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Celsius faces a class action over unsubstantiated fitness claims, GLP-1 friendly labels draw regulatory warnings, and Willie's Remedy+ races a US hemp ban.
Celsius is being sued for claims that outran its science — and the GLP-1 label rush could be next. If you market functional health products, today's episode is required listening.
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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Also from Marco & Klara: The FMCG Marketing Daily · The Digital Commerce Daily
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: There's a lot to unpack today.
Klara: We're looking at the 'GLP-1 friendly' label trend — and why experts think it could backfire badly.
Marco: Then the Celsius healthwashing lawsuit, which is a live lesson in what happens when claims outrun the science.
Klara: We've got Willie's Remedy+ racing against a US hemp ban.
Marco: And new German research exposing serious nutrient gaps in childcare settings.
Klara: Let's get into it.
Marco: Food brands are racing to put 'GLP-1 friendly' on their packaging — and experts are saying that could backfire badly.
Marco: GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy suppress appetite and are now used by millions across Europe and beyond. Naturally, food and supplement companies want a piece of that audience. The logic seems simple: these consumers have specific nutritional needs, so create products for them.
Marco: But the reality is messier. Brands are launching everything from protein bars to supplements with 'GLP-1 friendly' labels, with no consistent definition of what that actually means. And industry experts are now flagging this publicly — warning that GLP-1 users are not one homogeneous group. Their side effects differ. Their dosages differ. How long they've been on the medication differs. A label that promises to suit all of them is, frankly, a stretch.
Klara: From a regulatory standpoint, this is a serious problem waiting to happen. 'GLP-1 friendly' is not an authorised health claim under EFSA rules — that's the European Food Safety Authority, which approves specific, evidence-backed wording for food and supplement labels. Under EC 1924/2006, the EU health claims regulation, you cannot imply a health benefit without solid clinical evidence behind it. 'GLP-1 friendly' has none of that.
Marco: I hear that, but I'd argue the commercial pull here is enormous. Brands feel pressure to move fast before this trend peaks.
Klara: Speed without substantiation is exactly how healthwashing scandals start. And EFSA doesn't forgive vague benefit claims just because they're trending.
Marco: That's the real warning for European marketers. The opportunity is real, but the regulatory rope is short.
Klara: Know what claim you can defend before you print it on the pack.
Marco: Now let's move to our next story.
Klara: Celsius Energy is facing a class action lawsuit over health claims on its energy drink packaging — and it's exactly the kind of case the whole functional beverage sector should be watching.
Klara: Celsius has built its brand on positioning its drinks as fitness and metabolism boosters. That wellness angle drove enormous commercial success. But wellness positioning only holds up if the science behind it holds up too.
Klara: The lawsuit specifically targets language around metabolism, fitness performance, and calorie burning. The plaintiffs argue those claims cannot be substantiated at the actual doses present in the drink. That's the critical detail. It's not enough to include an ingredient that has some evidence behind it — the dose in the product has to be sufficient to produce the claimed effect. If it isn't, the claim is misleading.
Marco: And this is landing at a genuinely difficult moment for Celsius. The company is mid-restructure, and Alani Nu — a brand they distribute — is now driving their Q3 growth. So they're carrying legal and reputational pressure while simultaneously depending on a different brand to perform. That's a complicated quarter.
Klara: From a regulatory standpoint, this case maps almost perfectly onto EFSA's framework. Under EC 1924/2006, any health claim on a product must be substantiated — meaning the evidence has to support the specific claim, at the dose present, in the target population. Courts in the US are now asking the same questions EFSA has always asked.
Marco: Which is exactly why European brands shouldn't treat this as an American problem. The scrutiny is moving in the same direction here.
Klara: Claim what your product can actually prove. At the dose you're actually using.
Marco: Next story coming up.
Marco: JuneShine Brands is pushing harder on Willie's Remedy+, its hemp wellness drink, even as a potential federal ban on intoxicating hemp products looms in the US.
Marco: The hemp beverage category has grown fast on the back of consumer demand for functional, cannabis-adjacent drinks. But it's always sat in regulatory grey territory. In the US, that grey zone is now shrinking rapidly. A federal prohibition on intoxicating hemp products could land as early as December 11th.
Marco: Despite that, JuneShine is accelerating distribution and marketing for Willie's Remedy+. The logic is aggressive but coherent: build brand loyalty and retail presence quickly enough that you survive the ban, then either pivot the formula or wait for regulation to shift in your favour.
Klara: From a regulatory standpoint, this is a high-wire act. And European brands should take note — not to copy it, but to understand the risks. Under the EU's novel food framework, hemp-derived CBD products require pre-market authorisation before they can be legally sold. That process is slow, rigorous, and ongoing. Brands that raced into the European CBD market without it have already faced enforcement action.
Marco: That's the tension. Willie's Remedy+ is essentially betting on brand equity as a buffer against existential regulatory risk. And honestly, there's commercial logic there. If consumers are loyal enough, they'll follow a reformulated product.
Klara: Loyalty doesn't override a product recall or a market withdrawal. And if the reformulated version can't carry the same claims, the whole wellness positioning may collapse.
Marco: Which is the deeper lesson. Build your brand on something legally durable, not just on the category's current moment.
Klara: Momentum is valuable. But only if you have something to sell at the end of it.
Marco: Our final story is up next.
Klara: A major German study has found that children in daycare settings are regularly missing out on key vitamins and minerals — and that finding matters well beyond Germany's borders.
Klara: Childcare centres are where millions of young children eat a significant portion of their daily meals. If the nutritional quality there is falling short, it compounds what's already happening at home. That's not a minor gap — it's a structural problem in early childhood nutrition.
Klara: The KiESEL study, published in Ernaehrungs Umschau, is one of the most detailed analyses we've seen of actual food consumption among children in German Kita — that's the daycare system. The researchers found that dietary intake of multiple vitamins and minerals consistently falls below recommended levels. This isn't modelling or extrapolation. It's real intake data from a real institutional setting. That's methodologically significant.
Marco: And commercially, this is a rare moment. Government-linked data showing documented micronutrient shortfalls in a specific population — with a specific daily eating context — is exactly the kind of evidence base that responsible brands can build around. Not vaguely, but precisely. Fortified foods designed for childcare menus. Child-specific nutritional products with a data-backed rationale. That's a credible story.
Klara: I'd stop you there, though. Children's nutrition is one of the most tightly regulated categories in the EU. Health claims targeting children face stricter scrutiny under EC 1924/2006. Referencing this study in marketing doesn't automatically authorise any claim. Brands still need substantiation at the product level.
Marco: Agreed — but that's the point. This study gives brands a credible foundation to invest in proper substantiation. At a time when teen supplement marketing is being challenged in Italy and junk food advertising rules are tightening across Europe, arriving with documented evidence is a competitive advantage, not just a compliance exercise.
Klara: The gap is real. What you do with that information — scientifically and legally — is what separates responsible innovation from opportunism.
Marco: Today's through-line is simple — regulatory reality is catching up with wellness marketing faster than most brands are prepared for.
Klara: If your claims can't survive scrutiny from EFSA, a courtroom, or a German nutritionist, they won't survive long on shelf either.
Marco: Build on evidence, or build on sand.