Los Angeles, CA—An appeal from POM Wonderful, LLC, the creators of 100% Pomegranate Juice and POMx supplements, to allow certain claims on their products has failed.

Here’s a brief review of the events leading up to this event. POM Wonderful, LLC, placed ads in The New York Times, Prevention Magazine, on the Internet and even on bus stops and billboards claiming their product could treat and prevent the risk of heart disease, prostate cancer and prostate cancer; it also claimed that products were clinically proven to work.

Once the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) caught wind of these ads, the agency had told POM they could not make these claims unless they had proof, thus ordering POM to provide at least two human clinical trials to support their marketing. The order also prohibits misrepresentations of any test, study or research, and requires reliable scientific evidence to support claims about the “health benefits, performance, or efficacy” of any food, drug or dietary supplement.

POM appealed, but on January 16 Chief Administrative Law Judge D. Michael Chappell and the Commission has denied the request. POM argued FTC’s position violated its First and Fifth Amendment rights, yet the Commission rejected those arguments as well.

According to an FTC press release, “The Respondents may file a petition for review of the Commission Opinion and Final Order with the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals within 60 days after service of the Final Order.”

Published in WholeFoods Magazine, March 2013 (online 1/24/13)