NAD Recommends VPX Discontinue Certain Claims for Medivin

New York, NY – July 16, 2012 – The National Advertising Division has recommended that Vital Pharmaceuticals discontinue certain claims for its Medivin 100% Natural Liquid Vitamin & Mineral Delivery System, including claims that imply Medivin is more bioavailable than competing Animal Pak supplements.

NAD is an investigative unit of the advertising industry’s system of self-regulation and is administered by the Council of Better Business Bureaus. As part of its routine monitoring program, NAD requested substantiation for certain claims for the product in print and Internet advertising.

The claims at issue appeared in a two-page print advertisement that featured a top view of a toilet bowl and a strainer filled with vitamins – suggesting that some vitamin brands pass through one’s system without absorption.

The text below the toilet bowl stated:  “Your Vitamin – Your Money! Zero to 8% Absorption.+*

+* Based on Hanson Research Dissolution Machine studies testing the top selling sports nutrition vitamin and mineral pack.

The advertising also featured the claims:

• “It’s not the amount you take, it’s what you absorb and utilize”
• “Top selling sports nutrition vitamin pack: released 8% riboflavin, 1.5% zinc and 0.75% calcium. Medivin: released 84% riboflavin, 96% zinc and 100% calcium.”

As part of its review, NAD requested that the advertiser address the implied claim that consumers who take Medivin, instead of the leading sports nutrition vitamin pack, will absorb and be able to utilize far more vitamins and minerals in the product.

Following its review of the evidence, which included summaries of dissolution studies presented by the advertiser, NAD determined that the claim “it’s not the amount you take, it’s what you absorb and utilize” was a comparative performance claims that conveyed the message that the nutrients in Medivin supplements are better absorbed by the body and are more bioavailable than those of the top-selling vitamin pack.

NAD noted while dissolution is a prerequisite of absorption it does not conclusively provide information about actual nutrient absorption or bioavailability.

NAD recommended that the advertiser discontinue the claims at issue and refrain from implying that Medivin is more bioavailable than Animal Pak supplements. ”

The company, in its advertiser’s statement, said it would “comply with NAD’s recommendations regarding Medivin.”