Adverts for prostate supplements and home testing kits have been banned over concerns vulnerable people may be misled by them.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) took action against promos for Nutrisslim, Nutreance, Muxue Trade, and Impact Herbs for making claims that their products could treat medical issues such as enlarged prostate, prostate inflammation or urinary flow problems.
The ASA said many of the claims it had come across were “unacceptable”. It said they had broken a number of its rules and risked steering those who needed it away from appropriate medical advice.
None of the products were authorised medicines. Food products, including supplements, are not allowed to make medicinal claims, according to advertising rules.
The regulator also banned ads from two home-testing kit companies – Lifelab Testing and Self Check – for claiming that prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests could diagnose or rule out prostate cancer.
A PSA test alone cannot do either, and in both cases the ads failed to make clear that these tests had limitations.
The ASA said “misleading ads about prostate supplements or tests can cause real harm”.
Amy Rylance, from Prostate Cancer UK, said the charity was “pleased to see the ASA getting proactive in identifying and banning these dangerous and misleading adverts”.
She added: “There is no evidence that supplements can treat, cure or prevent prostate problems, and they should not be used in place of speaking to a doctor about your risk of prostate cancer, or more general concerns about your prostate health.”
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What have the companies said in response?
Nutreance, trading as Top 5 Supplements, said its ads did not state or imply that its product treated, prevented or cured any disease or medical symptoms.
It added that the ads did not refer in any way to diseases, diagnoses, pathological conditions or clinical outcomes.
Nutrisslim, trading as Nature’s Finest by Nutrisslim, said the claims made in its ads related to botanical ingredients, which it believed could be used in advertising.
It said “visual materials” featuring a doctor and any related references had been taken off the company’s website, including a reference to the product being “doctor-formulated”.
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Self Check said its products were CE certified for self-testing, complying with UK legislation.
It also said that every product page contained a disclaimer that informed consumers that because the tests were not 100% accurate at diagnosing a specific medical condition, they may want to consult their GP first, who could arrange a test if necessary.
Self Check also noted that it had removed the word “cancer” in the headings and descriptions of the Google ads for the product.
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Lifelab said it had the correct CE markings for an in-vitro diagnostic device, and that the product was suitable for sale in the UK, also noting that the ads had been removed, and the company would not use them again.
Muxue and Impact Herbs, trading as Impact Supps, did not respond to the ASA.
