The ASA said the product listing on myprotein.com, seen on 19 November 2016, for L-Glutamine powder, included the claim “Supplementing with L-Glutamine (particularly post-workout) can help to restore amino acid levels that are diminished during your workout. Restoring these will provide a fundamental building block for new proteins to be manufactured to help with recovery”.
A complained challenged whether the claim was authorised on the EU Register of nutrition and health claims made on foods.
The ASA upheld the complaint, confirming that the claim was not authorised. The agency said it considered the claim would be understood by consumers as a health claim relating to the beneficial effects of L-glutamine on amino acid levels, particularly in relation to helping recovery after exercise.
“We noted, however, that there were no authorised health claims for L-glutamine, or glutamine, on the EU Register,” it added.
Listing removed
Responding to the complaint, The Hut.com Ltd, trading as myprotein.com, said it had a strict process in place to try to prevent unauthorised health claims appearing online – adding that the process does not product listings to be published on the website unless the wording had been reviewed and approved by a member of its internal regulatory team.
The firm confirmed it had removed the claim about which the ASA received the complaint from their website.
“We acknowledged that myprotein.com had removed the claim from their advertising after we contacted them, but concluded that because the ad had included an unauthorised health claim, it was in breach of the Code,” said the ASA – adding that the ad must not appear again in the form complained about.
“We told The Hut.com Ltd t/a myprotein.com not to make health claims for foods which were not listed as authorised on the EU Register.”