June 16, 2004
The Federal Trade Commission has charged a Utah group with making false and unsubstantiated claims for weight-loss and fat-loss gels and supplements, including Dermalin, Cutting Gel, Tummy Flattening Gel, Leptoprin, Anorex, and PediaLean.
The FTC alleges that the promoters violated the FTC Act by making unsubstantiated fat and weight loss claims, false claims that clinical testing proves certain efficacy claims, and false claims that Daniel B. Mowrey, Ph.D, is a medical doctor.
Dramatic, unsubstantiated weight and fat loss claims continue to tempt the overweight with new hope for a quick fix. Its particularly disturbing, however, when marketers peddle such pills and potions for children without adequate substantiation, according to Howard Beales, Director of the FTCs Bureau of Consumer Protection.
The Commissions administrative complaint names: Basic Research, L.L.C.; A.G. Waterhouse, L.L.C.; Klein-Becker usa, L.L.C.; Nutrasport, L.L.C.; Sovage Dermalogic Laboratories, L.L.C.; BAN, L.L.C.; Dennis Gay; Daniel B. Mowrey, Ph.D., also doing business as American Phytotheraphy Research Laboratory; and Mitchell K. Friedlander, all operating from the same Salt Lake City facility.
The promoters market numerous dietary supplements and topical gels through a variety of media, including the Internet. In particular, Leptoprin has been heavily advertised through short-form infomercials; the topical gels have been promoted through newspapers and national magazines, such as Cosmopolitan and Muscle and Fitness, and PediaLean has been advertised in magazines such as Redbook.
Dermalin, Cutting Gel, and Tummy Flattening Gel all contain the active ingredient aminophylline in a lecithin base. Dermalin and Tummy Flattening Gel are sold under the Klein-Becker usa and Sovage trade names, and are advertised primarily to women interested in thinning their figures. Cutting Gel, sold under the Nutrasport trade name, is primarily advertised to male bodybuilders who want to eliminate areas of fat that obscure their muscle definition.
The FTCs complaint challenges as unsubstantiated claims that Dermalin, Cutting Gel, and Tummy Flattening Gel cause rapid and visibly obvious fat loss in areas of the body to which they are applied. The complaint challenges as false the claim that published, clinical testing proves that Cutting Gel and Tummy Flattening Gel cause rapid and visibly obvious fat loss in areas of the body to which they are applied.
The complaint further challenges as unsubstantiated claims that Leptoprin and Anorex cause weight loss of more than 20 pounds in significantly overweight users and that those products cause loss of substantial, excess fat in significantly overweight users. In addition, the complaint challenges as false claims that clinical testing proves that Leptoprin causes weight loss of more than 20 pounds, including as much as 50, 60, or 147 pounds, in significantly overweight users; and that clinical testing proves that Leptoprin causes loss of substantial, excess fat in significantly overweight users.
In addition, the complaint challenges claims that PediaLean causes substantial weight loss in overweight or obese children, and that clinical testing proves such claims. The complaint further challenges the respondents claim that respondent Mowrey is a medical doctor. The FTC alleges that he is not.