VíaVienté
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
VíaVienté (commonly typed as ViaViente) is a company based out of Plano, TX led by businessman Craig Keeland. The company markets an all-natural, whole food liquid drink. Although the company explicitly says they do not make any medical claims at all, many customers claim to have many health concerns positively effected. As of 2006 they have had customers in the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore, Mexico and Taiwan. Recently, the company has started doing research to expand into Malaysia. The company claims that they are projected to be in 50 different countries within the next 5 years. Only existing users are allowed to refer the product directly to the consumer to help save advertising costs.
Contents |
[edit] Management Team
In 1991, Craig Keeland wanted to find a way to slow down the aging process. He often cites that as a little boy he always fascinated by the legendary Fountain of Youth. After graduating from the Wharton School of Business of the University of Pennsylvania Craig had several successful ventures in commercial real estate and banking helping him become a multi-millionaire. He used his vast wealth and resources to achieve his life long dream of slowing down the aging process. Over a decade later, the first bottle of VíaVienté was produced.
Craig wanted to have a stellar management team put together. Some of the most notable names include Gary Forester, the current Vice President of Operations, who worked with former Presidential candidate Ross Perot in Perot's company EDS. Mr. Forester worked with EDS for 22 years and is seen by many as one of the company's chief architects of turning it into the billion dollar giant it eventually became.
[edit] Formulation History
In the January of 1973 edition of National Geographic magazine, Dr. Alexander Leaf of Harvard University looked at the historic village of Vilcabamba located in the Andes mountain region of Ecuador in South America. Many cite that about 1 in 64 people in the village live to the age of 100 years or older.
Almost a decade later, Dr. Morton Walker, a doctor in nutrition, wrote an unpublished manuscript called The Secret to a Youthful Long Life. Dr. Walker claims that the mineral profile of the water available to the village and the nutrients found in the fruits was a perfect match with the blood of select residents of Vilcabamba after doing a DNA analysis. He often cites it as literally "we are what we eat."
Dr. Walker was known by Dr. Harvey Ashmeade of Albion Laboratories which owns many patents in the chelation process of minerals. It was Dr. Ashmeade whom Craig Keeland first consulted. Dr. Ashmeade referred Craig to Dr. Morton Walker's manuscript.
Dr. Mark Pedersen was eventually involved in the project to find a way to make the product palatable. Dr. Pedersen is a Naturopathic Doctor and has had over 2 decades of experience in formulation processes. Dr. Pedersen is often read by many students in herbology and other wellness fields in institutions around the world.
Dr. Richard Cutler, formerly of the National Institute of Health, was also brought on to the project due to his extensive work in anti-oxidant research.
Dr. Linus Pauling, considered by many the "father of Vitamin C" and a recipient of the Nobel Prize, was also consulted on the product shortly before he died. Craig Keeland was in fact one of the last non-family members to have spoken to him before his passing.
VíaVienté uses a patent pending process use cold-compression to take the entire fruit (skin, pulp, seeds) and turn it into a liquid form. This process claims all the natural enzymes of the fruit are preserved and classifies it as a whole food tonic as opposed to a dietary supplement and/or a juice. VíaVienté claims that consumption of the product helps the body become alkaline. Alkaline bodies have been alleged by many medical professionals to disallow growth of diseases such as cancer although this idea has been disputed. VíaVienté itself ardently denies any claims of cures, treatments or prevention of any diseases or medical conditions but does issue a money back guarantee to its customers if not satisfied.
[edit] Ingredients
VíaVienté has 9 whole fruits and 2 whole roots. These include:
The product also has 13 minerals and as of 2006 claims to be the only liquid product with vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatories.
[edit] Independent Validation
On January 19, 2007 at the VíaVienté World Wide Conference, the company announced that Brunswick Laboratories located outside of Boston, Massachusetts would be giving its first official seal of certification to be placed on every bottle of VíaVienté. Brunswick is highly regarded by many nutritional experts as the standard to which food laboratories should be held to and has invented the ORAC scale (Oxygen Radical Absorbent Capacity) that measures anti-oxidant potentials in different foods and products.
VíaVienté has voluntarily submitted to clinical trials conducted by Brunswick Laboratories and the Miami Research Associates based out of Florida. According to the study, VíaVienté was proven to reduce joint pain, joint stiffness, blood pressure, blood sugar and heart rate in the double blind clinical trial.
Several other competitors of VíaVienté such as Xango, Tahitian Noni and Goji were also measured for their ORAC values in the study. VíaVienté was shown to have a higher ORAC score than all three of those products combined [1].
The International Aloe Science Council has certified VíaVienté as a reliable source of aloe vera.
TIME Magazine has allowed a reprint of their February 2004 issue talking about the link between inflammation and disease to have the VíaVienté logo on the front and the back of the reprint as a possible solution.
Hall of Fame NFL Quarterback and noted sports celebrity Terry Bradshaw has said he benefited from VíaVienté to help his aches and pains. On January 3, 2005, MSNBC aired a clip of Terry Bradshaw promoting the benefits of the product. This clip was re-aired on CNBC and CNN Headline News. VíaVienté claims neither Bradshaw nor the networks received money for the promotion.
Recently, Bradshaw has partnered with actress Linda Gray of the hit drama Dallas (TV series) to promote VíaVienté in a video that is available from the distributors of the company.
Olympic figure skating gold medalist and breast cancer survivor Peggy Flemming has promoted the product on numerous news networks as well.
The Townsend Letter featured an article on the company in its May 2005 issue of the publication.
VíaVienté claims that Governor Rick Perry of Texas has been a consistent user since 2003 and has personally thanked CEO Craig Keeland for his renewed energy.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has been pictured with Craig Keeland holding a bottle of VíaVienté.
Senator John McCain of Arizona has said he wished VíaVienté was around for his family according to an issue of the company's newsletter where McCain was pictured.
Former boxer, noted celebrity Muhammad Ali has been a customer as well. Ali, who suffers from Parkinson's disease, has been rumored by his wife Loni to be in better health than she has seen him 10 years.
The Dallas Morning News newspaper on April 23, 2006 wrote an article titled Here’s to your Health - and your Wealth that mentioned the company's success.
The WB Network's affiliate in Dallas aired a segment done by Victoria Snee on the company.[2]
The company also has set up the Andes Children's Foundation[3] to help educate the children of the Vilcabamba valley by sending back significant profits to the area. A video done by the company about the Foundation can seen here.[4]
Note: Mostly distributors and users of the drink make any claims about the effects of the tonic as seen from a customer posted website[5], however, the third party links can be followed above for further research into the independent validation. The company itself neglects any claims of healing or cures (http://www.viaviente.com/) in order to fend off regulation and lawsuits but has issued a money back guarantee for anyone consistently taking the product with their "12 Weeks to Optimum Health Challenge."
