Kraft’s Crystal Light Immunity Berry Pomegranate drink falsely claims that its vitamins A, C and E will help “maintain a healthy immune system,” according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), Washington, D.C., the nonprofit nutrition watchdog that urged FDA on July 1st to halt this and other structure/function claims increasingly appearing on food labels.

CSPI says when companies claim their products “maintain a healthy immune system,” consumers believe this means those products will help ward off disease. But while vitamins A, C and E are important for the functioning of just about every system in the human body, CSPI says there’s little evidence to suggest that drinking Crystal Light will have any impact on the average person’s immune system.

“Consider vitamin A,” the organization said. “There is no consistent evidence that supplementing with [vitamin] A is beneficial for the immune function of adults, and it might even worsen respiratory illnesses among children, according to researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health. And the Crystal Light drink has only 500 IU—just a small fraction of what one would find in a typical multivitamin.”

“Food manufactures know they can get away with this kind of consumer deception because the Bush FDA is letting the industry play by many of the same loosey-goosey rules followed by dietary supplement manufacturers,” said Bruce Silverglade, CSPI legal affairs director. “The result is the deception that is commonplace on dietary supplement labels has now spread to the much larger food industry.”

CSPI goes on to point out in its letter to FDA that even some foods that are perfectly healthy in their own right—bags of frozen fruit or vegetables—bear silly claims touting magical immunity-boosting properties. “For instance, Green Giant Immunity Boost, a General Mills product, consists of frozen broccoli, carrots, pepper strips and seasoning. While it’s a perfectly healthy food, there is no evidence to support the claim that the product ‘supports a healthy immune system,’ or provides the promised ‘immunity boost.’” In an informal survey of 1000 health-oriented consumers conducted by CSPI, 49% thought this product would help prevent colds and flu.

In its complaint filed with FDA, CSPI also highlighted products produced by Dole, Minute Maid, Sunsweet and Welch’s as touting unrealistic claims. The organization also urged FDA to stop the bogus claims and set new rules for food companies requiring them to base future claims on solid scientific evidence and make only FDA-approved claims.

Along with CSPI, several researchers with expertise in nutrition and immunity—David Nieman, John Potter and Neli Ulrich—also asked FDA to suspend its approval of immunity-related structure/function claims on food labels. “Many, if not most, consumers associate the immune system with protection from disease,” the researchers wrote. “There is little or no evidence that these products can provide that protection.”