Gabatrol Claims to be Modified Based on NAD Review

New York—During its review of dietary supplements, as a result of several grants from the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus called for Pure Life LLC to modify or discontinue claims for performance, speed-of-action and exclusivity of its Gabatrol dietary supplement. NAD examined print and Internet advertisements for the supplement, which included claims such as:“Get Quick Relief from Stress, Anxiety and Depression – Guaranteed” “Feel Your Stress and Anxiety Melt Away...in just 10 minutes" “Reduce stress, anxiety and depression” “Take back control of your life” “Enhance ambition, motivation and libido” “Decrease performance anxiety” “Gabatrol is the only 100% all natural product that effectively gives you fast relief from the feelings of STRESS, ANXIETY and DEPRESSION” “Gabatrol is healthy and safe, so you get fast relief without the worries you may find with prescription medications and their unwanted side effects” “Gabatrol ingredients are healthy and safe and have the safest FDA classification, known as “GRAS” (Generally Regarded As Safe).” “Gabatrol works quickly” “Feel Gabatrol lift away all your tension, anxiety & stress while uplifting your mood” “You can feel Gabatrol work - immediately! Most users report feeling the anti-anxiety effects in as little as 10-20 minutes” “Real mood enhancement, stress and anti anxiety relief, with improved health, all in one all natural product! “Gabatrol increases energy and motivation making it a great product to take prior to exercise” In defense of such claims the advertisers explained that Gabatrol is composed of individual ingredients that include taurine, glycine, Phenibut and Inositol--ingredients proven to provide benefits by reducing stress, anxiety and depression. While Gabatrol itself has not been clinically tested, Pure Life stated that the supplement’s ingredients have been studied extensively, have shown pharmacological effect on brain chemistry and are clinically proven to work specifically on the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) neurotransmitter in the brain; as well as support the claims made on the Gabatrol Web site. NAD reviewed the supporting evidence by the advertiser and concluded the claims at issue implied that Gabatrol provides relief from the mentioned conditions, but did not disclose that the support relied upon is based on animals studies on the ingredients. NAD noted that current advertisements must be discontinued and extensively modified to make clear that all claims being made are based on animal studies conducted on specific ingredients and not the product itself, and the ingredients may not perform the same way in humans. Additionally, NAD found specific performance claims, such as Gabatrol “Enhances ambition, motivation and libido,” and “Decreases performance anxiety,” had no support on record and such claims must be discontinued, as well as all claims mentioning the products’ speed-of-action, and Gabatrol is the only product of its type since there is no support for such claims on record. NAD did note that the advertiser can continue to make the “generally regarded as safe” claim since the ingredients in Gabatrol are listed on the Food and Drug Administration’s list of GRAS ingredients.In its advertiser’s statement, the company said while “we disagree with some of  NAD’s conclusions regarding these statements, we do understand the rationale of their conclusions. We agree to take NAD’s recommendation into account in future advertising, and will make changes to the current Web site in order to reflect  NAD’s conclusions.”