Sumner Redstone is the legendary investor who controls CBS, Viacom, and countless other companies, and not a man easily swayed by fads. Now 85 years old, he has been a devotee to Acai Juice for over 2 years now, and gives it credit for many general health benefits that others speak of, but are not easily measured in the laboratory. His great wealth and reputation make him an almost irrefutable ambassador for this exploding trend. The following is from an interview he recently gave on CNN.
-
Redstone first heard of the juice from Viacom exec Bill Roedy on a trip to Germany in January. After learning that his butler’s sister-in-law was a devotee too, Redstone ordered some up and started drinking four ounces a day. "Since I’ve been on MonaVie I haven’t taken a sleeping pill," he says.
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. "It’s not a drug," he says. He touts the juice as a way to "increase energy in a natural way" and to alleviate "the everyday aches and pains from inflammation."
Redstone says he’s never felt better. "I know I look a lot younger than I am," he says. "I feel like I’m 40 years old.