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Celsius defends 'burns body fat' claims in a new class action, ZOE launches fiber bars, a trial links fiber to arthritis relief, and the post-GLP-1 shopper emerges.
Celsius is in court over fat-burning language and ZOE is moving from app to snack shelf — two stories that redefine how far health brands can push their claims in 2025.
In this episode:
The Health Marketing Daily is a concise briefing for marketers and founders in supplements, functional food and consumer health, hosted by Marco & Klara. New episode every day.
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The daily briefing for professionals in health, nutrition, and wellness marketing. Every episode covers an ingredient of the day, the latest science and regulatory updates from EFSA and beyond, and the brand and market moves shaping the nutraceutical industry. Hosted by Klara and Marco — evidence-based, no hype, no bro-science. Built for formulators, brand managers, regulatory affairs teams, and anyone building in the health and nutrition space.
Marco: Today's show is packed with things worth paying attention to.
Klara: We're looking at a clinical trial linking daily fibre to reduced arthritis pain — and what that means for gut-joint health positioning.
Marco: Celsius is facing a class action over its fat-burning claims. ZOE is launching fibre bars into retail. And the post-GLP-1 consumer is becoming a real commercial conversation.
Klara: Let's get into it.
Marco: A new clinical trial suggests that a daily fibre supplement can reduce knee pain and improve muscle strength in people with osteoarthritis.
Marco: Osteoarthritis is one of the most common joint conditions in Europe — millions of people live with it, and many are actively looking for alternatives to painkillers. Fibre supplements have long been positioned around gut health. But this trial adds something new to that conversation. It connects fibre intake to musculoskeletal outcomes — meaning joint and muscle health — through the gut microbiome.
Klara: The microbiome is the community of bacteria living in your digestive system. The thinking here is that fibre feeds beneficial gut bacteria, which then influence inflammation throughout the body, including in joints. That mechanism is plausible and increasingly supported by research. What I want to know is the fibre type used, the dose, the duration, and whether the participant group was representative. Those details matter enormously before anyone starts building marketing claims around this.
Marco: And that's exactly where I get excited, because this is a rare dual-claim opportunity for supplement brands. Gut health is already a massive category. Joint and mobility support is growing fast, especially among adults over forty. A single product that can credibly address both? That's a genuinely strong commercial positioning.
Klara: I'd slow that down slightly. Under EU regulation EC 1924/2006, health claims must be authorised by EFSA before they appear on product labels. EFSA has approved claims linking fibre to normal bowel function. Claims connecting fibre to joint health or pain reduction? Those don't exist yet. Brands can reference the science in educational content, but on-pack claims remain tightly restricted.
Marco: A fair distinction. The science is ahead of the regulatory framework for now — but that gap tends to close. Brands who build the evidence base early are the ones who lead when it does.
Marco: Let's move to our next story.
Klara: Celsius Holdings is facing a class action lawsuit over claims that its energy drinks burn body fat.
Klara: Celsius is a US-based functional energy drink brand with significant global reach. Its products carry "burns body fat" as a core marketing message. That kind of language is enormously attractive to consumers — and enormously risky from a legal and regulatory standpoint.
Klara: A newly proposed class action alleges that Celsius misleads consumers with those fat-burning claims. Celsius is pushing back hard, saying it stands firmly behind its product statements and the clinical studies supporting them. But standing behind your studies and having those studies meet the bar required to substantiate a health claim are two very different things.
Marco: From a commercial angle, this is a brand that built its entire identity around metabolic and fat-burning language. That positioning drove huge growth. So there's an obvious tension between what sells and what you can legally defend.
Klara: And this is where I'd separate the US and European contexts sharply. In the EU, "burns body fat" on a label would almost certainly be rejected by EFSA before it ever reached a shelf. Claims linking a product to fat metabolism require robust, peer-reviewed evidence evaluated by regulators — not internal clinical studies selected by the brand itself. The EU framework is specifically designed to prevent exactly this type of consumer confusion.
Marco: Which is why I'd argue this lawsuit is actually useful news for European marketers. It shows what happens when aggressive efficacy language outruns substantiation. Brands here have the chance to build credibility the right way from the start — rather than defend it in court later.
Klara: Substantiation isn't a legal technicality. It's the foundation of consumer trust.
Marco: Right, let's move on to our next story.
Marco: ZOE — the UK-founded personalised nutrition platform — has just launched fibre bars into the snack aisle.
Marco: For those unfamiliar, ZOE built its reputation through a data-driven app that analyses your gut microbiome and blood sugar responses to personalise food recommendations. It has a substantial subscriber base across the UK and Europe. Until now, ZOE's business was entirely digital — subscriptions, testing kits, data. Physical products are a completely different game.
Marco: The bars are microbiome-focused and fibre-forward, which is entirely consistent with ZOE's scientific identity. The move takes them from a platform that tells you what to eat into one that also sells you something to eat. That's a significant strategic leap.
Klara: From a regulatory standpoint, this is where things get interesting. ZOE has built enormous trust with its audience through science communication. But once you're on a physical snack shelf, you're subject to the same labelling rules as everyone else. Fibre claims — things like contributing to normal bowel function — have EFSA-authorised pathways. Microbiome-specific claims do not. ZOE will need to be very careful that their brand's scientific reputation doesn't bleed into on-pack language that crosses regulatory lines.
Marco: I hear that, but I'd actually push the argument differently. ZOE's competitive advantage isn't just the fibre — it's the trust. Consumers who've used the app already believe in the brand. That relationship is genuinely hard to buy on shelf. The product almost doesn't need aggressive claims because the brand does the work.
Klara: That's true up to a point. But retail customers who've never used the app won't have that context. The product still needs to stand alone.
Marco: A real challenge as they scale. Now, let's move to our final story today.
Klara: Grocers are starting to ask a question that supplement brands should already be answering — what do shoppers need when they come off GLP-1 weight loss drugs?
Klara: GLP-1 medications — drugs like semaglutide, sold under names like Ozempic and Wegovy — suppress appetite and support significant weight loss. But many people discontinue them, whether due to cost, side effects, or reaching their target weight. When they do, appetite returns, and without the right nutritional support, weight regain is a real risk.
Klara: Grocery Dive is reporting that grocers are now actively considering how to range products for this emerging post-GLP-1 shopper — specifically high-protein, high-fibre, and appetite-support products. This is still early-stage thinking in most retail environments, but the consumer segment is growing fast.
Marco: From a commercial standpoint, this is one of the most clearly defined new consumer segments I've seen in years. These are not casual supplement buyers. They've been through a medically supervised weight management journey. They're highly health-engaged, they read labels, and they're actively looking for products that help them hold onto their results. That's a retailer's dream customer profile.
Klara: I don't disagree on the opportunity, but I'd caution against the obvious temptation — which is to slap "post-GLP-1 support" on a label and call it a strategy. That phrase alone won't pass regulatory scrutiny in Europe. Any claim connecting a product to weight maintenance or appetite regulation needs EFSA authorisation. Brands will need to work within approved claim pathways — protein and satiety, fibre and digestive function — and let those do the heavy lifting.
Marco: So the message is: build the formulation around real nutritional gaps, then find the compliant language to describe it.
Klara: That's always the order it should happen in. The science first, the copy second.
Marco: Today's through-line is clear — fibre is quietly becoming the most commercially versatile ingredient in the wellness market.
Klara: Just make sure any claim you build around it is backed by authorised science, not borrowed enthusiasm from someone else's trial.
Marco: The brands that earn trust now will own this space.