"The makers of POM Wonderful pomegranate juice say that the drink improves blood flow and heart health prevents and treats prostate cancer and works  percent as well as Viagra whatever that means. All for about four bucks a bottle. Those impressive claims helped the company rack up  million in sales in . They also earned the disapproval of the Federal Trade Commission FTC. Last month the agency sued POM Wonderful for making false and unsubstantiated health claims and is asking the company to remove the claims from its ads. A  percent juice drink that contains antioxidants and no added sugar POM is just one of many beverages that bill themselves as promoting better health. VitaminWater kombucha tea coconut water and various brands of juice drinks made from acai goji berry and mangosteen have all used health claims in their marketing  and some like POM have been the subject of scrutiny and legal action. The FTC along with the Food and Drug Administration FDA has been cracking down on food and beverage makers for allegedly overselling the health benefits of their products. In  alone the FDA warned  companies that they were providing misleading nutritional information on their packaging or making overly specific health claims. Health.com  dietbusting foods you should never eat http Not all of the products were drinks but the beverage category stands out says Bruce Silverglade director of legal affairs at the Center for Science in the Public Interest a consumer advocacy group based in Washington D.C. At first blush it seems that beverage products are certainly a large proportion of food products that make bogus healthrelated claims. Drinks such as POM have become increasingly popular with consumers in recent years thanks in part to public health campaigns against soda that have been prompted by the obesity epidemic. The trend is away from traditional soda pop toward products claiming to provide magical health benefits Silverglade says. Are the health claims true Yes and no. The federal government doesnt require companies to vet health claims with the agency before plastering them on product packaging as long as the claims are accompanied by a disclaimer about their uncertainty. But that doesnt mean the claims are invented  most are based in research. The research is often funded by the manufacturers however and industryfunded research can be prone to bias. A  study found that research on health drinks that was funded entirely by beverage companies was between four and eight times more likely to find a favorable result than research with no industry support. If a cell phone company told you they tested all the models and their model came out the best would you believe it Probably not says Dr. Lenard Lesser M.D. one of the coauthors of that study and a researcher at UCLA. The same is true with nutrition research but the stakes are higher because were putting our bodies at risk. Wheres the line between research and marketing httpedition.cnn.comHEALTHcompany.funded.researchindex.html Sounds great hard to believe However farfetched the claims may sound POM is standing behind them. Two weeks before the FTC publicly announced its lawsuit POM preemptively sued the FTC claiming that preapproval of ads featuring health claims violates the companys right to free speech. But are shoppers really convinced that POM can unclog their arteries cure cancer and lead to hotter sex There seem to be more than a few believers out there.  I started drinking POM after reading the studies two years ago my triglycerides were almost  one of POM Wonderfuls  fans breathlessly posted on Facebook after the FTC announced its lawsuit. Working out everyday drinking POM and eating healthy they are now less than . Forget what the Feds say I believe A triglycerides level of  is still nearly three times higher than whats considered normal. Most health beverage drinkers arent as enthusiastic as the realtor from Alaska who posted the above testimonial. Quinton Ma a yearold marketing coordinator at Gawker Media in New York City started to drink VitaminWater as a middle schooler because it seemed like a healthy alternative to soda.  I figured that if they were selling something that I could get extra vitamins from it couldnt hurt to drink Ma says. Once I learned they were really just cleverly marketed sugar waters I stopped. Health.com You are what you drink httpeating.health.comnewresearchyouarewhatyoudrinkcnnyes But the fact is even when people dont buy the health claims they often still buy the beverage. Thats the paradox of products such as POM Silverglade says The health claims on these products strain the imagination yet studies have repeatedly shown that health claims sell food. Thats because these claims  however improbable they may seem  distract shoppers from the real nutritional information and hook consumers with buzzwords like antioxidant. This phenomenon is known as a health halo an aura of healthfulness attached to a product based on labels like lowfat allnatural or made with whole grains that seduces consumers into overeating. According to a study by the FTC this halo effect can even lead people to overlook warning statements  about the high sodium content of a product for example. A healthy halo develops around products like these says Frances LargemanRoth R.D. Health magazines senior food and nutrition editor. The healthconscious consumer incorporates them into their lifestyle thinking that theyre doing a world of good for themselves. Health.com Food label knowhow  mistakes even savvy shoppers make httpeating.health.commistakesshoppersmakecnnyes Ceating a health halo The makers of POM Wonderful have spent  million on scientific research on POM products and pomegranates. According to the FTCs complaint the studies POM has funded do not substantiate the companys claims and a closer look at the research seems to bear that out. One of the most prominent claims that POM can decrease arterial plaque by  percent was taken from a single pilot study that included just  people and was funded by the makers of POM. Another claim that POM drinkers experience a  percent improvement in blood flow was taken from another POMfunded study that included just  people and only lasted for three months. These days its possible for a food company to pay just about anybody to conduct a study says Silverglade. Michael Aviram Ds.C. a cholesterol researcher at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa Israel defended his studies on pomegranates  many of them funded by POM  by noting that they were published in very prestigious peer reviewed journals including the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and Atherosclerosis. Dr. Harley Liker M.D. a physician at UCLA Medical Center who has also led research funded by POM directed all inquiries to a POM spokesman. A grocery store is a designed marketing environment to get people to buy things says Lesser. Lots of products are going to try to use health claims from research often from their own industry just to sell a product. Health.com  health products you probably dont need http Iffy health claims dont mean that products like pomegranate juice should be avoided at all costs says Keri Gans R.D. a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. As long as consumers limit themselves to ounce servings and products with no added sugar juice can be an excellent source of vitamins and other nutrients Gans says. But its not going to solve any of your health issues she adds. The bottom line is that consumers shouldnt believe everything they read on labels. If they focus on consuming an overall wellbalanced diet they might not need to focus so much on finding a product that makes false promises Gans says."