On July 13, 2004, the Federal Trade Commission(FTC) announced that a dietary supplement manufacturer has settled FTC charges that it violated federal law by making unsubstantiated claims that its product, “Senior Moment,” could prevent memory loss and restore memory function in adults. The proposed consent agreement to settle the charges with Nutramax Laboratories, Inc. of Edgewater, Maryland requires the company to have competent and reliable scientific evidence for these and similar claims in the future.

According to the FTC, Nutramax claims that the “Senior Moment” supplement “contains a proprietary blend of brain specific nutrients,” including DHA and cerebral phospholipids. The FTC charged that Nutramax did not possess a reasonable basis to support its claims that “Senior Moment” prevents memory loss and restores lost memory function in adults of all ages, and that it misrepresented that scientific studies prove that Senior Moment restores lost memory function in adults of all ages.

The proposed consent agreement prohibits the defendant from representing that “Senior Moment” can prevent or reverse the effects of memory loss, unless it has competent and reliable scientific evidence for that claim. It also requires Nutramax to have competent and reliable scientific evidence substantiating all claims about the benefits of any product sold for cognitive function, or for the treatment or prevention of any related disease or disorder. Finally, the agreement prohibits the company from misrepresenting any study in connection with the marketing or sale of such products.