A five-member panel of the National Advertising Review Board (NARB) has recommended that Neogenis Laboratories, Inc., discontinue certain advertising claims for the company's Neo40 Daily dietary supplement.
NARB is the appellate unit of the advertising industry's system of self-regulation. It is administered by the Council of Better Business Bureaus.
The claims at issue were initially challenged by the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) before the National Advertising Division (NAD), an investigative unit of the self-regulatory system.
In that underlying case, NAD found that Neogenis provided a reasonable basis for the challenged general claims relating to nitric oxide and its role in the human body.
However, NAD found that Neogenis had not provided a reasonable basis to support its claim that Neo40 Daily is proven to help the body naturally increase its nitric oxide levels and the NAD recommended that the claim be discontinued.
The NAD further recommended that Neogenis discontinue claims that Neo40 Daily:
- Helps maintain circulation
- Helps maintain and support healthy blood pressure
- Helps support triglycerides, energy levels, workout endurance, and sexual function.
Neogenis appealed the adverse findings to the NARB.
Following a hearing and its review of the evidence in the record, the NARB panel recommended that Neogenis discontinue the challenged claims. The NARB panel noted in its decision that its recommendations do not preclude the advertiser from making truthful claims that:
- Neo40 Daily may help the body increase its nitric oxide levels.
- Neo40 Daily may help support healthy blood pressure and/or that preliminary studies indicate that Neo40 Daily may reduce blood pressure in certain consumers.
- Neo40 Daily may help support or maintain circulation.
- Neo40 Daily may help support Triglyceride levels.
- Nitric oxide may support energy levels and workout endurance, and/or that Neo40 Daily has been shown to help support workout endurance in a small clinical trial involving female cyclists.
The company, in its advertiser's statement, said that while it "appreciates the NARB's determination that appropriately qualified claims may be made for Neo40 regarding nitric oxide, blood pressure, circulation, energy and endurance, the company disagrees that the claims as constituted were not supported by the evidence. Regardless, because Neogenis Labs is a firm believer in the self-regulatory process, it will modify any future advertising related to Neo40 to conform with this decision."