Nestlé Agrees to Stop Making Deceptive Health Claims for BOOST Kid Essentials

Nestlé, the world's largest food and nutrition company, has agreed to stop making deceptive advertising claims about the health benefits of its children’s drink BOOST Kid Essentials.

It's the first case brought by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) challenging advertising claims for probiotics.

In the settlement, Nestlé agreed to:

• stop claiming that BOOST Kid Essentials will reduce the risk of colds, flu, and other upper respiratory tract infections unless the claim is approved by the Food and Drug Administration.  

• stop claiming that BOOST will reduce children’s sick-day absences and the duration of acute diarrhea in children up to age 13, unless the claims are true and backed by at least two well-designed human clinical studies.

• not make any claims about the health benefits, performance, or efficacy of any probiotic or nutritionally complete drinks that it sells at  retail, unless the claims are true and backed by competent and reliable scientific evidence.  It also bars the company from misrepresenting any tests or studies.

The FTC has another case pending against The Dannon Co., challenging its claims for the supposed health benefits of its probiotic yogurt.  

In December, Dannon agreed to pay $21 million to settle a lawsuit filed by 39 states, challenging health claims in the company's advertising of Dannon's Activia and DanActive products.

"Dannon made up fancy names for bacteria in its Activia yogurt and dairy drink, marketed them as having unique health benefits, then milked the public's willingness to believe those claims," Washington State Assistant Attorney General Bob Lipson said.

Dannon represented that Activia helped to regulate the human digestive system based largely on the presence of one ingredient, a bacterial strain with purported probiotic benefits that Dannon trademarked under the name Bifidus Regularis. The attorneys general allege that Dannon represented that Activia improved intestinal transit time when one serving per day was consumed for two weeks. However, a majority of studies demonstrated a benefit only for individuals who consumed three servings per day for two weeks.