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] He served in the United States Navy for three years during World War II.[3] After leaving the military, Kordich played college football for the University of Southern California in 1948 as a reserve running back.[4] He was drafted in the 22nd round of the 1949 NFL draft by the Green Bay Packers,[5] but claimed that before signing a pro contact, he was diagnosed with inoperable bladder cancer.[note 1][6][7] Kordich stated that, inspired by the Gerson diet, he was cured of cancer by consuming 13 glasses of apple and carrot juice each day.[8][9]

Career

Kordich authored The New York Times best seller The Juiceman's Power of Juicing, first published in 1992.[10][11] 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.[10] The product was sold through infomercials at the peak of the juicing craze in the summer of 1992.[12]

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.[13] In 1992, Consumer Reports tested Kordich's Juiceman II extractor and concluded that other competitive models were easier to clean, cheaper, and worked better.[14] In 2011, Kordich developed the Jay Kordich PowerGrind Pro juicer.[11]

Health claims

Kordich had no medical training or qualifications.[3] He made health claims regarding juicing that have been disputed by medical experts.[8][9] Stephen Barrett of Quackwatch noted that Kordich made far-fetched, nonsensical, and unproven health claims about juicing,[8] 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.[8] Barrett also highlighted Kordich's fundamental misunderstanding of how plant enzymes affect the human body, and his unsubstantiated demonization of cooked food.[7]

Personal life and death

Kordich promoted a raw vegan diet.[15]

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.[16]

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. ^ a b Sullivan, Dierdre M. (Spring 2023). "Juicemania: Interpreting Jay Kordich's Health Empire as Religion". The Cupola. Gettysburg College: 3–8. Retrieved September 29, 2025.
  4. ^ Shmelter, Richard J. (2014). The USC Trojans Football Encyclopedia. McFarland. p. 251. ISBN 9781476615110. OCLC 862101960.
  5. ^ "1949 NFL Draft". Pro Football Archives.
  6. ^ Evertz, Mary (November 3, 1991). "Turn up the Juice". St. Petersburg Times. OCLC 316257638.
  7. ^ a b "Juicing". Quackwatch. September 7, 1999. Retrieved September 29, 2025.
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ 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
  10. ^ a b Mooney, Louise. (1993). Newsmakers: The People Behind Today's Headlines. Gale Research. pp. 244-245
  11. ^ a b "Father of Juicing Launches Revolutionary Machine Designed to Extract More Juice and Nutrients". Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  12. ^ 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.
  13. ^ Dawson, Donne (December 21, 1997). "Shintani signs national infomercial deal".
  14. ^ "Magazine Doubts the Worth of Expensive Juicemakers". Deseret News. December 7, 1992. Retrieved January 23, 2026.
  15. ^ Iacobbo, Karen; Iacobbo, Michael. (2006). Vegetarians and Vegans in America Today. Praeger. p. 76. ISBN 0-275-99016-8
  16. ^ Bustos, Laura Williams (2023). "The Truth About The Father Of Juicing". Mashed. Archived from the original on March 18, 2024.
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