Disney Vitamins Marketer, Others Settle Charges About Bogus Claims

Three major marketers of children's vitamins sold under the Disney and Marvel Heroes logos have agreed to pay the Federal Trade Commission $2.1 million to settle charges that the companies falsely claimed their supplements promote healthy brain and eye development in children.

The FTC charged NBTY, Inc. and two subsidiaries, NatureSmart LLC and Rexall Sundown, Inc., with making false claims about the amount of DHA -- an Omega-3 fatty acid -- used in their products. While the vitamins' packaging extolled the health benefits of 100 milligrams of DHA, a daily serving of the Disney and Marvel multivitamins for children ages 4-years and older contained only a negligible trace of that amount.

According to the agency, one tablet or two gummies of the Disney and Marvel lines -- the equivalent of a daily serving -- contained just 0.1mg of DHA, or one-thousandth of the 100mg amount referred to in product advertising and packaging by the companies.