Evlution BCAA Energy Powder Misrepresentation of Calories Class Action

Evlution Nutrition, LLC makes various kinds of powders and supplements aimed at athletes and bodybuilders. This class action centers on the advertising for its branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) powders labeled “BCAA Energy” which claims or implies that the products have zero calories. The complaint alleges that the product actually contains 35 calories per serving and that the misrepresentation is deliberate, “to create a competitive advantage…”

A class and a subclass have been defined for this action:

• The Nationwide Class is all persons who bought the product in the US between November 10, 2018 and the present.
• The Maryland Subclass is all natural persons who bought the product in Maryland between November 10, 2018 and the present.

The BCAA product comes in various flavors: Furious Grape, Blue Raz, Cherry Limeade, Fruit Punch, Green Apple, Lemon Lime, Orange Blast, Peach Mango, Pink Lemonade, Pink Starburst, Acai Berry, Vanilla Iced Coffee, and Watermelon. The complaint further alleges that the “Evlution portfolio … contains other similar products” such as BCAA 5000, BCAA Lean Energy, and LeanBCAA that make similar, and similarly false, zero-calorie claims.

The complaint alleges that Evlution makes “purposely deceptive” representations about its calorie content in order to gain a competitive advantage over other products. The complaint alleges, “Evlution knowingly provides non-factual information and omits relevant information in an attempt to deceive and entice sales [from] consumers who are seeking to purchase ‘0 Calorie’ products conducive to weight loss and control.”

According to federal regulations, numbers of calories must be stated to the nearest five calories. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) provides a number of methods for estimating the number of calories in a serving of a product, but the complaint claims that only five of them are relevant to the Evlution product.

The complaint claims that independent calorie-calculation testing of the product showed that it contained roughly 397 calories per 100 grams, meaning that a nine-gram serving would contain 35 calories—far more than the zero calories advertised for the product.

Calories are a “Third Group” nutrient, the complaint alleges, “which means they are nutrients associated with health concerns. Accordingly, like saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, and other Third Group nutrients, the actual Calorie level/serving must not exceed greater than 20% of [the] labeled claim.”

The complaint charges, “Plaintiff has analyzed the Product and evaluated it in accordance with each of the five methods provided by FDA regulations and has concluded that every one of the five methods’ results yield a calorie value that exceeds the claims on the products’ label by more than 20%.”

Calories are supposed to be declared in the Nutrition Facts and Supplement Facts panels, the complaint says, “if they are determined to be in significant numbers.” The complaint provides an example of an FDA Supplement Facts label and concludes that the Evlution labels are misleading, “concealing and omitting disclosure” of the real number of calories contained in the product.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Consumer
Tags: Calorie Content, Deceptive Advertising, Deceptive Labels