Nikken Return Policy and Making Medical Claims

People often ask me if they can return a Nikken product if it “doesn’t work” after a period of time. Nikken’s return policy only covers the manufacture of the product, not its effectiveness for a particular condition, and there is a very good reason for that.

For Nikken to warranty anything other than the materials and craftsmanship of their products then that would be taken as a medical claim by the FDA, which would put Nikken, and all of us distributors, out of business very quick.

For example, take Nikken’s new Naturest magnetic mattress pads. They are the most expensive items that Nikken offers and I can understand someone wanting some assurance that they have made a good investment when they purchase one. Nikken’s documented warranty on a magnetic mattress pad says that they will replace it if it falls apart within a year of you buying it. Nikken cannot guarantee that the pad will “do” anything other than lay flat on your bed and provide you a surface to sleep on, and I’m telling you that it does provide a very nice surface to sleep on.

What else can Nikken say that it does without making a medical claim? A lady called me today asking about the Naturest pad and wanted to know if it would help her with her peripheral neuropathy. I’d love to tell her that it does, but that would be a medical claim, so I cannot. Same thing goes for her daughter’s migraine headaches.

Because the magnetic mattress pads are so expensive, I recommend that people start with less expensive magnetic products, like the Magsteps insoles, so that they can see how they will respond to the Nikken magnets before they make a big investment.

Even if there are documented studies that say that something works, Nikken still cannot make the claim without getting in trouble.

A week ago today Nikken launched an updated version of their Ciaga juice, Ciaga^V. It contains some very potent fruits: acai berry, maqui berry, elderberry, blackberry, grape seed extract, raspberry, and agave nectar. Last night Nikken hosted a teleconference to educate the distributors on the product and Dave Balzer strongly emphasized the asterisk on the label and what it meant.

You’ve probably seen the same disclaimer statement on other products: “*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.” Federal law requires this statement to be on all dietary supplements and Nikken uses the statement a lot.

On the call last night, they said that the law restricts them from making statements that are even backed up by documented scientific studies. For example, they mentioned documented studies found on Pub Med that state that antioxidants found in blackberries have been found to be effective in curing and preventing cancer. Because Ciaga^V is a food-based dietary supplement, Nikken cannot use that study to say anything that would claim that Ciaga^V has any affect on cancer, or any other disease for that matter.

So, please understand the reasons behind Nikken’s limited product warranties and their very conservative claims for what their products will do. If you hear any other distributors making wild claims about the products, please remind them that they are not doctors.

Please let me know your thoughts in a comment below and share this post with your followers on Facebook and Twitter.

Wayne Woodworth.