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Erection-friendly advertising claims by POM Wonderful will have to be toned down, at least for now. An appeals court rules there is insufficient clinical evidence to back up those claims.
If you’ve been drinking lots of pomegranate juice to help treat problems of erectile dysfunction, a 2015 court decision might give you pause but doesn’t necessarily mean that the juice is ineffective in easing symptoms of impotence.
In January 2015, a federal appeals court upheld a September 2010 ruling by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission barring POM Wonderful, a California-based producer of pomegranate juice and other pomegranate products, from making certain health claims for its juice. POM Wonderful’s health claims touted its juice’s benefits for erectile problems, as well as two other health disorders — prostate cancer and heart disease.
Says Claims Were Misleading
By a vote of 3-0, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, agreed with the FTC’s argument that some of POM Wonderful’s health claims for its juice were misleading and lacked adequate evidence to back them up.
In its original complaint, filed in September 2010, the FTC charged that POM Wonderful had violated federal law ¨by making deceptive disease prevention and treatment claims.¨ The regulatory agency took particular exception to advertising materials that claimed ¨clinical studies prove¨ that POM juice and POMx [pills containing antioxidants from pomegranates] ¨prevent, reduce the risk of, and treat¨ any of the three disorders previously mentioned.
In comments made at the time the FTC filed its 2010 complaint, David Vladeck, director of the agency’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said that ¨any consumer who sees POM Wonderful products as a silver bullet against disease has been misled.¨ He went on to say that when a company cites scientific research in its advertising, ¨the research must squarely support the claims made. Contrary to POM Wonderful’s advertising, the available scientific information does not prove that POM Juice or POMx effectively treats or prevents these illnesses.¨
First Amendment No Defense
In its ruling upholding the FTC complaint, the appeals court rejected POM Wonderful’s argument that the claims made in the disputed ads were protected by the First Amendment. The court also agreed that the regulatory agency was clearly within its rights to demand that POM have supporting evidence from a clinical trial before making health claims about its products.
However, the court did not agree completely with the demands made by the FTC, rejecting an agency demand that POM obtain supporting evidence from two clinical trials before making any health claims. The three-man court said it believed that evidence from one clinical trial should be sufficient unless FTC could provide better justification for requiring two such trials.
Ads Mischaracterized Evidence
Addressing specifically the advertising that the FTC found objectionable, the court said, ¨Many of those ads mischaracterized the scientific evidence concerning the health benefits of POM’s products with regard to those diseases.¨ As a basis for its finding, the court said, ¨The FTC Act proscribes — and the First Amendment does not protect — deceptive and misleading advertisements.¨
While the FTC described the court’s decision as a victory for consumers, POM took solace in the court’s decision to limit the number of clinical trials needed as a basis to make health claims for its products. A company spokesperson said, ¨We are grateful that the court substantially reduced the requirement that the FTC tried to enforce on us to conduct multiple double-blind, placebo-controlled studies.¨
In a statement released after the court handed down its decision, FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez said, ¨It is in keeping with established law that advertisers who market products for serious health conditions must have rigorous science to back up those claims. The court specifically recognized that this applies to food and dietary supplement marketers such as POM.¨
Clinical Trial on Impotence
The clinical trial on which POM based claims of its juice’s benefits for those with impotence was published in a 2007 issue of the International Journal of Impotence Research. The study, conducted by a team of California-based researchers, looked at the effects of drinking pomegranate juice vs. a placebo juice among 53 study participants with mild to moderate erection problems.
In their conclusion to the study, researchers acknowledge that while study participants seemed more likely to have improved erectile function after drinking pomegranate juice, ¨overall statistical significance was not achieved.¨ They go on to suggest that in future trials ¨larger cohorts and longer treatment periods may achieve statistical significance.¨
Inadequate Evidence
So the FTC’s objection to the use of this study as proof of pomegranate juice’s benefits for those with impotence is clearly based on the fact that the study did not come up with statistically convincing evidence that pomegranate juice is better in treating impotence than a placebo. The study does not in and of itself indicate that pomegranate juice is of no benefit to men with impotence, but it does make clear that further study is needed.
According to WebMD.com, pomegranate juice is and has been one of the more popular natural remedies for treating erection problems. While it acknowledges that no proof positive of its effectiveness has yet been established, WebMD cites the small-scale 2007 study’s findings as promising. Naturopathic doctor Geo Espinosa, director of the Integrative Urological Center at NYU Langone Medical Center, tells WebMD that he encourages his patients with impotence to drink pomegranate juice. ¨It could help ED, and even if it doesn’t, it has other health benefits.¨
High in Antioxidants
On the positive side, pomegranate juice has a number of nutrients and plant-based chemicals that all have reputed medicinal properties. It is loaded with antioxidants that can help combat the free radicals blamed for a number of illnesses as well as the cell damage related to the aging process. One source of the fruit’s antioxidants are its polyphenols — plant chemicals that give fruit and other plant-based foods their color and flavor. The other primary source of antioxidants is vitamin C. According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, one pomegranate contains roughly 40 percent of the recommended daily intake of vitamin C.
A possible key to pomegranate juice’s benefits — if any — for men with erection problems could be its ability to protect nitric oxide from destruction by free radicals and support its functions.
NO’s Role in Erection Process
Nitric oxide plays a key role in the erectile process, which is first triggered by feelings of sexual desire. When the brain detects the presence of such feelings, it sends a flood of nitric oxide to the pelvic region. This nitric oxide then triggers secondary chemical reactions, one of which produces a natural substance known as cyclic guanosine monophosphate, or cGMP.
To facilitate the erectile process, cGMP relaxes the smooth muscles lining the blood vessels that supply the penis. This allows blood to rush into the spongy erectile tissue of the penis, thus creating an erection.
A joint U.S.-Italian study, published in a 2006 issue of Nitric Oxide Biology and Chemistry, found that the potent antioxidants in pomegranate juice protected nitric oxide ¨against oxidative destruction, thereby resulting in augmentation of the biological actions of NO.¨
Although more studies are clearly required, it may yet be proved conclusively that pomegranate juice does help ease some symptoms of impotence. Unfortunately, irrefutable proof to that effect is not yet available.
For men who are troubled by erectile dysfunction caused by insufficient blood flow to the penis, help is available in the form of the family of oral ED medications known as PDE5 inhibitors. These include Viagra, Levitra, Cialis, Staxyn, and Stendra, as well as generic equivalents of both Viagra and Cialis. You can often save time and money by ordering these drugs from a trustworthy online facilitator such as eDrugstore.com. To learn more, visit eDrugstore’s Erectile Dysfunction page.
Don Amerman is a freelance author who writes extensively about a wide array of nutrition and health-related topics.
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