards" [The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine]
He further says:
"None of these supposed effects of drinking GoChi Juice or Himalayan Goji Juice is supportable by current science."
Basically, Dr. Paul's article rips FreeLife's "research" to shreds, along with the magazine that had the audacity to publish it.
Read Dr. Paul's full report
Meanwhile, here is our original report on FreeLife's GoChi research, published months earlier:
  Rick Handel Talks "Science"
Rick Handel, FreeLife's Chief Product Officer, talks big about the "science" of FreeLife's GoChi goji juice, yet he holds a high school diploma with no college degree, university degree, or science degree. Rick is part of FreeLife's two-person "Science Team."
GoChi & Himalayan Goji Juice: Our Report Continues
GoChi Goji Juice:
We Research Their "Research"
 "Holy scientific method,
Batman!"
That's right, Robin.
FreeLife actually used its own employees as test subjects for its new, highly touted GoChi "research study" (we're not kidding).
On FreeLife's GoChi video, you have to check the fine print at the very end:
Neither FreeLife's scientists who conducted the study, nor its employees, who served as the study participants, knew if they were drinking the real GoChi or the placebo, which looked and tasted like GoChi.
Source: FreeLife.com
We know, it's shocking. We couldn't believe it either. We suppose FreeLife just couldn't find anyone other than their own people to use as test subjects?
When watching videos, many viewers simply don't bother to read this sort of fine print.
And that's not all, Robin.
For their GoChi placebo control participants, FreeLife used a "professionally flavored" solution that "tasted, smelled, and looked like GoChi, but did not contain any goji juice." (Source: gojiexpress.com)
Now we ask: How, pray tell, does a FreeLife lab come up with a "professionally flavored" solution that tastes, smells and looks exactly like goji juice?
And ... where is the consumer research that proves that this fake goji solution tastes identical to real goji juice?
Does anyone actually believe that a FreeLife lab can concoct a fake orange juice, cherry juice, or goji juice that their own employees would be fooled into thinking is real? The very idea floods us with visions of astronauts in space, drinking professionally-flavored Tang.
Nevertheless, FreeLife Chief Product Officer Rick Handel [see note above on this page] assures us that "Neither test group knew whether they were drinking the real GoChi or the fake juice."
Well Rick, do your own co-workers know what real goji juice tastes like? To back up your claim, we'd like to see an independent study that proves that non-FreeLife-employees can taste no difference between real goji juice and your fake goji solution.
This whole issue of "professionally flavored" solutions leaves a bad taste in our mouths.
A "double blind" study?
FreeLife claims that their GoChi study is "double blind."
Our question is: If FreeLife employees already know the taste of real goji juice, how can FreeLife claim that these subjects are "blind"?
We'd like to know: Why didn't FreeLife go into the general public and simply choose people who have no experience with goji juice at all?
Of course, this would have required FreeLife to spend some research dollars. So did they feel they needed to cut costs?
Oh well, since their GoChi study lasted only 14 days (again, we're not kidding), we suppose they ended up cutting research costs pretty much to the bare bone, anyway.
A "peer reviewed" study in a "prestigious journal"?
FreeLife brags that its GoChi research study is peer reviewed and published in a "prestigious journal" - The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine.
Now, we at breathe are health conscious consumers, not scientists. So we wanted to find out what real doctors and food scientists have to say about this "prestigious journal."
Here's what we can tell you so far:
The experts we have consulted with have never heard of the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. After they looked it up on the internet, no expert we've talked with considers that this so-called "prestigious journal" carries weight in the scientific community comparable to the likes of The New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, and other similarly accepted peer review journals.
Instead, they have told us that peer reviewed journals come in many grades, ranging from stringent, highly recognized, highly credible, and universally accepted journals, all the way down to easy-to-showcase-your-product journals.
So how can you tell how credible a journal is? This leads us to:
The Impact Factor
We're told that journals have varying degrees of "impact" in the scientific community.
A journal's impact factor includes various factors, like how selective a journal is in accepting manuscripts, how rigorous is their peer review process, how much the journal is respected in the general scientific community, how often the articles are cited, etc.
Our doctors and scientists have a lot to say about The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine and FreeLife's self-promoting GoChi research. We'll compile their thoughts for a future update.
New Update:
RIPPED TO SHREDS: See Scientific Invalidity of the FreeLife GoChi Juice Study, by Dr. Paul Gross, which blasts both FreeLife's "research" and the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine.
Breathe.org Advice to Health-Conscious Consumers:
1. Be wary about any "in house research" that a company offers you in one hand - while trying to sell you its product in the other hand. (This goes for all health product companies!)
2. If the research is claimed to be "peer reviewed," check out who are the "peers" who reviewed it!
3. Remember: A company wants its own research to sparkle in order to sell you, sell you, and sell you again! So their use of any in-house data just might be a little biased (do ya think?).
Stay tuned. There's much more to come on this issue.
 To be continued ...
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Same breathe web site!
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2. Fake Spectral Signature ...
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1. GoChi Research Ripped to Shreds
