| U.S. Federal Trade Commission |
FTC News Release, Jul 13, 2004
“Senior Moment” Maker Neglects to Prove its Claims
A dietary supplement manufacturer has
settled Federal Trade Commission charges that it violated
federal law by making unsubstantiated claims that its product,
“Senior Moment,” could prevent memory loss and restore memory
function in adults. The proposed consent agreement to settle
the charges with Nutramax Laboratories, Inc. of Edgewater,
Maryland requires the company to have competent and reliable
scientific evidence for these and similar claims in the
future.
According to the FTC, Nutramax claims that
the “Senior Moment” supplement “contains a proprietary blend
of brain specific nutrients,” including DHA and cerebral
phospholipids. The FTC charged that Nutramax did not possess a
reasonable basis to support its claims that “Senior Moment”
prevents memory loss and restores lost memory function in
adults of all ages, and that it misrepresented that scientific
studies prove that Senior Moment restores lost memory function
in adults of all ages.
The proposed consent agreement prohibits the
defendant from representing that “Senior Moment” can prevent
or reverse the effects of memory loss, unless it has competent
and reliable scientific evidence for that claim. It also
requires Nutramax to have competent and reliable scientific
evidence substantiating all claims about the benefits of any
product sold for cognitive function, or for the treatment or
prevention of any related disease or disorder. Finally, the
agreement prohibits the company from misrepresenting any study
in connection with the marketing or sale of such products.
The Commission vote to accept
the proposed consent agreement was 5-0. The FTC will
publish an announcement regarding the agreement in the Federal
Register shortly. The agreement will be subject to public
comment for 30 days, beginning today and continuing through
August 12, 2004, after which the Commission will decide
whether to make it final.
The text in this article was prepared by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.