title: Safety evaluation of an açai-fortified fruit and berry functional juice beverage (MonaVie Active(®)).
abstract: The safety of an açai (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) pulp enriched fruit and berry juice, MonaVie Active®, fortified with the functional ingredient, glucosamine, was studied. The beverage was found not to be mutagenic, clastogenic, cytotoxic, or genotoxic, as determined by the bacterial reverse mutation assay, chromosomal aberration assay, mouse micronucleus assay, and mammalian cell gene mutation (L5178Y) assay. The single dose LD50 based on a 14-day acute oral toxicity study is greater than 20,000 mg/kg bw, the highest dose tested. In a repeat dose 90-day oral subchronic toxicity study by gavage, 220 animals were randomly assigned to a control group, an untreated group, or one of three experimental groups (10, 20 and 40 g/kg bw). No treatment-related significant changes in body weight, food and water consumption, ophthalmology, organ weights, urinanalysis, hematological and clinical chemistry, or gross pathology, were observed in surviving animals compared to the control groups. Three animals died midway through the observation period (male, 20 g/kg bw/day; male 40 g/kg bw/day; and, female, 10 g/kg bw/day). These animals died without preceding clinical symptoms, histopathological lesions, or evidence of injury to tissue or organs except for signs of suffocation/aspiration congestion, which was concluded to be due to problems with the gavage administration of the fluid test article, and not due to the test article itself. The NOEAL was determined to be 40 g/kg bw/day for male and female rats, which was the highest dose tested. Phylloquinone (vitamin K1) content averaged 21.7 μg/100 g, comparable to amounts found in iceberg lettuce. In conclusion, the results provide additional experimental evidence that MonaVie Active® juice is non-toxic.
authors.affiliation: Natural and Medicinal Products Research, AIBMR Life Sciences, 4117 S. Meridian, Puyallup, WA 98373, USA. alex@aibmr.com
authors.forename: Alexander G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Schauss
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Clewell
authors.forename: Lajos
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Balogh
authors.forename: Ilona Pasics
authors.initials: IP
authors.lastname: Szakonyi
authors.forename: Istvan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Financsek
authors.forename: János
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Horváth
authors.forename: Julianna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Thuroczy
authors.forename: Erzsébet
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Béres
authors.forename: Adél
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vértesi
authors.forename: Gabor
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hirka
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000633:toxicity*; D028023:Arecaceae / Q000737:chemistry*; D001628:Beverages / Q000633:toxicity*; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D005260:Female; D005638:Fruit / Q000737:chemistry*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D015162:Micronucleus Tests; D009154:Mutation; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D018675:Toxicity Tests; D014812:Vitamin K / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D014812:Vitamin K