Horizon Organic Milk Class Action Challenges Brain Health Promises

A California man says certain Horizon Organic milk products with added DHA omega-3 come with promises of brain health that they can’t possibly live up to.

Plaintiff Dan Zeiger says the products’ labeling ignores several basic facts about the way the body makes and uses DHA, facts that make dietary supplementation of DHA essentially useless. The added DHA in these Horizon Organic products is therefore wasted, he claims.

Yet defendant WhiteWave Foods Company represents on Horizon Organic labels that the added DHA is beneficial for human brain health. Zeiger argues these representations are false, misleading, and designed to trick consumers into spending money on a product that can’t provide the benefits they’ve been led to expect.

Zeiger lists six specific Horizon Organic milk products at issue here:

• Horizon Organic Whole Milk Plus DHA Omega-3
• Horizon Organic Reduced Fat Milk plus DHA Omega-3
• Horizon Organic Fat-Free Milk plus DHA Omega-3
• Horizon Organic Chocolate Lowfat Milk Plus DHA Omega-3
• Horizon Organic Lowfat Chocolate Milk Box plus DHA Omega-3
• Horizon Organic Lowfat Vanilla Milk Box plus DHA Omega-3

Zeiger says the human body can get the DHA it needs either from its diet or by synthesizing it out of precursor omega-3 fatty acids. Two of these precursors are ALA and EPA. As the body’s need for DHA increases, it can make DHA from available EPA, and EPA itself can be synthesized from ALA.

According to Zeiger’s expert on brain chemistry, Americans already get all the ALA and EPA they need from their diet to make all the DHA they require. Zeiger claims the average daily dietary consumption of DHA for Americans is 70 milligrams. That amount is several times the 4 milligrams that the brain uses per day, he claims.

Even if a person’s dietary consumption of DHA dropped below what their body needs, Zeiger says, the body is capable of supplying itself with DHA. A person’s body fat stores around 20 to 50 grams of DHA, he says. And any shortage in dietary consumption of DHA triggers the body to begin synthesizing more of it.

Therefore, Zeiger says, any additional DHA in an American’s diet is superfluous and provides no additional benefits for brain health.

Nevertheless, the labeling for Horizon Organic milk products bears representations that say DHA omega-3 “supports brain health.” Zeigler alleges this representation is false and misleading.

Had he and his proposed Class Members known the truth that any additional DHA in their diet would do nothing to promote brain health, he claims, they never would have bought Horizon Organic milk products.

Zeiger is proposing to bring his claims on behalf of a nine-state plaintiff Class covering all consumers who, between Nov. 25, 2015 and the date Class notice is sent, purchased Horizon Organic Milk in California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, or Washington. He also proposes an alternative subclass to represent Class Members from California only.

He is asking the court to award restitution and disgorgement of revenues related to the allegedly false advertising, an injunction requiring WhiteWave Foods to stop its allegedly unlawful practices and to conduct a corrective advertising campaign, as well as reimbursement of court costs and attorneys’ fees.

Zeiger is represented by attorneys Patricia N. Syverson, Elaine A. Ryan and Carrie A. Laliberte of Bonnett Fairbourn Friedman & Balint PC and by Stewart Weltman and Michael Chang of Siprut PC.

The Horizon Organic Milk Products False Advertising Class Action Lawsuit is Zeiger v. WhiteWave Foods Co., Case No. 3:27-cv-04464, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.