CRN Urges Government Action Against Coral Calcium Claims

WASHINGTON--The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) documented its concern over the myriad health claims linked to coral calcium in a May 15 letter to Timothy J. Muris, Esq., chairman of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and Mark B. McClellan, M.D., Ph.D., commissioner of food and drugs at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). CRN asked FTC and FDA to enjoin Robert Barefoot--the man arguably responsible for the meteoric rise in coral calcium's popularity--from disseminating "outrageous" and "fraudulent" health claims used in the promotion of coral calcium, as well as to notify the numerous companies marketing coral calcium that use Barefoot's "unsubstantiated theories."

"The entire industry is tarnished when irresponsible companies appear to be getting away with making illegal claims," said Annette Dickenson, Ph.D., CRN president. "The dietary supplement industry is regulated by FDA and FTC, and we look to those agencies to take appropriate enforcement action so consumers can trust that dietary supplements are marketed truthfully."

Web sites promoting coral calcium suggest the nutrient can reverse acidosis (high body pH) and restore alkalinity, thereby ensuring overall health. One site (www.coral-calcium-supply.com, which is the first listed when a Google search for "coral calcium, Robert Barefoot" is entered) links calcium deficiency to more than 200 degenerative diseases, including cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's and multiple sclerosis. The same site, under a listing of coral calcium's benefits, poses the question, "How much calcium is necessary?" The answer: "The answer can readily be determined by examining the diet of millions of people around the world who consume over 100 times our Recommended Daily Allowance, RDA, and who suffer the side effects of living 40 years longer than we do, of aging at half the rate that we do, and of being devoid of cancer, heart disease, mental disorders, diabetes, arthritis and all other degenerative diseases."

This statement is given in regard to the effects noted in several mountain-dwelling communities where mineral-rich glacier water is the sole source of water. However, the site also includes the Okinawan islanders in this group of long-lived people, listing them as the only group that resides below 8,000 feet still privy to mineral-rich water, in this case due to fossilized coral deposits.

The assertion that the Okinawan islanders consume more than 100 times the RDA for calcium is actually unsubstantiated, according to the researchers who conducted the Okinawan Centenarian Study, a population-based study of 100-year-olds living in Okinawa. Okinawans statistically suffer mortality from heart disease, and breast and prostate cancers less often than Westerners, and they more often reach the century mark per capita. However, this has "very little to do with their drinking water," according to the researchers, who released a statement in response to Barefoot's infomercial claims. The researchers also noted that Okinawans actually consume less calcium than people in most Western countries--as opposed to the assertion by Barefoot that they consume an average of 100,000 mg/d.

In its letter to FTC and FDA, CRN targets these types of statements, noting the most "egregious" claims have come from Barefoot's books, infomercials, interviews and Web sites, and have been perpetuated in the virtual world by countless companies hoping to jump on the coral calcium bandwagon. "Coral calcium is one of the most aggressively and pervasively promoted dietary supplements on the market today," CRN wrote. "Moreover, many of the claims have no scientific support and relate to serious life-threatening diseases. Permitting the continuation of such highly visible and fraudulent claims does grave disservice to consumers who turn to the marketplace for information about their health. This, in turn, undermines consumer confidence in the dietary supplement market as a whole, inevitably harming those responsible companies who provide quality products based on sound science."

OptiPure®, a Los Angeles-based company that supplies a coral calcium ingredient, released its official stance on health claims for coral calcium in December 2002 at the SupplySide West International Trade Show & Conference during a presentation given by the company's national education manager, Deanne Dolnick. "Miss Dolnick started her presentation noting that OptiPure believes that treatment claims made about the coral calcium being sold today can seriously damage the industry," as noted in a press release from OptiPure. "For that reason, OptiPure has not and will not make treatment claims for its coral calcium product. ... Marine Bio of Okinawa Japan, the supplier to OptiPure, has distanced itself from those companies and individuals making treatment claims."

CRN concluded its letter by requesting FTC and FDA take enforcement action to end Barefoot's "highly visible and deceptive marketing campaign," and to publicize this action so that other purveyors of coral calcium are aware their marketing campaigns violate federal law. CRN's letter to FTC and FDA can be accessed in its entirety online at www.crnusa.org/leg_comments_FDA.html.