Nature’s Bounty Fish Oil Tablets Do Not Contain Any Fish Oil, Are Chemical Substance, Class Action Alleges

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Nature’s Bounty Fish Oil Class Action Lawsuit Overview: 

• Who: The Bountiful Company and Nature’s Bounty are facing a class action lawsuit for alleged false advertising of their fish oil supplements.
• What: The lawsuit claims the supplement contains no real fish oil, and is instead a synthetic compound.
• Where: The lawsuit seeks to represent a nationwide Class of consumers.

Nature’s Bounty 1400mg Fish Oil tablets do not contain fish oil or any of the other essential omega-3 fatty acids that naturally occur in fish, as advertised, a new class action lawsuit alleges.

The class action was filed in New York last week by lead plaintiff Mashon Baines, who alleges that The Bountiful Company and its subsidiary Nature’s Bounty Inc. were unlawful, untrue, and misleading in their marketing and sale of the fish oil supplement.

The companies make and sell the softgel tablets, advertising them as containing 647 mg of Eicosapentaenoic Acid (EPA) and 253 mg of Docosahexaenoic Acid “DHA) — the essential omega-3 fatty acids that naturally occur in fish, the claim explains.

“Contrary to what is represented on the label, however, this Product is not fish oil, nor does it contain a single milligram of EPA or DHA,” it adds.

The companies also proudly claim that the contents are USP verified, which, among other things, assures consumers that the tablets “contains the ingredients listed on the label, in the declared potency and amounts,” the claim reads.

Nature’s Bounty Fish Oil Supplement Made with Substance Not Found in Nature

However, the softgel tablets are in fact made from what was once a low-grade oil derived from fish offal that has been subjected to a chemical process, the claim reads. The process involves substantially transforming and irrevocably altering the oils molecular structure and constituent parts into a synthesized product that “does not otherwise exist in fish, or nature.”

Through this chemical process, known as trans-esterification, an industrial solvent is introduced into the fish oil to break down molecules, ethanol is introduced to form fatty acid ethyl esters, and the fish oil is stripped of hundreds of its constituent sub ingredients, the claim states.

“The Omega-3s, which include DHA and EPA, are converted into ethyl esters.

“Critically, these newly formed Omega-3s are different molecules than the Omega-3s which exist naturally in fish oil.”

They are known instead as Fatty Acid Ethyl Esters, which is no longer fish oil and cannot be so named or labeled.

“To do so, as NBI has done, is false, misleading, deceptive, unlawful, and perpetrates an actionable fraud on the consuming public.”

Baines wants to represent anyone in the US, with a subclass of New York consumers, who purchased Nature’s Bounty 1400mg Fish Oil softgel tablets. She is suing for breach of warranty and violations of New York business laws, and seeks certification of the Class, damages, order of enjoinment, legal fees and costs, interest, and a jury trial.

Nature’s Bounty is no stranger to false advertising claims. The company has faced class actions over its ginkgo biloba and biotin products. 

Did you know that some fish oil tablets may in fact contain no natural fish oil? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section!

Baines is represented by Laurence D. King and Maia C. Kats of Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP.

The Nature’s Bounty Fish Oil Class Action Lawsuit is Baines v. Nature’s Bounty, Inc., et al., Case No. 1:21-cv-05330, in the U.S. District Court Eastern District of New York.

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