Jay Kordich

Jay Kordich
Kordich in 1992
Born
John Kordich

(1923-08-26)August 26, 1923
California, U.S.
DiedMay 27, 2017(2017-05-27) (aged 93)
OccupationAuthor
Years active1990s–2010s

John Kordich (August 26, 1923 – May 27, 2017) was an American author who advocated juicing and juice fasting. He also marketed a line of "Juiceman" juicers and was a frequent fixture in television infomercials beginning in the 1990s.

Early life

Kordich was born near San Diego, California,[1] and grew up in San Pedro, Los Angeles, where he was a football star at San Pedro High School.[2] Kordich played college football for the University of Southern California in 1948 as a reserve running back.[3] He was drafted in the 22nd round of the 1949 NFL draft by the Green Bay Packers,[4] but claimed that before signing a pro contact, he was diagnosed with inoperable bladder cancer.[note 1][5][6] Kordich stated that, inspired by the Gerson diet, he was cured of cancer by consuming 13 glasses of apple and carrot juice each day.[7][8]

Career

Kordich authored The New York Times best seller The Juiceman's Power of Juicing, first published in 1992.[9][10] He was involved in advertising a series of juicers, including the Juiceman Juicer. He lectured on the subject and appeared in television infomercials for the Juiceman Juicer.[9] The product was sold through infomercials at the peak of the juicing craze in the summer of 1992.[11]

The juicer was marketed by Rick Cesari's Trillium HealthProducts, which had more than $100 million in sales attributed in part to the direct marketing of the Juiceman Juicer.[12] In 1992, Consumer Reports tested Kordich's Juiceman II extractor and concluded that other competitive models were easier to clean, cheaper, and worked better. In 2011, Kordich developed the Jay Kordich PowerGrind Pro juicer.[10]

Health claims

Kordich, who had no medical training or qualifications,[13] made health claims regarding juicing that have been disputed by medical experts.[7][8] Stephen Barrett of Quackwatch noted that Kordich made far-fetched, nonsensical, and unproven health claims about juicing,[7] including the belief that uncooked foods flush the body of toxins (detoxification), and that juicing can treat many illnesses such as anemia, anxiety, arthritis, gallstones, impotence, and heart disease.[7] Barrett also highlighted Kordich's fundamental misunderstanding of how plant enzymes affect the human body, and his unsubstantiated demonization of cooked food.[6]

Personal life and death

Kordich promoted a raw vegan diet.[14]

Kordich died on May 27, 2017, at the age of 93, after experiencing respiratory difficulties. His wife Linda said he suffered from no underlying illnesses.[15]

Selected publications

  • The Juice Advantage (1992)
  • The Juiceman's Power of Juicing (1992)

Notes

  1. ^ The San Pedro News-Pilot wrote in 1949 that Kordich declined to sign with the Packers due to his job as a recreation director at Daniels Field in San Pedro, which required six months of unbroken service time under civil service rules.[2]

References

  1. ^ "Meet Jay & Linda Kordich". Juicemania.net. Retrieved September 29, 2025. Jay Kordich was born in 1923 just outside San Diego, California...He would have been 94 on August 26th, 2017.
  2. ^ a b "Kordich Forgoes Plans to Sign with Green Bay". San Pedro News-Pilot. August 2, 1949. p. 11. Retrieved September 29, 2025. John Kordich will not play football for the Green Bay Packers...[he] returned the contract and an undisclosed amount of money...a primary reason for Kordich's decision was his job as Daniels Field Playground Director.
  3. ^ Shmelter, Richard J. (2014). The USC Trojans Football Encyclopedia. McFarland. p. 251. ISBN 9781476615110. OCLC 862101960.
  4. ^ "1949 NFL Draft". Pro Football Archives.
  5. ^ Evertz, Mary (November 3, 1991). "Turn up the Juice". St. Petersburg Times. OCLC 316257638.
  6. ^ a b "Juicing". Quackwatch. September 7, 1999. Retrieved September 29, 2025.
  7. ^ a b c d Barrett, Stephen; Herbert, Victor. (1994). The Vitamin Pushers: How the "Health Food" Industry is Selling America a Bill of Goods. Prometheus Books. pp. 161-162. ISBN 0-87975-909-7
  8. ^ a b Frey, Rebecca J. (2008). Juice fasts. In Jacqueline L. Longe. The Gale Encyclopedia of Diets: A Guide to Health and Nutrition. The Gale Group. p. 594. ISBN 978-1-4144-2991-5
  9. ^ a b Mooney, Louise. (1993). Newsmakers: The People Behind Today's Headlines. Gale Research. pp. 244-245
  10. ^ a b "Father of Juicing Launches Revolutionary Machine Designed to Extract More Juice and Nutrients". Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  11. ^ Jura, Koncius (July 30, 1992). "Getting Juiced; Despite the Doubts of Skeptics, Drinking Vegetables Is All the Rage". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 25, 2012. Retrieved March 16, 2009.
  12. ^ Dawson, Donne (December 21, 1997). "Shintani signs national infomercial deal".
  13. ^ Sullivan, Dierdre M. (Spring 2023). "Juicemania: Interpreting Jay Kordich's Health Empire as Religion". The Cupola. Gettysburg College: 8. Retrieved September 29, 2025.
  14. ^ Iacobbo, Karen; Iacobbo, Michael. (2006). Vegetarians and Vegans in America Today. Praeger. p. 76. ISBN 0-275-99016-8
  15. ^ Bustos, Laura Williams (2023). "The Truth About The Father Of Juicing". Mashed. Archived from the original on March 18, 2024.
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