Dietary Supplements

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The halfway point of 2022 finds NAD digging deep on supplement substantiation and looking closely at whether product names convey misleading claims.  Here are highlights from the past quarter and links to our posts from earlier this year.  Enjoy!

The Proof Is In the Testing (NAD Case No. 7067):  NAD recommended that Dakota Nutrition, Inc., discontinue a broad range of claims relating to the presence of elderberry in the company’s Elderberry Capsules and Elderberry Gummies products, including claims that the products even contain elderberry or provide benefits commonly associated with elderberry.  NAD also recommended that Dakota Nutrition discontinue use of the term “elderberry” in the product name given that Dakota Nutrition was unable to provide a reasonable basis that its products contain elderberry, based on HPLC and HPTLC testing provided by the advertiser.  This case is a reminder of the importance of robust ingredient and finished product testing, particularly as many companies have shifted to alternate suppliers during the pandemic to meet consumer demands.

Mmmm…Chicle (NAD Case No. 7077):  NAD also went deep into ingredient testing in a challenge filed by global confectioner Perfetti Van Melle USA, Inc., against Mazee, LLC, maker of Glee Gum.  Mazee advertised Glee Gum as, among other things, an all-natural, eco-friendly chewing gum made from chicle, a tree sap that Mazee claimed is sustainably harvested from the rainforests of Central America.  To support its claims that Glee Gum contained chicle, Mazee provided information from its supplier stating that the gum base is 94% chicle tree sap (the other 6% consists of candelilla wax and natural citrus acid), along with the results of Carbon-14 testing by Beta Analytic.

Perfetti rebutted that the supplier information did not show that chicle is an ingredient because the CAS Registry Number it listed to identify “Chicle Tree Sap” is not the CAS Registry Number of chicle or any other known chemical substance.  Further, the challenger argued that the results of Mazee’s Carbon-14 tests do not provide any information as to whether the gum base in Glee Gum contains chicle, but only purport to provide information regarding whether the carbon in Glee Gum is plant or fossil-based.  Perfetti further attacked Mazee’s claims with analysis from two experts who concluded that Glee Gum did not exhibit typical chicle-related characteristics and, instead, their analysis suggested the presence of synthetic materials.   Based on this, NAD recommended that the advertiser discontinue claims that the gum base of Glee Gum is “made with chicle.”…
Continue Reading Mid-Year Check-in on NAD Food, Supplement and Personal Care Product Cases

As they often have done in the past, the FTC and the FDA issued joint cease and desist letters last week to 10 companies suspected of making unproven health claims – in this instance, claims that dietary supplements treat or cure diabetes. The FTC and the FDA join forces on such letters in order to…

The dietary supplement and personal care product space continued to see enforcement on false CBD, COVID, and fertility claims as well as related litigation involving “germ-killing” claims on hand sanitizers and wipes.  Messy stuff…Let’s take a look…

LITIGATION

Personal Care Products

In a blow to the trending “pink tax” theory of liability in consumer class actions, in May, the Eighth Circuit ruled that various personal care product manufacturers and retailers did not violate Missouri’s anti-discrimination laws by charging more for products marketed towards women as compared to allegedly identical products that were either marketed towards men or utilized gender-neutral marketing.  The Court found that the plaintiff “mistakes gender-based marketing for gender discrimination” and, in the process, ignores numerous differences between the products that account for the higher price tag.  There has been a handful of similar “pink tax” cases filed over the last year or two, but this is the first appellate court to rule on the issue.
Continue Reading Dietary Supplement and Personal Care Products Regulatory and Litigation Highlights – May and June 2021

Welcome to our monthly digest of litigation and regulatory highlights impacting the personal care product and dietary supplement industry.  April saw a re-emphasis on restriction of COVID-related claims in advertisements for supplements and therapies, developments in various class action cases, including a win for consumers challenging hand sanitizer’s claims of killing 99.99% of germs and a slew of new “natural” class actions, and finally a roller coaster ride for the FTC involving major blows and power moves.

Let’s take a look….
Continue Reading Dietary Supplement and Personal Care Products Regulatory and Litigation Highlights – April 2021

Welcome to our curated selection of highlights of regulatory and litigation developments in the dietary supplement and personal care product industries for March 2021.  In case you were wondering what pain relief, teeth whitening, and CBD have in common (and, who wasn’t?) it seems that one year into the pandemic, these are the advertising battles…

Welcome to our monthly roundup of regulatory and litigation highlights impacting the dietary supplement and personal care products industries.

NAD

NAD tackled substantiation for “#1 Dermatologist Recommended” claims in a challenge involving L’Oreal’s CeraVe moisturizer and use of syndicated survey data to support related claims.

Health claim substantiation was front and center in…

The year ended with a flurry of activity related to the FTC’s ability to obtain permanent injunctions and restitution under Section 13(b) of the FTC Act.  As we head into 2020, a level-set is in order.

To File or Not File is No Longer the Question

On December 19, 2019, the FTC filed a petition…

In 2019, Ad Law Access published 124 stories on a wide range of topics. However, two topics stood out above the others:

  • California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)
    CCPA was far and away the most popular topic of 2019 and, as mentioned in one of our last posts of the year, “businesses and privacy professionals

…

With CBD projected to be a $450 Million industry in the coming year, FDA hosted a packed house of industry stakeholders last week in a day-long public meeting that was the kickoff of a discussion to determine whether there is a pathway for CBD in ingestible products such as foods and dietary supplements.  See our …

In a decision that will limit the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) ability in both consumer protection and antitrust matters to bring certain claims in federal court, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals held in FTC v. Shire Viropharma, Inc. that the FTC may only bring a case under Section 13(b) of the FTC Act when…