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Home› Food Receipts› POM Wonderful vs Cheerios

POM Wonderful VS Cheerios

POM Wonderful Cheerios
Verdict DROP IT BUY IT
The Reality An FTC Administrative Law Judge ruled that expert testimony showed insufficient competent and reliable scientific evidence to support these disease-related claims, and the full FTC Commission subsequently found POM had made deceptive claims across 36 separate advertisements and promotional materials. The FTC's Final Order barred POM from claiming any product treats or prevents disease unless backed by two randomized, well-controlled human clinical trials. POM appealed, but the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the FTC's decision in January 2015, and the US Supreme Court declined to review the case in 2016, letting the ruling against POM stand as final. On May 5, 2009, the FDA sent General Mills a formal warning letter finding these specific, quantified claims made Cheerios an unapproved new drug under federal law, since companies are legally barred from quantifying a specific percentage health benefit the way General Mills had. Critically, the underlying science itself wasn't in dispute: Cheerios' general soluble-fiber cholesterol-lowering claim had already been an FDA-authorized qualified health claim for 12 years at that point, and General Mills maintained the clinical study behind the 4% figure was genuinely strong. The issue the FDA flagged was specifically the precise quantification ('4% in 6 weeks'), not the broader, already-approved claim that whole-grain oat soluble fiber can help reduce cholesterol as part of a diet low in saturated fat.
SHORT ANSWER

POM Wonderful: POM Wonderful's claims that its pomegranate juice treats or prevents heart disease, prostate cancer, and erectile dysfunction were found deceptive by the FTC, upheld by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2015, and left standing after the Supreme Court declined to review the case in 2016.

Cheerios: Cheerios' general claim that whole-grain oat soluble fiber can help lower cholesterol is a legitimate, FDA-authorized health claim with real science behind it -- but General Mills' specific 2009 quantified claim ('4% in 6 weeks') crossed into illegal, unapproved drug-claim territory and drew a formal FDA warning letter.