Balance of Nature is a popular supplement company that sells fruit, vegetable and spice supplements, and the brand's website claims that users can “Easily get 31 Fruit and Vegetable ingredients with Balance of Nature!"
But are fruit and veggie supplements as healthy as eating whole fruits and veggies? Does Balance of Nature contain any unhealthy additives? Why did the company receive an FDA warning letter? And how do real customers rate and describe the effects of Balance of Nature supplements?
In this article we'll answer all of these questions and more, as we highlight some strange health claims that previously existed on the Balance of Nature website, analyze clinical studies to give our take on whether fruit and veggie supplements are actually healthy, and share our concerns about the "research" backing Balance of Nature.
We'll also give our personal, unbiased review of the supplements after trying them, discuss the risk of side effects, and document which retailer currently sells Balance of Nature pills for the cheapest price.
Strange Health Claims
What Balance of Nature sells is not complicated: it’s freeze-dried powder from fruits and vegetables in capsules. This isn’t revolutionary technology; it’s been around for decades.
However, when we initially published this article, there were a number of highly strange and (in our opinion) unscientific claims on the brand's website, which were removed after our article received a significant amount of popularity.
One such claim is shown below:
“The scientific blend, or recipe, developed by Dr. Howard does not use a full serving of each fruit and vegetable. Through trial and error, research, and experimentation, a precise and balanced combination was discovered. This balance is what gives us the wonderful results we enjoy today.”
This quote seemed to suggest that the proprietary formula was more effective than the equivalent doses of whole foods, but the claim was not cited nor did it make any logical sense.
The third claim on this page was even stranger:
“With some of the fruits and vegetables you eat, as little as 5 percent of the available nutrition will be absorbed because it has not been properly masticated, or chewed. For example, when we eat an apple we chew it; but it’s still swallowed in chunks. To some degree this inhibits the absorption of the nutrients within the apple.”
No citation was provided to support that 5% figure, nor did it make any sense.
Balance of Nature seemed to be suggesting that there’s barely any point in eating whole foods because they can't be absorbed.Â
We pointed out how this this claim was highly unscientific and illogical, given that humans have been getting nutrition exclusively from whole foods for millennia.
Is Balance of Nature Healthy?
The health effects of fruit and vegetable supplements has been studied in clinical trials.
A 2009 clinical trial found that a fruit and vegetable powder supplement improved blood pressure in individuals with high blood pressure, but the study participants were consuming 24 grams (g) of powder daily, or 12x the dose in Balance of Nature Veggies.
A recent medical review published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine concluded that fruit and vegetable concentrate supplementation “would result in the reduction of the burden of [cardiovascular diseases]”.
Some of the trials cited in this review used doses lower than that in Balance of Nature.
A clinical trial published in the Microorganisms journal found that a fruit and vegetable supplement combined with a fiber supplement improved gut health and blood sugar metabolism in healthy adults.
Overall, we consider Balance of Nature to be healthy and we believe that its use is likely to improve health outcomes in those who consume a diet that doesn't contain many fruits and vegetables.
Highly Questionable Research Claims
As with the questionable health claims, Balance of Nature has scrubbed their site of some highly questionable research claims since our article initially called them out.
We still think this information is important to share with potential consumers of the supplement given how outrageous these claims were.Â
The research page on Balance of Nature’s website linked to three “studies.”
We put studies in quotes because none of these documents were published in peer-reviewed journals, and were instead just PDF documents uploaded to the Balance of Nature website.
The first “study” was published by a Russian doctor and claimed that Balance of Nature supplements inhibited cancer in rats.
The second “study” was published by two people at a Russian medical academy, and claimed that Balance of Nature supplements could increase lactation in rats.
The third “study” claimed to be the results of a clinical trial, but instead was just a four page word document with no author or medical journal associated, which claimed that Balance of Nature supplements could help patients with severe liver damage.
We recommend that consumers disregard health claims based on "clinical research" that isn't published in any peer-reviewed journals.
This set of "clinical research" was some of the strangest for any supplement that we've reviewed to date on Illuminate Health, and we fail to understand how a study on lactation in rats had anything to do with a fruit and vegetable supplement marketed to humans.
Balance of Nature Gets FDA Warning
In August of 2019, the FDA sent (and made public) a warning letter to Balance of Nature indicating, among other things, that they had “adulterated” dietary supplements.
The products were not manufactured to meet current good manufacturing practice (CGMP), and more specifically Balance of Nature failed to implement a system of processes to ensure the quality of their dietary supplements, according to the FDA.
The FDA letter also states that Balance of Nature failed to properly investigate product complaints, which is a consumer safety issue:
"You failed to establish and follow written procedures to fulfill the requirements related to product complaints."
The FDA also described Balance of Nature supplements as "misbranded" due to label information not complying with regulations.
Balance of Nature apparently mislabeled certain ingredients such as "wild yam" being labeled "yam," although these are entirely different plants.
We consider this to be a red flag in regard to Balance of Nature as a brand, because this is an extensive number of violations.
We Tried Balance of Nature Ourselves
As one of the authors of this article (Calloway), I wanted to try Balance of Nature myself to share my thoughts on the health effects and overall product experience.
I already eat a healthy diet, so I didn't notice any physical or mental benefits from taking Balance of Nature daily, but that was to be expected.
It's like a natural multivitamin, not a supplement designed to make you feel good.
The product arrived somewhat slowly (six days after my order). The Fruits capsules smell and taste great.
The Veggies capsules smell bad in my opinion, but they're unflavored so it's not that surprising. The capsule size is quite large and this may be an issue for the elderly. They're larger than the majority of supplements I take.
One benefit of Balance of Nature was having a backup when I was too lazy to cook, or ran out of fresh produce.
There were a few days when I was eating dinner after grocery stores had closed, and I was out of vegetables. Taking the Balance of Nature caps to get my micronutrients was convenient in those situations.
I wouldn't personally buy these supplements again. Spending over $85 for two fruit and veggie supplement bottles feels overpriced to me. Every time I took them I thought about how much fresh fruit and vegetables I could buy for $85.
Ingredient Analysis
The ingredients in Balance of Nature Fiber & Spice are shown above.
This supplement contains entirely whole food ingredients, and there are no questionable additives like refined sugar, artificial sweeteners or flavoring agents.
The Fruits & Veggies supplement has a similar formulation of dried fruits and vegetables without questionable additives.
From purely a formulation perspective, we have no issue with Balance of Nature supplements and consider them to be superior to some other fruit and vegetable supplements that contain additive ingredients.
Where to Get the Best Price
Here's the price for a one-time purchase of Balance of Nature supplements at the time of updating this article:
Fruits & Veggies
Brand website: $89.95 (plus shipping, link)
Amazon: $89.95 (free shipping, link to Amazon listing)
Fiber & Spice
Brand website: $69.95 (plus shipping, link)
Amazon: $69.95 (free shipping, link to Amazon listing)
Amazon currently has the best prices on single orders of Balance of Nature supplements, but the Amazon listings are from a third-party seller, so it may be safer to purchase directly from the manufacturer.
Questionable Testing Claims
When we initially published this article, the Balance of Nature website claimed that the supplements were third-party tested.
Like many of the claims we called out, the brand has since removed this claim from their website.
Third-party testing of dietary supplements can help to ensure product quality and consumer safety.
However, we could not locate third-party test results of any Balance of Nature product anywhere on their website.Â
Real People Try Balance of Nature
A YouTube creator named Antoinette Nora reviewed Balance of Nature Fruits & Veggies in a video with over 75,000 views:
A TikTok user named Forrest shares his concerns about the smell of Balance of Nature caps:
@forrestfrank0028 #vitamins #nutrition #health #healthyliving #supplements #foxnews #tuckercarlson #hanityfoxnews @Balance of Nature ♬ original sound - Forrest
Does Balance of Nature Cause Side Effects?
Balance of Nature does not appear to have been studied in any legitimate clinical trials, so it's challenging to say for certain whether or not the supplement will cause side effects.
However, we can make an educated guess based on its ingredients.
We do not believe that Balance of Nature is likely to cause side effects in healthy individuals.
It's composed of whole food ingredients and has no harmful filler ingredients, so other than a food allergy, we don't see the potential for any serious side effects.
High fiber intake can cause minor indigestion in those who eat an unhealthy, low-fiber diet. It may be worthwhile for those individuals to slowly increase the Fiber product dose rather than taking one (or more) full servings the first day.
There is currently no mention of side effects on the Balance of Nature website.
Our Clean Green Powder Picks
Complement Daily Greens is our top overall green powder pick.
This greens powder is extremely nutrient-dense without any added vitamins, providing 50% of the iron Daily Value (DV), 46% of the chromium DV and 35% of the vitamin A DV in one serving.
Pique Japanese Sencha Green Tea is our top superfood green powder pick.Â
Green tea was documented in a medical review to support "anti-hypertensive effect, body weight control, antibacterial and antivirasic activity, solar ultraviolet protection, bone mineral density increase."
Both of the products recommended in this section are entirely free of ingredients we consider to be unhealthy.
Balance of Nature Complaints
Amazon is a better resource for honest customer reviews than a brand's website in our opinion.
A top negative review of Balance of Nature from a verified Amazon purchaser comes from a user named "J. Lam" who claims that the supplement caused acid reflux:
"One thing that has bothered me in the last few years was a serious increase in heart burn, acid reflux. It was taking a toll on my quality of life and required a huge change in diet, which had almost zero effect on the heart burn. After reading the review where the person mentioned their own heart burn, I decided to take a month off of the BN. Within a few days my life was already better. I've been off BN for exactly three months and I don't even think about heart burn."
Balance of Nature currently has a 1.24 out of 5 star rating on the Better Business Bureau (BBB) website, with many complaints.Â
A BBB user named "George B" describes the company as a scam:
"They are liars! When I get my first order, they told me that it would not be a recurring order. I got my first order and started taking it and then I broke out in hives and am obviously allergic to the product. When they called me to see if I wanted to order again. I told them no and they still went ahead and charged my credit card and sent the product."
Balance of Nature FAQs
Is Balance of Nature a hoax?
No. A hoax implies an outright scam, like a company that accepts a customer's money and fails to ship product. By all accounts, Balance of Nature is a legitimate company that manufactures and sells supplements.
We don't recommend their products, but we wouldn't consider the company a "hoax."
Does Balance of Nature work?
Balance of Nature may be effective for improving health and nutritional status in individuals who don't consume enough fruits and vegetables in their diet.
There is no proof that the supplement treats any disease or condition, and we don't believe it's worth the money in individuals who already consume a healthy diet rich in fruits and vegetables.
Is Balance of Nature a Mormon company?
We have not come across any evidence that Balance of Nature is a Mormon company, nor is there currently any mention of the word "Mormon" on the brand's website.
Balance of Nature is based in a city called St. George, Utah, which is a predominantly Mormon area. This is probably what causes this confusion.
Is Balance of Nature made in China?
Balance of Nature is not made in China. It is manufactured in the USA.
Some of the individual ingredients may be sourced from China, but the brand does not currently publish what country each individual ingredient is sourced from.
How long has Balance of Nature been on the market?
Balance of Nature has been on the market for 27 years. According to a page on the brand's website titled "Our Story," the company launched in 1997.
What is comparable to Balance of Nature?
Balance of Nature is a fruit and vegetable supplement, often categorized as a "green supplement" or a "green powder supplement."
There are many green powder supplements on the market made from fruits and vegetables. Any of these products which contain no filler ingredients like added sugar or artificial flavoring are comparable to Balance of Nature.
Is Balance of Nature FDA approved?
Balance of Nature is not FDA approved. It's a dietary supplement, which is not subject to FDA approval.
Only pharmaceutical medications and medical devices are subject to FDA approval.
Balance of Nature Pros and Cons
Here are the pros and cons of Balance of Nature in our opinion:
Pros:
- No unhealthy additives
- Contains different fruits and vegetables
- May improve health of individuals with a poor diet
Cons:
- Received FDA warning letter
- No proof of third-party test results
- Expensive
- Questionable health claims
- Highly questionable research backing
- Veggie capsules smell bad
- Large capsules
- Waste of money for individuals who eat healthy in our opinion
