Better Business Bureau: Dietary supplements don’t prevent or treat COVID

Randy Hutchinson
·3 min read

I can’t count the number of columns I wrote in 2020 and 2021 about enforcement actions the FTC, FDA, and other regulators took against companies peddling bogus treatments for COVID-19.

The FTC has sent over 430 warning letters and followed up with lawsuits against companies that didn’t cease and desist making unsubstantiated claims. After what seemed to be a lull in such enforcement actions, the FTC is taking action against a California company and its CEO for making claims like “A dose of this formula a day keeps viruses away….and their variants.”

Beginning in May 2021, Precision Patient Outcomes, Inc. (PPO) and CEO Margrett Priest Lewis advertised that their dietary supplement called COVID Resist could treat, mitigate, or prevent COVID. The product sold for $34.95 per bottle and according to the label contained Vitamin C, Vitamin D3, Vitamin K2, zinc, and quercetin dihydrate (quercetin is a plant pigment, known as a flavonoid, that’s especially abundant in red wine, onions, green tea, apples, berries and several herbs).

They promoted the product on the company’s website; through posts on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok; and on Lewis’ personal social media accounts.

Interestingly, Lewis wrote to the FTC on May 5, 2021, advising that PPO would be launching COVID Resist and inviting the agency to review its website. She claimed that “Our statements are supported by competent and reliable scientific evidence” and the “products are clearly in compliance with FTC, DSHEA, and FDA’s requirements.” DSHEA is the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994.

The FTC responded that it doesn’t prereview advertising materials for their compliance with the FTC Act or other applicable laws, but referred Lewis to multiple resources with guidance on the matter and cited the hundreds of warning letters sent to companies that had made unsubstantiated COVID claims. Some of the bogus products contained one or more of the same ingredients as COVID Resist. The FTC says the company responded by simply changing the name of the product to VIRUS Resist and continuing to make the COVID treatment claims.

The agency alleges that the company’s misrepresentations violate the FTC Act and the COVID-19 Consumer Protection Act. Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said, “We don’t simply seek to stop this kind of fraud, but to permanently prohibit companies and company owners engaging in misconduct from endangering the health and well-being of American consumers.” The company and its attorney dispute the charges.

The FTC and BBB offer these tips for protecting yourself from bogus health care products:

  • Be skeptical of miracle health claims. In particular, there are no dietary supplements proven to treat or prevent COVID.

  • When there’s a medical breakthrough to treat, prevent, or cure a disease, you’re not going to hear about it for the first time through an ad or sales pitch on social media.

  • Understand that the FDA does not review and approve dietary supplements before they’re marketed.

  • Consult your doctor or health care professional before trying any product that claims to prevent, treat, or cure COVID or another serious illness.

  • Don’t assume a product is legitimate because it’s sold by well-known retailers, in stores or online.

Randy Hutchinson
Randy Hutchinson

Randy Hutchinson is president & CEO Better Business Bureau of the Mid-South. This column is in partnership with Better Business Bureau of Middle Tennessee & Southern Kentucky.

This article originally appeared on Jackson Sun: Better Business Bureau: Dietary supplements don’t prevent or treat COVID