Claim rulingsSubstantiation

Can a supplement say “burns fat”?

No. “Burns fat”, “melts fat” and “torches fat” are unsubstantiated mechanism claims and a Meta health-and-appearance trigger. The compliant versions are “supports metabolism” and “supports healthy body composition when combined with diet and exercise”.

Severity we assign
High
Standard family
Substantiation
Enforced by
FTC, Meta, Google

Why it fails

The rule this runs into.

Unsubstantiated mechanism plus a Meta health-and-appearance trigger.

We file this under substantiation and rate it high. It is enforced by FTC, Meta, Google, which matters because a single phrase can fail in more than one place at once: a listing suppression, an ad-account review and a warning letter are three different consequences of the same sentence.

What to say instead

The compliant version.

This is the rewrite an audit ships for this phrase, in the words we would hand you.

The ruling’s own rewrite

'Supports metabolism' / 'supports healthy body composition'

Claims that hold in its place

Metabolic
Supports metabolism

Safe and vague enough to hold.

Metabolic
Supports healthy body composition when combined with diet and exercise

The qualifier is required for weight-adjacent claims.

Every structure/function claim on this page still needs the FDA disclaimer wherever it appears. That requirement has its own ruling.

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Nearby rulings

Same family, same trap.

All 37 published rulings →

Cite usThis ruling is free to quote. Credit “Claims Verified” and link here. It is regulatory review of marketing language, not legal advice.

audit@claimsverified.org →