Most doctors do not recommend Balance of Nature as a replacement for eating actual fruits and vegetables. The product, a set of capsules made from dehydrated fruit and vegetable powders, has faced significant scrutiny from both federal regulators and health professionals for making health claims it couldn’t back up with evidence. While the idea of getting your daily produce in pill form is appealing, the medical consensus is clear: these capsules don’t deliver what whole foods do, and the company has a documented history of overstating what its products can accomplish.
The “Food First” Position From Health Organizations
The American Heart Association states that dietary supplements are not replacements for nutrient-dense foods and should only be taken as additions to a healthy eating pattern, with guidance from a physician or dietitian. The 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans reinforce this, recommending that nutritional needs be met primarily through whole foods because they provide a complex array of nutrients that supplements simply can’t replicate.
Registered dietitians consistently advocate a “food first” approach. Whole fruits and vegetables contain fiber, water, and hundreds of compounds that work together in ways a capsule can’t reproduce. Eating whole produce is linked to lower cardiovascular disease risk, reduced blood pressure, lower rates of type 2 diabetes, and obesity prevention. These benefits come from the complete package of nutrients and their interactions inside the food, not from isolated vitamins extracted into powder form.
That said, nutrition experts acknowledge that if someone genuinely cannot eat enough fruits and vegetables, a supplement can serve as an addition to their diet. The key word is “addition.” No major medical organization endorses using any capsule product as a stand-in for real produce.
What the FDA Found
The FDA issued a warning letter to Evig LLC, the company behind Balance of Nature, after reviewing claims on the company’s website. The agency found that Balance of Nature products were being marketed as if they could diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent diseases including cancer, heart disease, cirrhosis, diabetes, asthma, and COVID-19. None of these products have been approved by the FDA for any medical use.
The situation escalated beyond a warning letter. A federal judge entered consent decrees against both the distributor and manufacturer of Balance of Nature products. The FDA’s core concern was straightforward: the company was selling what amounted to unapproved drugs by claiming its capsules could treat serious diseases.
The company also used customer testimonials that described curing conditions like skin cancer, lupus, and hepatitis C. One testimonial featured on the site described a customer’s melanoma improving after taking the supplements. The FDA flagged these as illegal disease treatment claims because they gave consumers the impression the product could replace medical care for life-threatening conditions.
The California False Advertising Settlement
Balance of Nature’s legal troubles extended beyond the FDA. The company paid $1.1 million to settle a consumer protection lawsuit brought by the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office and the California Food, Drug, and Medical Device Task Force. Of that amount, $850,000 covered civil penalties and investigative costs, and $250,000 went to customer restitution.
At the heart of the case were claims prosecutors said lacked scientific support. The company had told customers that one serving of its Fruits product, weighing roughly 2 grams, contained the “nutritional equivalent of over 5 servings of fruits.” It also claimed that taking the recommended six capsules daily (three Fruits and three Veggies) gave your body as much nutrition as eating more than 10 servings of a salad made with 31 different fruits and vegetables. Prosecutors alleged the company had no competent scientific evidence for these claims.
The lawsuit also revealed that Balance of Nature recommended customers take 12 capsules each of its Fruits and Veggies supplements if they had been “diagnosed with life threatening illness,” a suggestion that could lead people to delay or forgo actual medical treatment. Additionally, the company was cited for enrolling customers in automatic subscription renewals without clear disclosure and without offering an easy way to cancel online.
Do the Capsules Raise Nutrient Levels at All?
Research on similar dehydrated fruit and vegetable capsules (not Balance of Nature specifically, but comparable products) does show that they can raise blood levels of certain antioxidants. A study published in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics tested encapsulated fruit and vegetable powders in healthy volunteers and found that blood levels of beta-carotene rose significantly within seven days. Vitamin C levels roughly doubled with the fruit preparation, and vitamin E also increased modestly.
These findings suggest that your body can absorb some nutrients from powdered produce capsules. The beta-carotene in particular appeared to be highly bioavailable in supplement form. However, raising a few antioxidant markers in blood tests is not the same as replicating the full health benefits of eating whole fruits and vegetables. Whole foods contain fiber, water content that aids digestion, and complex interactions between hundreds of plant compounds that researchers are still working to fully understand. A capsule delivering a measurable bump in beta-carotene doesn’t mean it delivers the cardiovascular or metabolic benefits that come from eating the actual food.
The Cost Question
Balance of Nature’s Fruits and Veggies supplements cost $69.95 per month as a subscription (called their “Preferred Customer” price), plus a one-time membership fee of $24.95. Adding the Fiber and Spice supplement brings the monthly total to $109.95. Over a year, that’s roughly $840 to $1,320 depending on which products you buy.
For context, that monthly budget could buy a substantial amount of actual produce. A few bags of frozen vegetables and fruits, which retain most of their nutrients because they’re flash-frozen at peak ripeness, cost a fraction of the supplement price and deliver fiber, water, and the full spectrum of plant compounds. Nutrition experts at Georgia State University have noted that supplements are expensive and that the same desired outcomes can be achieved by simply incorporating extra fruits and vegetables into meals.
What Doctors Actually Recommend Instead
The consistent medical advice is to eat real fruits and vegetables whenever possible. Fresh, frozen, and even canned produce all count toward the recommended daily intake of about five servings. Frozen produce in particular is a practical and affordable option that preserves nutritional value well.
For people who have genuine difficulty eating enough produce, whether due to medical conditions, dental problems, or severe food access limitations, doctors may suggest a general multivitamin or specific nutrient supplements tailored to documented deficiencies. The distinction matters: a doctor recommending a targeted supplement based on bloodwork is very different from a company claiming six capsules can replace 10 servings of salad.
The supplements themselves are not inherently dangerous for most people. The concern from the medical community is about what they replace. If someone takes Balance of Nature and considers their nutritional bases covered, they miss out on fiber, hydration, and the complex protective effects that only whole foods provide. If someone takes the capsules alongside a diet already rich in produce, they’re spending over $800 a year for a modest boost in a few antioxidant levels.