The health claim landscape is the Wild West, so if you’ve been fooled by deceptive health claims in advertisements, it’s not because you’re a fool, it’s because it’s not the claim-makers’ first rodeo. “Expert” endorsements and “real people” testimonials, “promising” new research and “cutting-edge” results sound good even when they’re bogus.
Now, the Federal Trade Commission is stepping into the fray, issuing its first new guidelines about health claims in advertising in 25 years. The FTC has traditionally acted against manufacturers of dietary supplements who advertised dubious health claims. Now any company — including food producers — that makes health claims about their products is fair game. In fact, the genesis of these new guidelines comes from the FTC’s experience prosecuting a juice manufacturer’s false claims that their product was “clinically proven” to fight specific diseases.
The new guidelines state that claims must have rigorous evidence to back them up, including at least one high-quality randomized human clinical trial. The results must be statistically significant...
The Dangote Group has dismissed as false and malicious claims of a rift between its President, Aliko Dangote, and the Chairman of Heirs Holdings, Tony Elumelu, and also rejected allegations that h...