GAO Reviews Dietary Supplement Claims as Aging Population Struggles With Memory Loss

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia among older adults, with experts suggesting the ailment plagues more than 5 million Americans, according to the National Institutes of Health. As Baby Boomers survive past their 70s, 80s and beyond, old age brings with it a trifecta of complications: an increased risk of loss of memory, dementia and ultimately death.

Unsurprisingly, aging Americans—including those seeking to treat or prevent Alzheimer’s—are hungry to preserve their minds and fight off a loss of memories, and as the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) acknowledged in a May 2017 report, consumers “have increasingly turned to dietary supplements for help.”

However, some marketers touting memory supplements are exploiting a vulnerable demographic, misrepresenting product benefits to the brain and even promising treatment for a disease like Alzheimer’s.

FDA, FTC Enforcement Actions

According to GAO, an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress, two firms addressed FDA’s concerns after receiving “advisory letters” from the agency. Online advisory letters are a relatively new tool used by FDA to fight the online promotion of dietary supplements that purport to treat a disease. The letters provide notice of violations of the law, and they are subject to a shorter internal review process than warning letters.

In February 2017, FDA issued a warning letter to a company that several of its products were suggested as treatments for diseases, including Alzheimer’s, HIV/AIDS, leukemia and Parkinson’s, among several others.

Commenting on GAO’s report, the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN)—a Washington-based trade organization representing the dietary supplement industry—acknowledged that such disease claims are fraudulent.

GAO Recommendation

Consumers who are the targets of deceptive advertising and marketing practices may not fully appreciate or understand the roles played by FDA and FTC. For example, while FDA’s jurisdiction over dietary supplements extends to marketing information used in the sale of a product—including supplements marketed on the internet—consumer groups with whom the GAO conferred “were either unaware of FDA’s role with regard to internet sales and marketing of dietary supplements, or said that the shared oversight roles between the two agencies was unclear.”

GAO recommended “the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services [HHS] and the chair of the FTC develop and provide additional guidance to consumers delineating the agencies’ differing roles in their shared oversight of memory supplement and other dietary supplement marketing on the internet.”

Read full article and learn more about Deceptive Advertising and the FTC here.

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Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It’s not legal advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created. Neither the author nor FTC Guardian, Inc. is endorsed by the Federal Trade Commission.