The Federal Trade Commission settled charges against PepsiCo Inc.’s Tropicana unit Thursday over claims that drinking its orange juice could drastically lower blood pressure and bad cholesterol levels.
Under the deal, Tropicana cannot make such heart-related claims on its orange juice or any other food products without backing it up “with competent and reliable scientific evidence,” the FTC said in a statement.
Tropicana said the settlement was not an admission that it broke the law.
From 2002 to 2004, Tropicana ran a series of advertisements under its “Heart Healthy” campaign that said drinking two-to-three cups of its orange juice could lower blood pressure and increase levels of so-called good, or HDL, cholesterol, among other claims.
The FTC said the ads, which ran on television and in print publications, mislead consumers and wrote a letter in 2002 making public its concerns. It filed a complaint against the Chicago-based subsidiary Thursday along with the settlement, something the FTC can do when a company consents to the order, FTC spokesman Mitchell Katz said.
While health officials have said that potassium-rich, low-salt foods like orange juice can lower the risk of high blood pressure and stroke, Tropicana’s claim to lower blood pressure by 10 points “did not appear to be substantiated,” the FTC said.
Company claims that clinical studies proved the juice’s benefits were also false, the agency charged.