Yogurt health claims overblown, unproven FTC says
I hadn't heard about this until Monica mentioned it in a comment earlier, but apparently, the makers of Activia Yogurt (you know, the yogurt that has the commercials with the strange hand movements) and DanActive will pay $21 million to settle claims of deceptive advertising.
According to a statement from the Federal Trade Commission, Dannon made claims about the health benefits of the yogurt products that were not backed up by research.
Here's the part I found most interesting:
Dannon may not make any other claims about the health benefits, performance, or efficacy of any yogurt, dairy drink, or probiotic food or drink, unless the claims are true and backed by competent and reliable scientific evidence.
Seems like that's something we take for granted with these kinds of claims.
Here's the story from the L.A. Times where I found this information. I really had no idea that Dannon was claiming Activia could help prevent colon cancer!
Monica seemed to be standing by her yogurt in her comment. I'd be interested to hear what others think about the decision.
Me - I am always extremely skeptical of health claims made about food, and cosmetics, for that matter. But saying that yogurt can prevent cancer seems really egregious.And requiring food makers to have scientific proof behind their claims seems like a no-brainer to me.
Comments
most brands of yogurt are loaded with sugar anyway and aren't even healthy...if you want healthy yogurt, go with plain greek yogurt and add your own berries on top
Posted by: Shakeology discount | July 7, 2011 2:30 PM