MSNBC reports on the $40 ’super fruit’ juice.

An independent lab test performed for The Associated Press shows XanGo’s antioxidant strength is no better than other readily available fruit juices, yet it costs nearly $40 a bottle. XanGo insists mangosteen contains other beneficial chemicals. “My big concern with XanGo is that the business has gone a long way without showing any benefit in human trials,” said Wayne Askew, director of the Division of Nutrition of the University of Utah’s College of Health. Others are skeptical, too.

“It’s a ‘Wizard of Oz’ story,” said Anthony Almada, president and chief executive of GENr8 Inc., a marketer of sports nutrition dietary supplements. “The industry is built on storytelling, and because they do it one-on-one, without advertising, they don’t incur the wrath of the FDA.”

Dietary supplements are a $22 billion largely unregulated business in the U.S. For the lab test, The Associated Press shipped a 750-milliliter bottle of XanGo to Oregon State University’s Linus Pauling Institute at Corvallis. The institute measured its antioxidant strength against store-bought juices that sell for a few dollars a bottle. On a scale of molecular weight, XanGo’s antioxidants measured 14,884 “micromoles” per liter — slightly higher than cranberry juice, but lower than black cherry and less than half the power of blueberry juice. Apple juice finished last in this test.