Balance of Nature Analysis

Balance of Nature Product Analysis

By now, most people have most likely seen a televised advertisement for Balance of Nature supplement. Ads hint that it can replace servings of fruits and vegetables. Healthy looking active people are seen in ads mentioning how much their life improved while taking these supplements. What is the WHOLE story behind this product?

Fruits and Vegetables are beneficial in the diet. article How much are needed? These amounts are now specified as cups per day instead of weights, that is 2 cups of fruits would be 4 servings and 2 and a half cups of vegetables would be 5 servings. This must be quite difficult to achieve since only 1 in 10 consume these amounts. ref

Balance of Nature fruit and vegetable supplements sound like a simple way to increase servings without having to actually eat food. Obviously, fruits and vegetables contain many valuable nutrients. Here are amounts of fruits and vegetables equal to one serving. More data here on servings here> serving sizes here  <click on cup fruit table, or for a picture of a serving sizes, and last, Harvard weighs in here  There is some confusion as to what exactly is a serving size for fruits and vegetables. Australia simplifies and says a fruit serving is 150 grams (5 and 1/3 ounces) and a vegetable serving is 75 grams (two and 2/3 ounces).

QUESTION OF THE DAY 

How many fresh servings sizes of FRUITS AND VEGETABLES are in a serving of Balance of Nature supplements?  (on average, about 25% of one serving)

Here is a very simple method to figure this out since the labels do not give this information. At least not in an easy to reveal way. But, since the labels do give the total weight of the servings (3 fruit caps equal 2,011 mg and 3 vegetable caps equal 2,010 mg.) And knowing that the processing method just extracts out the water weight from the fruits and vegetables without any further concentrations, it is easy to figure out how much fresh fruits and vegetables are in a Balance of Nature serving by simply adding back the 87% average water weight.

Here is the math for those with a concern for numbers. 2011 and 2010 equals 4,021mg. which is 4 grams rounded off. One fruit or vegetable serving is between 4-6 ounces. One ounce is 28 grams. Thus one serving of fruit or Vegetable would be between 112 - 168 grams. But this is with 87% average water weight included. Taking out the water weight leaves 15-22 grams for one food serving. Daily recommendation is for 9 servings, 4 fruit and 5 vegetable. But new (questionable) research reveals that 5 total provides same benefit.

Since a serving of Balance of Nature provides 4 grams for both 3 fruit and 3 vegetable caps, this is equal to between 18-27% of one serving of fruit or vegetable (15-22 grams).

If you want to know the size for how much fresh fruits or vegetables are in a serving of Balance of Nature, picture 4 ounces, half a cup, and divide that by four. There is just a little more than one ounce of fresh food per serving.

If the Austrailian method for serving sizes was used, the Balance of Nature serving would hold about 50% more of vegetables, so not quite half a serving. Still quite small overall.  

See below for more detailed analysis.

There is a fruit cap, a veggie cap, and a spice and fiber cap. Let's look at the fruit cap first to get an idea of how many servings of fresh fruits can be put into 3 capsules.

USING APPLE EXAMPLE 

The 3 fruit caps hold just over 2,000 milligrams, or 2 grams. A medium size apple weighs about 6 ounces, or 168 grams (28 grams to an ounce) and represents one serving of fruit. Taking out the 85% water weight, that leaves about 25 grams of dried apple solids containing the nutrients, including about 3% fiber. (list of water % for F & V) Since the company does not use concentrates, if this apple powder was used to fill all three capsules, 2 grams, that would equal just 8% of one serving of apple solids. What about the other 15 fruits listed on the label that also need some space?

Realistically, does this apple example sound like this product could deliver a full fruit serving substitute in the 3 capsules at total 2 grams (2,011 mg.)? Maybe a good start for some types of high water fruits. 

ANOTHER EXAMPLE- Strawberries

One fresh strawberry, about 1 inch across, with water removed weighs about .56 of a gram. Since one fruit capsule on average holds .67 gram, or 670 milligrams, that means that just 1 and 1/5 dried strawberries would fill one capsule. One fruit serving size is considered 8 strawberries. The 3 capsules of only strawberries would yield just under a half fruit serving, that is 3 and 3/5 strawberries. 

But these are for one fruit filling all 3 capsules. Now how much of each of the 16 fruits are in each product serving?

All three fruit capsules hold 2,011 mg. Looking at amount for all 16 fruits divided equally, the product label does not provide any individual item amounts but offers a hint, each fruit would have 126 milligrams. For strawberry, that would mean just over 1/5 of a strawberry would equal 126 mg. That is just under 3% of one strawberry serving. For Apple, that 126 mg. would mean just half of one percent for the dried apple solids of one seving. The other 14 fruits are somewhere between these two examples. Adding up the 16 fruits would probably only reach at best maybe 25% of a fruit serving, modified a little by the actual weight used of each fruit and water content percent. 

If you can afford to pay about 300% over the real value for this type of product, by all means go ahead. At least it does not appear to have any negatives, unless one is allergic to an ingredient. Also note that the fruits are not organic so the fruit caps probably have some pesticides and/or heavy metals. But most likely these amounts will be below government accepted levels since the serving amount is so small.

FYI: if you are taking the spice and fiber caps, be sure to drink sufficient water. Fiber absorbs water and could back up the elimination system. At 8 grams of fibers, this product supplies about 29% of daily requirement, a good amount, but less than the fiber content in 2 medium apples at 8.8 grams and slightly more than one apple at 4.4 grams and one banana at 3.1 grams. The FIBER caps just might be the most valuable product of the three.

If one looks at the bottle labels, while they list the fruits, there is a glaring absence of any vitamin and mineral content amounts. This may be due to the fact that they are quite insignificantly small. 

ANY REDEEMING FACTORS?

So, the real value of this product must be in the combination of a little of each of the 16 fruits and 15 vegetables. 

Caution: Veggie capsules contain soy. Soy simply has too many negatives to be included.**

Since this company says they do not cook the produce before freezing to maintain nutrients, they must rigorously test each batch after freeze drying for contamination. ref Plus, since the nutrients no longer have the protection of the skin shell around the fruit, the freeze dried fruit powders are exposed to greater levels of oxidation. Rapid processing into capsules is necessary and each bottle needs to have desiccants added for protection while in the bottle. Every time a bottle is opened, oxygen enters. Of course, the low water content of freeze dried fruits limits microbial growth, but any microbes present could survive and get reactivated once they get in a water environment inside the body. Fresh fruits also have this possibility. One reason a strong immune system is needed for protection.

The freeze drying process appears to be very intensive and requires a very clean environment. There are some questions about the integrity of some food structures surviving this process. This is in ongoing research. About 90% of fresh nutrients are preserved by freeze drying. These possible activities might not be large enough to influence the body, and it may not pose problems for short term use, but longer term use could increase risks. This and other challenges present the opportunity to gain benefits from probiotics. ref

Good Bacteria destroy and control Bad Bacteria.

Wrap UP! While the ingredients are good, these Fruit and Vegetable caps under deliver on quantity at an excessive cost, and use meaningless promotional testimonials. The fiber & spice product is the only one recommended, but is double the expected price. There are other cost effective alternatives. The spice blend is unique and may add some value. Some individuals have to be careful with too much psyllium. Drink enough water with this product.

This product is not equal to a number of fruit and vegetable servings. Most likely the fruit and veggie servings of 3 caps each yield almost a half serving of fruit and just above a half serving of vegetables at best. How could half an apple and half a medium size carrot yield such amazing benefits as the testimonials claim?  And at $3.00 a day makes for a pretty expensive half an apple and half a carrot at price per pound. These are serving size equivalents used as examples and not really half an applesi ec there are 16 fruits and 15 vegetables. Remember just 8% of apple solids would fill all 3 capsules while a half serving of strawberries would almost fill all 3 capsules.

General Info on Soy

**CAUTION: The vegetable caps contain soybean seeds. Yes, the amount is very tiny and not enough to have any impact. Overall, soybeans are not to be used raw as they contain anti-nutrients. Some of which are toxic in higher amounts. Why this ingredient was included is a perplexing mystery. 

Yes, soy has many beneficial nutrients, but the anti-nutrients usually overplay the benefits unless soy is cooked for a very long time and then fermented to eliminate the anti-nutrients. But there are still isoflavones with phytoestrogen activity to monitor.  ref Just too many fires for some subsets of people to be careful using soy. After 50 years of research, the soy history simply is too thorny. 

 Updated information (January 2024)

Some other websites writing about Balance of Nature said the fruits and vegetables were all from organic sources. But the company website does not now mention organic. The part of a product label that is inside the square black line box is the only part that has very strict regulations. Current label boxes for the fruit product do not list organic anywhere. The source of fruits is not organic. 

One Revealing Label Requirement

The FDA does have strict label requirements inside the label box lising ingredients. When ingredients are listed , they have to put the ingredient with the largest amount first and then work down to the last ingredient with the least weight. Since Balance of Nature Fruit and Vegetable labels break down the ingredients into three categories, each group would still have to list ingredients in order of amounts within each group. Notice that some groups list the same ingredient in all three groups or in two out of the three. This gives some details about where those ingredients could rank in total weight amounts compared to ingredients in only one group. Here looking at water percent and serving size for each food could add clarifying information to help determine exact equivalent for total serving amount.

FYI: The next paragraph was in the initial article, now removed and included below for general information only.

Possible Downside of Freeze Dried Organic Fruits

Raw foods sometimes contain microbial organisms. Organic growing methods actually increase the possibility of pathological microbes. article Why? Commercial growing methods use chemical pesticides to kill pests and artificial or synthetic clean fertilizers. Organic growers use less chemicals and more natural methods, such as predator insects which are not quite as effective and natural fertilizers as animal (or human) and plant wastes, a potential source of many microbes. Some of these microbes might survive the freeze drying methods unless the food is heated at some point. ref   

 Next is the freeze-drying method that says the material is first sent through a fine screen that eliminates any impurities, such as bacteria. ref   While bacteria are quite large, it is the much smaller virus that needs to be evaluated.