Nutritional Supplement Class Action Challenges Workout Recovery Claims

A class action lawsuit filed by a Seattle man says JYM sport supplement products are falsely advertised with promises of results they can’t possibly deliver on.

Plaintiff Tanner Kirchoff says JYM nutritional supplements made by defendant PhD Fitness LLC are falsely labeled with nutritional claims that he says are not supported by scientific research.

The products’ ingredients are also not present in dosages that can do what the label promises they’ll do, he claims.

PhD Fitness makes and markets the JYM line of athletically-oriented nutritional supplements.

Pre JYM is promoted as a pre-workout supplement, and Post JYM is purportedly designed to promote post-workout recovery.

Prior to May 17, 2016, JYM supplement products were sold through the website BodyBuilding.com pursuant to an exclusive agreement between that website and PhD Fitness. Since then, they have been sold through GNC, Kirchoff says.

In his JYM supplement class action lawsuit, Kirchoff takes issue with the representations made for both these products. He says the active ingredients in Pre JYM supplement “are not backed by science, proven to be ineffective by scientific literature” and are “under-dosed for the claims that they make.”

Creatine HCL, for example, is supposed to produce “greater strength, endurance, and the promotion of muscle growth,” according to the Pre JYM supplement label. Kirchoff says this representation is based on the assumption that creatine HCL can get the same results as creatine monohydrate, but at a smaller dose since creatine HCL is water-soluble.

Kirchoff says there’s absolutely no scientific evidence supporting that assumption.

He makes similar allegations about PhD’s Post JYM supplement. Post JYM contains L-glutamine, which according to the product’s labeling promotes muscle growth, immune function and quicker post-workout recovery.

Kirchoff says that while glutamine found naturally in the body plays a role in these functions, glutamine that is ingested in a supplement does “absolutely nothing” to promote immune function or recovery from exercise. He cites studies that found glutamine supplementation had little or no effect on muscle protein synthesis or on weightlifting performance.

Post JYM also shares other ingredients with Pre JYM and, according to Kirchoff, makes the same unsupported representations about them and fails to properly dose them to get the promised results.

Kirchoff proposes to represent a nationwide plaintiff Class consisting of all persons in the U.S. who purchased JYM supplement products through BodyBuilding.com between July 19, 2013 and May 17, 2016 and through GNC from May 18, 2016 through the present. He also proposes to represent a subclass of all Class Members who reside in the state of Washington.

He seeks an award of damages, restitution and disgorgement of profits gained from the allegedly false advertising of JYM supplement products, plus court costs and attorneys’ fees. He also seeks a court order barring PhD Fitness from continuing the allegedly unlawful and unfair business practices complained of.

Kirchoff is represented by attorneys Jonathan N. Shub of Kohn Swift & Graf PC, Nick Suciu III of Barbat Mansour & Suciu PLLC, Bassma Zebib of the Law Office of Bassma Zebib, and Samuel J. Strauss of Turke & Strauss LLP.

The JYM Supplement False Advertising Class Action Lawsuit is Tanner Kirchoff v. PhD Fitness LLC, Case No. 2:16-cv-08310, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.