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Preventive Medicine Reports
Volume 23, September 2021, 101504

A content analysis of marketing on the packages of dietary supplements for weight loss and muscle building
Sophia V. Hua (a), Brigitte Granger (b), Kelly Bauer (c), Christina A. Roberto (d)

a Department of Nutrition, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, United States
b Supporti, LLC, 665 Huntington Ave., Building 2, Room 320, 300 Lenora Street #667, Seattle, WA 98121, United States
c Division of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Medicine, University of California at San Francisco Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, 550 16th Street, Mission Hall, San Francisco, CA 94158, United States
d Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, 423 Guardian Dr., Blockley Hall, Philadelphia, PA 19104, United States

Highlights
•Weight loss dietary supplement packages have a high prevalence of marketing claims.
•Such claims are potentially misleading and lack scientific evidence.
•Products with the FDA disclaimers and warnings displayed more claims on average.
•FDA disclaimers and warnings are never displayed on the front of the package.

Abstract

Most dietary supplements for weight loss and muscle growth lack scientific evidence in support of product claims and contain ingredients that can be harmful to health. Many people, however, still use these products.

This paper aims to address a gap in the knowledge of the number and types of marketing claims appearing on dietary supplements for weight loss and muscle building and how they relate to the presence of an FDA disclaimer.

We identified all products (n = 110) found in the weight loss and muscle building section of three stores (a pharmacy, supermarket, and superstore) in the Boston, MA area during 2013.

We performed a content analysis to assess the presence of marketing claims displayed on product packaging, including claims about weight loss, safety, quality, and scientific evidence. Warnings and the FDA disclaimer were also coded.

We found that, on average, products displayed 6.5 claims. Among weight loss- and muscle building- related claims, claims about reducing weight, BMI, or body fat were most common (60.9%), followed by protein claims (40.0%).

Nearly half of the products made claims that scientific research supported product use. Products with the FDA disclaimer (53.6%) or a warning for vulnerable populations (56.4%) had a higher average number of claims compared to products without the disclaimer or warning (p < 0.001).

Dietary supplements for weight loss and muscle building displayed many marketing claims promising weight loss despite a lack of scientific evidence that such products can be used safely and effectively. Greater FDA regulation of these marketing claims are needed.

Free full text:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211335521001947