LA Biz Observed
 
Bio • Email • Archive
 

 

No wonder the 84-year-old chairman of Viacom thinks he can live 50 years - and keep running the company. Sumner Redstone, by far LABO's favorite industry mogul (and we’re using “favorite” loosely here), is hooked on a superjuice called MonaVie. The antioxidant-rich stuff is dark-purple and laced with the Brazilian açai berry, which health nuts have been pushing for years. "It's a miracle drug," he told Fortune. "I feel great."

At a recent party, Redstone gave bottles to Bill Clinton and celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck. "Just about every friend I have is on it," Redstone says - a group he says includes Viacom and CBS board members as well as cancer survivor and former junk-bond king Michael Milken. (It can also be found in the clubhouse of the Boston Red Sox; pitcher Jonathan Papelbon is a fan.) So is it a fad, or is there something to it? Nothing proves that MonaVie cures any ailment, but in one of the first academic studies of açai's benefits, University of Florida researcher Stephen Talcott found that the berry's antioxidants destroyed leukemia cells in a laboratory. But Talcott has since distanced himself from MonaVie and its junkies.

In case you're wondering, MonaVie costs $40 a bottle and you can only get it through distributors who sell it out of their homes.

> | More
© 2003-2011   •  About LA Observed  •  Email the editor
Mark's latest news
and commentary
 
 
LA Biz Observed
by topic
Economy and jobs
Media, books & Hollywood
Politics and labor
Travel, food and life
Technology
Land and real estate
Wealth and poverty
 
 
New at
LA Observed
 
6:50 PM Thu | Largest crowd for a Walk of Fame star ceremony that many could remember, outside the Capitol Records tower on Thursday. Photo by Gary Leonard.