A U.S. federal judge in Manhattan has ruled that Abbott Laboratories must defend itself against a proposed class-action lawsuit. The consumer-driven litigation alleges that the healthcare company misled the public into believing its PediaSure Grow & Gain nutrition drinks were “clinically proven” to specifically help children grow taller.
The documented judicial reasoning, specific plaintiff allegations, and corporate responses feature:
-
Judicial Determinations and Legal Interpretations:
-
U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer noted that while Abbott’s label claim asserting PediaSure was “clinically proven to help kids grow” failed to explicitly designate the exact type of anatomical expansion. However, the manufacturer’s choice to display a cartoon giraffe alongside ruler-like measurement markings climbing toward the animal’s head on product packaging could readily support a consumer’s belief that “grow” denoted height extension, whereas “gain” signified weight accumulation.
-
In a comprehensive 75-page decision, the judge added that a jury could reasonably find that Abbott’s commercial advertisements directly reinforced the message that PediaSure stimulated height development. The court cited a specific advertisement depicting a young boy playing basketball with noticeably taller peers, accompanied by a voiceover stating he has “a lot to look up to.” Judge Engelmayer concurrently rejected Abbott’s formal petition to suppress testimony provided by a Columbia Business School professor; the expert testified that Abbott’s marketing clearly framed “grow” as height extension, and noted average consumers would neither notice nor comprehend small-print disclaimers stating PediaSure was studied exclusively in pediatric cohorts “at risk” of malnutrition.
-
-
Underlying Context of the Plaintiff’s Lawsuit: The legal challenge was originally initiated in May 2023 by Joanne Noriega, a grandmother residing in the Bronx, New York, who purchased vanilla- and strawberry-flavored PediaSure Grow & Gain beverages for her 8-year-old grandson. According to Noriega’s statements, following a consecutive year of consuming two PediaSure drinks per day, her grandson remained structurally short for his age demographic but had become “so overweight” that she permanently halted further purchases of the product.
-
Corporate Retaliation and Contextual Data from Abbott:
-
In an official corporate statement, Illinois-based Abbott Laboratories—whose nutritional portfolio also features household brands like Pedialyte and Similac—called PediaSure’s commercial labeling “appropriate” and robustly backed by scientific validation. The multinational firm maintained that PediaSure is a scientifically designed complete and balanced nutrition solution engineered for children to help support standard growth and development, expressing confidence that courtroom evidence will ultimately demonstrate the plaintiff’s allegations are entirely unfounded.
-
Abbott previously stated that the PediaSure formulation is intended to benefit children aged 2 to 13, historically helping clinical cohorts “grow out of at-risk weight-for-height percentiles (specifically the 5th to 25th percentiles)” within an eight-week timeframe.
-