The Great Pomegranate Brouhaha

I would be the first person to defend eating pomegranates. The ones off the tree anyway. Not the juice in stores though.

The Federal Trade Commission, now awakened from its long slumber, is suing POM Wonderful LLC for its “false and unsubstantiated claims” – e.g. that POM is “proven to fight for cardiovascular, prostate and erectile health”, a “30% decrease in arterial plaque” and “17% improved blood flow.”

Unlike other companies like Nestlé and Kellogg who have quietly withdrawn such claims, POM is defiant. This company strikes me as arrogant, not just in their hyperbolic health claims but also in their response. The owners, Lynda and Stewart Resnick, are named in the suit – they also own Fiji Water and Teleflora among other companies - and I can see their scorched earth approach backfiring with the public.

The bigger issue though is the increasingly blurry line between foods and drugs. This same week, Nestlé announced a new division, Nestlé Health Science to produce “health and wellness products.” Many other companies have crossed that line already – Omega-3 eggs anyone? As we become more and more isolated in cities, further away from actual food production, I can see a growing dependence on dietary supplements. Whether you think this is good or bad (and I think it’s bad), it is happening. Not everyone can afford to buy real pomegranates so they buy the juice. A 16 oz serving of POM is 320 calories by the way.

The solution to POM’s problems right now, if they wish to claim health and medical benefits, is to agree to regulation by the FDA and indeed that is part of the FTC’s case against them. The solution to our own problems if we have fruit trees is to eat the fruit off them and not leave it lying there on the ground under some mistaken belief that all fruit comes from supermarkets.