Vitamin Shoppe Is Target of False Advertising Class Action Lawsuit

A Florida man is suing a national supplement company regarding three of its protein products, arguing that one ingredient touted in labeling and on the company website is included in negligible amounts and the other is completely irrelevant, according to a recently filed Vitamin Shoppe false advertising class action lawsuit.

Junior Hermida says he purchased BodyTech Whey Tech Pro 24, BodyTech 100% Casein and Body Tech Primal Pro, sold “as highly digestible protein products.” However, while two are whey protein supplements and the other is derived from egg materials, the man says he relied on representations that a proprietary enzyme, Aminogen, and lactase, the enzyme that helps break down milk sugars, would aid in the absorption of the protein.

In the case of the latter, his class action lawyers argue that lactase does not operate as any part of the process of digesting protein. While whey is derived from milk, the body’s pathway in processing the protein itself includes peptin, trypsin and chymotrypsin. Therefore the company “knowingly uses a common scheme … of falsely claiming that lactase aids in the absorption and digestion of protein.”

The other critical claim revolves around the proprietary chemical Aminogen, which Vitamin Shoppe uses under license from another company. There have reportedly only been two clinical trials regarding the chemical in protein products. However, if taken at face value, the class action lawsuit argues that both demonstrated benefits with 2.5 grams and 1.2 grams of Aminogen with 50 grams and 40 grams of whey protein, respectively. “The products contain less than 25 milligrams per similar serving,” the class action lawsuit says.

Even if the claims are valid, the class action lawsuit alleges Vitamin Shoppe “dramatically under-doses the digestive enzyme Aminogen” and as such engages in false advertising when it makes claims like the inclusion of the chemical will “help support amino acid absorption and nitrogen retention from whey protein.”

By filing the class action lawsuit, Hermida is seeking to represent either a nationwide or Florida class of purchasers of any or all of the BodyTech Whey Tech Pro 24, Body Tech 100% Casein and Body Tech Primal Pro supplements. Counts against Vitamin Shoppe include breach of express warranty, fraud by uniform written misrepresentation and omission, violation of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and unjust enrichment.

Hermida is represented by class action lawyers Jordan L. Chaikin and April S. Goodwin of Parker Waichman LLP.

The Vitamin Shoppe False Advertising Class Action Lawsuit is Junior Hermida v. Vitamin Shoppe Inc., Case No. 14-cv-172, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.