• Associated Press via Houston Chronicle, Friday, May 11, 2007 11 AM

An ad campaign suggesting that milk may help people lose weight is about over, the Federal Trade Commission tells a doctors' group that was concerned about the claims it says are false and misleading. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, in a 2005 petition, asked the FTC to put a stop to the ads--and while it wouldn't, it says the groups behind them planned to end the campaign. "It is obvious that the industry did not have a leg to stand on," says Neal Barnard, president of the Washington-based doctors' committee that advocates a diet that generally includes no animal products.

The campaigns at issue involve "Milk your diet. Lose Weight!" ads on television, the Internet and in magazines and the "3-A-Day. Burn More Fat, Lose Weight" ads, now mostly Web-based. The FTC says it met with Agriculture Department officials and representatives for the campaigns, which will now "discontinue all advertising and other marketing activities involving weight loss claims until further research provides stronger, more conclusive evidence."

But Susan Ruland, a spokeswoman for the "Milk your Diet" campaign, says "we absolutely stand behind our weight loss campaign and the science supporting our messages. There's a strong body of scientific evidence that demonstrates a connection between dairy and weight loss."

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