In the article titled "Get big, rich or die trying" by Rachel Montgomery, Ms. Montgomery makes several incorrect assumptions and propagates misinformation not only about Herbalife’s business model and the cost of investment but also some serious erroneous allegations regarding some of the company’s products and its ingredients.
Myth: Herbalife is pyramid scheme
Fact: Herbalife is not a pyramid scheme for the very simple reason that it does not pay its members or distributors to recruit others into its business. This is the fundamental principle behind what constitutes an illegal pyramid scheme. This allegation is baseless, because Herbalife members and distributors generate income exclusively from the sale of products, not from recruiting others into the business.
The following encompasses the ingredients Ms. Montgomery mentioned in her opinion as being “the same stuff that goes into your swimming pool.” Once again, her assumptions and allegations are simply misinformed and inaccurate.
We use science and nature in developing our products and believe they are beneficial and provide people with balanced nutrition that the human body needs every day. Herbalife does not claim that the items are organic or all natural. Herbalife uses naturally sourced ingredients as much as possible, but we have to choose ingredients very carefully for their quality and benefit.
GM/Safety: Herbalife uses carefully sourced ingredients to ensure the potency, purity and stability of our products. In the United States, some Herbalife products use ingredients derived from genetically modified (GM) crops. The United States Food & Drug Administration (FDA) allows the use of ingredients derived from varieties of genetically modified crops that are equivalent in nutrition to those from non-genetically modified sources.
Fats/Sucralose: There are several pieces of misinformation in the article. All ingredients are disclosed on Herbalife’s product labels, and to clarify, mono, di and triglycerides are not trans fats. However, the amount of trans fat in each serving of products such as Herbalife Healthy Meal Nutritional Shake Mix is 0 grams. In addition, sucralose, like other common foods such as table salt, does contain chloride (Cl) molecules. Both Sucralose and table salt are safe and frequently ingested foods, unlike chlorine or pool chemicals that are not foods and would be harmful when ingested. More than 100 studies have been conducted on sucralose. These studies have been evaluated over a 20-year period and have clearly demonstrated its safety. It is the only non-nutritive sweetener that is made from sugar, and only a very small amount of sucralose is used in Herbalife products.
Herbalife adheres to all applicable regulatory, safety, and quality standards in any market where the products are sold.
