Amazon has been ordered by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to cease describing food supplements as “slimming” without necessary evidence.

Items sold under Amazon’s “slimming aids & weight loss” category were investigated by the ASA, which found that the retailer could not provide evidence that all of the products had proven links to weight loss.

The online giant has now been banned from advertising any supplements that do not meet EU-authorised standards within the category.

“We considered that consumers would understand the claim ‘slimming aids & weight loss’ to imply a relationship between the food supplements in the category and a benefit to health; specifically that the supplements could aid or cause slimming/weight loss,” Amazon said.

“Because Amazon had not provided any evidence that was the case, we concluded that the claim was misleading.

“While we disagree with the ASA’s assessment we have removed the ‘Slimming Aids & Weight Loss’ category heading from our website.”

Protein powder specialist Protein World was also ordered to remove three items from its “weight loss” category, after it failed to provide evidence they include substances on the EU Register relating to weight loss in sufficient quantitites

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