Supplement health claim lawsuits: what they say and where each one stands
Health claims on dietary supplements are the statements on labels and in ads about what a product does for the body, such as supporting joints or filling nutrition gaps. Several class action lawsuits say certain supplement makers overstated those benefits, so buyers paid more than they otherwise would have. These are allegations, and the companies may dispute them. This page lists each lawsuit, what it alleges, and where it stands.
Claims closed
The deadline to file a claim has passed for these settlements.
- Balance of Nature Supplements settlementConsumers allege Balance of Nature misled buyers by overstating health benefits and ingredient quality of its supplements, causing people to overpay.
- Cosequin (California Only) Cosequin Dog Supplements settlementNutramax misled California dog owners by marketing Cosequin's joint-health benefits using claims unsupported by clinical science.
- Joint Juice settlementJoint Juice falsely advertised joint health benefits that glucosamine products did not actually provide to consumers.
What is dietary supplement marketing?
Dietary supplements are products like vitamins, fruit and vegetable capsules, and joint formulas such as glucosamine. Companies describe what their products are meant to do because those benefits are the main reason people buy them.
According to the FDA's dietary supplements page, the FDA does not approve dietary supplements for safety or effectiveness before they are sold. Makers of supplements for people can use "structure/function" claims, meaning statements about how a product affects the body's normal workings (for example, "supports joint health"), but they cannot claim a supplement treats or cures a disease.
Advertising is also overseen by the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC's Health Products Compliance Guidance says health claims in ads should be backed by competent and reliable scientific evidence.
Some of these lawsuits focus on joint products. According to the NIH National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, studies of glucosamine and chondroitin for osteoarthritis have produced mixed results.
The lawsuits on this page say the companies went further than the evidence supports. The Joint Juice lawsuit says the drink's glucosamine did not provide the joint benefits advertised. The Cosequin dog supplements lawsuit says joint-health claims for the dog product, sold to California owners, were not supported by clinical science. The Balance of Nature supplements lawsuit says the company overstated the health benefits and ingredient quality of its supplements.
Products named in these lawsuits
Being on this list means a lawsuit names the product. It does not mean a court has found anything wrong with it.
- Balance of Nature Supplements
- Cosequin Dog Supplements
- Joint Juice