Lipid Nutrition passes PinnoThin advertising review
latest company to have its claims assessed by the voluntary
advertising watchdog, the National Advertising Division of the
Council of Better Business Bureaus (NAD).
NAD noted found Lipid Nutrition B.V. North America was advertising in a B2B manner and provided "sufficient support" for some of its advertising claims relating to its ingredient PinnoThin, but asked the Illinois-headquartered company to modify or discontinue others. PinnoThin is derived from the oil of the Korean Pine Nut and is known for its propensity to bring on feelings of satiety. The claims NAD found Lipid Nutrition possessed enough qualified clinical evidence to justify a range of satiety claims but determined the claim language required softening from "clinically proven to…" to "may help to…". However claims stating PinnoThin was '100 percent natural' and 'a breakthrough ingredient' were allowed to stand. Lipid Nutrition said it disagreed with aspects of NAD's decision but would not be appealing. "Lipid Nutrition will take the NAD's conclusions and recommendations into account when developing future advertising," the company said. The company said it was pleased the ruling acknowledged it had clearly positioned the product as an appetite suppressant but rejected NAD's view that its clinical data did not back its claims. "We respectfully disagree, however, with NAD's conclusion that Lipid Nutrition's random, double blind, placebo controlled clinical testing did not support establishment claims for the form of PinnoThin currently on the market (PinnoThin TG)," the company said in NAD's official review. It added: "In Lipid Nutrition's view, the statistically significant results for the efficacy of the FFA (free fatty acid) form of PinnoThin which is the enzymatic metabolite of the TG form, coupled with the trending results of the TG form, provide a reasonable basis for the 'clinically proven' claims." The PinnoThin claims NAD scrutinized were: 1. "In a random double-blind study, it was proven that:
'PinnoThin promotes the feeling of satiety'
'PinnoThin suppresses the desire to eat'
'PinnoThin reduces prospective food intake'
'PinnoThin significantly increases the release of CCK and GLP-1.'
'PinnoThin provides control over appetite'"
2. "PinnoThin is a patented, 100% natural ingredient that has been scientifically proven to suppress the desire to eat" 3. "PinnoThin is "The New Breakthrough Appetite Suppressant" NAD's review of PinnoThin was self-motivated and forms part of a monitoring programme established in 2007 with the Washington DC-based Council for Responsible Nutrition. The programme aims to "expand NAD review of advertising claims for dietary supplements" in any media. "CRN is funding one position for a full-time attorney who examines only dietary supplement cases," NAD communications director Linda Bean said. "As a result, we've been able to increase our review of such cases from eight or nine a year to nearly 30."
