The UK’s Advertising Standards Agency has upheld two consumer complaints that the health claims associated with St Ivel’s advertising of ‘advance’ milk is misleading.
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The first complaint concerned an ad showing a photograph of Professor Lord Robert Winston holding a bottle of ‘advance’ with a label reading “clever milk” hung around it. The caption read: “Experts in children’s development believe more Omega 3 may enhance a child’s concentration and learning”.
The second complaint concerned a print ad with the headline “Help unlock their potential” and showing a photo of Professor Winston holding a bottle and glass of St Ivel “advance”. A quote from Professor Winston read: “Recent scientific studies suggest Omega 3 may play an important role enhancing learning and concentration in some children”.
The complainants challenged whether more Omega 3, and therefore St. Ivel “advance”, enhanced children’s concentration and learning
The ASA upheld the complaints. The agency noted that although the study highlighted by St Ivel in the hearing, “PEDIATRICS The Oxford-Durham Study: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Dietary Supplementation With Fatty Acids in Children With Developmental Coordination Disorder”, showed that children who were identified as having symptoms of developmental coordination disorder (DCD), who were supplemented with a compound of Omega 3, Omega 6 and anti-oxidants, showed improvements in reading, spelling and behaviour within three months, the level of supplement was much higher than the two glasses of “advance” recommended in the company’s advertising and the study was only conducted on children with DCD.
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By GlobalDataDelivering its opinion, the ASA said: “We noted the generally positive opinions of the experts whose comments formed part of St Ivel’s argument, but considered that claims relating to Omega 3, in isolation, in relation to children’s concentration and learning, in general, had not been established. We advised St Ivel not to re-use the claim until they had definitive evidence to support it.”
