NAD recommends InflameAway Celadrin ad claims be discontinued

NEW YORK The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus on Wednesday recommended that Imagenetix discontinue certain advertising claims made for the dietary supplement InflameAway Celadrin following a challenge by Schiff Nutrition Group. InflameAway executives countered that they did not agree with the decision, but agreed to abide by NAD’s suggestions.

Imagenetix, at the outset of the NAD review, informed the bureau that the company had been revising its marketing campaign prior to the NAD challenge and had discontinued all of its comparative claims versus glucosamine/chondroitin (and other joint health products), as well as its claim that Celadrin has been “proven to work.”

NAD advised Imagenetix to also discontinue the claim that Celadrin is “clinically tested and shown to be effective for improving joint comfort” as the evidence in the record was inconsistent and insufficient to support a claim that either Celadrin, or its active ingredient, cetylated fatty acid, had been proven effective through clinical trial.

Further, NAD noted, while the patent on the ingredient is evidence of its novelty, the patent alone cannot support a “clinically shown” claim. NAD recommended that the advertiser discontinue the claim.

NAD also found that the claim that “patented InflameAway Celadrin is a medical breakthrough,” was not supported by the research on Celadrin or by the patent on the key ingredient in Celadrin and recommended that it be discontinued.

InflameAway, in its advertiser’s statement, said it is “extremely disappointed that the unrebutted opinions of two highly qualified scientific experts have been rejected in favor of the non-scientific judgment made by NAD counsel.”

However, in the spirit of cooperation, the company said it “has and will continue to voluntarily discontinue the use of all NAD challenged claims in its national advertising.”