Two recent settlements with the FTC in addition to a NAD review of another
company’s advertisement shows that no longer can one rely on inexpensive in vitro, animal tests. Further third party clinical trials or small pilot studies on one’s own products are also risky unless they are rigorous and directly related to the ingredients and the amounts of those ingredients in the product. Recently the FTC entered into consent agreements with Iovate and Nestle products. Those orders required the products in question to have 2 double blind placebo controlled studies for the products. While the FTC stated that these standards only applied to the particular claims and products in the settlement and that the definition of “reliable scientific evidence” is “flexible”, using some old animal or in vitro studies to support your claims will no longer be sufficient. The NAD or National Advertising Division of the Better Business Bureau said this specifically as it pertained to MuscleMeds advertising for its Armatest product. Bottom line, you need rigorous scientific support for your claims. We recommend retaining third party scientific experts to help you conduct that search and analyze your claims and to do so before you being marketing your product and before the regulators come knocking on your door.
