Nutrafol Women Falsely Advertised as ‘Clinically Proven’ to Treat Hair Loss, Class Action Alleges

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A proposed class action claims the maker of Nutrafol Women has falsely advertised the anti-hair loss supplements as “clinically proven” to increase the rate of hair growth.

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The 32-page case says defendant Nutraceutical Wellness, which does business as Nutrafol, has deceived millions of individuals into believing that its supposedly “physician formulated” supplements are made with “medical-grade” ingredients scientifically proven to treat underlying health issues and conditions known to affect hair growth. Unbeknownst to consumers, however, there exists no reliable evidence that Nutrafol Women can treat hair loss, the complaint alleges.

According to the suit, the sole clinical trial Nutrafol cites to back up its efficacy claims is “so flawed in its basic construction and design” that it fails to establish any causal relationship between the consumption of the supplement and hair regrowth.

“Apart from the glaringly obvious conflicts of interest,” the lawsuit charges that “the parameters of the clinical trial also reveal it to have been a curated exercise in self-affirming data manipulation.”

The case first contends that the 2018 study, which included only 40 female participants, tested a sample size too small to draw scientifically reliable conclusions. Moreover, the 14 women “randomly” assigned to the placebo group were, on average, older and had significantly higher baseline stress levels than the 26 women assigned to the active supplement group, the filing says, noting that both factors are prominent causes of hair loss.

Notably, Nutrafol reveals that the clinical trial excluded any women who have “hair loss disorders and active dermatologic or other health conditions” such as alopecia areata, scarring alopecia, androgenetic alopecia and telogen effluvium, the suit relays.

“Disturbingly, however, Nutrafol does not exclude such women from its marketing and packaging because they are obviously the most eager consumers of Nutrafol’s false claims,” the suit reads.

And although the defendant lists hormonal imbalances as one of the major root causes that Nutrafol Women is designed to target to improve hair health, its study refused to test women suffering from diabetes or thyroid disorders, which are by definition hormonal imbalances, the case charges.

Also barred from participating in the study were those who use hormone therapies or hormonal contraception, take medications with side effects that include hair loss or have an effect on hair growth, had experienced a “stressful incident” within six months prior to the clinical trial, have depression or allergies, and pregnant or nursing women, the suit explains.

In what the complaint argues is the “ultimate deceit,” Nutrafol’s advertising directly targets women who are most likely to lose hair while deliberately concealing that it has never conducted a study evaluating how effective its supplements are for them.

“[C]onsumers unfortunately learn the hard way, after wasting hundreds of dollars, that Nutrafol Women works, if it ‘works’ at all, only for an extreme minority of women that happen, by chance, to match the exact attributes of the cherry-picked participants in Nutrafol’s rigged clinical trial,” the suit claims.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone who, during the applicable statute of limitations period, purchased in New York Nutrafol supplements warranted as being “clinically proven” and “medical grade.”

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