Quick Answer: The FTC filed suit against NourishLife (doing business as SpeechNutrients and other names) for allegedly making deceptive marketing claims about their “Speak” supplement containing Omega-3 and -6 fatty acids. The complaint targets unfair and deceptive advertising practices regarding this pediatrician-developed supplement marketed for children with special nutritional requirements.
The Federal Trade Commission has just filed suit against a set of alleged life improving supplement companies claiming the advertising and claims made was unfair are deceptive.
NourishLife, which also does business as SpeechNutrients, Lifenutrients, PharmaOmega, and BeneOmega, is the target of this action.
At the heart of this issue is some product name Speak. According to the NourishLife website, Speak was “Developed by a pediatrician, the speak® formulation contains 7 nutrients in precise doses and ratios for children with special nutritional requirements.” – Source
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The FTC says “Mark Nottoli (“Nottoli”) is the president and manager of NourishLife. Nottoli also is a majority owner of NourishLife, LLC through his ownership share in PharmaNutrients, Inc., of which he is the president and majority shareholder. At other times material to this Complaint, Nottoli was a majority owner of NourishLife through his ownership share in Revolution Works, Ltd., of which he was the president and the principal shareholder.”
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But the concern seems to be over the claims made about Speak, a dietary supplement containing Omega-3 and -6 fatty acids, Vitamin E, Vitamin K, and other ingredients.
These ingredients seem to be a well recognized combination of supplements but the issue appears to be in the claims attributed to Speak in marketing.
“Defendants have represented, among other things, through express and implied claims and consumer endorsements, that Speak develops and maintains normal, healthy speech and language capacity in children, including in children who have autism spectrum disorders and verbal apraxia (a condition in which a child’s brain has difficulty coordinating and directing movements required to form words), among other developmental conditions, and that Speak is clinically proven to produce these claimed results.”
The Federal Trade Commission appears to have taken great exception to the multiple claims made that Speak benefits children when they feel there is insufficient supporting evidence to back up those claims.
The FTC also feels the marketing may not have been truthful as well. They say, “Defendants have represented, expressly or by implication, that the Apraxia Research website is an independent, objective resource for research and other scientific information relating to the treatment of apraxia and Omega-3 fatty acid and Vitamin E supplementation.
In truth and in fact, the Apraxia Research Website is not an independent, objective resource for research and other scientific information relating to the treatment of apraxia and Omega-3 fatty acid and Vitamin E supplementation.”
You can read the full complaint by the FTC, here. Additional information is available here and here.
it seems almost certain some parents believe the Speak product provided a benefit to their kids but would having known all of the allegations made by the FTC changed their opinion?
What do you think?
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