Company builds $1 billion juice business

Business Week:

"On stage at a sales convention, XanGo executive Joseph Morton said that when he first stumbled across mangosteen, a tropical fruit with purported curative powers, 'I didn't have to have it confirmed in the New England medical journal before I would listen.'

The multilevel marketing company has built a huge business around its mangosteen-based juice, which it promotes as an immunity booster. The company still hasn't proved its health benefits -- which it says could include a stronger immune system and improved joint function -- to skeptical experts. XanGo's Web site includes a disclaimer, noting the juice is not meant to treat or prevent disease. A lab test arranged by The Associated Press found its antioxidant power to be on par with other fruit juices.

Morton, a 37-year-old triathlete nicknamed Ironman Joe, was on a business trip in Malaysia when he saw mangosteen, a white delicacy wrapped in a blood-red leathery shell, on the dessert menu."