$3.5m fine for ‘botched’ green coffee weight loss study

“Hopelessly flawed” and “botched”, that is how the Federal Trade Commission described a study conducted by Applied Food Sciences (AFS) which purported that their product could help people shed pounds and lose fat.

The Texas, based company initially organised a clinical trial to take place in India four years ago to hopefully find out if green coffee extract was an ingredient that could, potentially, be used in weight loss products.

Shortly after this study – which has been described in such a negative light by the Federal Trade Commission -was prominently featured on television shows and adverts.

Soon, other companies began to add extract of green coffee to their own supplements as they too looked to jump onto this coffee bandwagon.

This was despite little research into the issue and no substantial evidence that the main ingredient hand any health benefits.

The Federal Trade Council also slammed AFS for riding the wave of publicity that appeared on the back of the study’s appearance on a syndicated television programme, the Dr. Oz Show.

After being featured, it transpires that AFS willingly released a heavily weighted press release full of bold and unsubstantiated claims in regards to their product.

“Applied Food Sciences knew or should have known that this botched study didn’t prove anything,” slammed Jessica Rich, the Director of the Food Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protect.

“In publicising the results, helped fuel the green coffee phenomenon,” she added.

AFS have been handed a $3.5m fine.

In a statement, the Trade Commission said that the study was “so hopelessly flawed that no reliable conclusions could be drawn from it,” and that the lead investigatory continually altered statistical data and other key factors in order to achieve a favourable conclusion.

It has also come to light that the original trial was refused publication.

The Dr. Oz Show has removed all material relating to AFS’s product from their website.