Released: January 05, 2007

FTC fines diet pill makers for deceptive ads

Source: Annys Shin, Washington Post (Free Registration)

The ads for CortiStress said it could reduce your chances of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Xenadrine EFX’s “thermogenic technology” was supposed to give your metabolism a lift. And TrimSpa said it contained a plant “used by African bushmen for centuries” that could help you lose weight so you could “become all you ever envied.”

Those claims are not credible, the Federal Trade Commission concluded, yesterday announcing it will collect about $25 million from the marketers of those popular weight-control pills to settle allegations that they misled consumers.

None of the products was deemed dangerous to a person’s health, and the pills will be allowed to remain on store shelves, FTC officials said. The promoters, however, must change their advertising.

The pharmaceutical company Bayer, which was among the FTC’s targets, agreed to pay a $3.2 million civil penalty to settle charges that it violated a previous FTC order that required all health claims for its One-a-Day vitamins be “supported by competent and reliable scientific evidence.” In national ads, Bayer claimed its One-a-Day WeightSmart contained epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), a green-tea extract that can help prevent weight gain in women older than 30 who “can gain 10 pounds a decade, due in part to a slowing metabolism.”

Those claims were not “substantiated by competent and reliable scientific evidence,” the agency said.

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