Consumer protection: FTC finalizes TruHeight supplement order

The news: The Federal Trade Commission has finalized an order against Vanilla Chip LLC, which does business as TruHeight, and its two principals, Eden Stelmach and Justin Rapoport. The order, announced July 15, requires them to pay $750,000 and bars them from making false or unsupported health claims and from using fake or incentivized consumer reviews. It settles a complaint the agency filed in April 2026 over supplements marketed as boosting height growth in children and teenagers. The Commission voted 2-0 to finalize the complaint and order.

Why it matters: For parents, this is a consumer protection case about a product aimed at kids, sold on the promise of a measurable physical result. The FTC alleged that TruHeight had no competent and reliable scientific evidence for its growth claims. It also alleged that much of the social proof around the products was manufactured: reviews written by the company’s own employees and vendors, reviews from customers who were offered a free product or a discount for five stars, and social media profiles that posed as real users but were run by bots.

Those tactics are hard for shoppers to spot. A product page with hundreds of glowing reviews looks like the verdict of other families, which is exactly why the order treats purchased and staged reviews as a violation in their own right.

By the numbers:

• $4 million: the judgment imposed on TruHeight and its principals
• $750,000: the amount they must pay, with the $4 million judgment partially suspended because of their inability to pay the full sum
• 2-0: the Commission vote to finalize the order

The big picture: The order bars health claims about benefits, performance, efficacy, safety or side effects unless the claim is not misleading and is backed by competent and reliable scientific evidence. It also prohibits misrepresenting that a reviewer exists, that a reviewer used the product, or what the reviewer experienced, and prohibits buying reviews that are conditioned on a particular positive or negative sentiment. The same limits apply to the company and to both individuals, so the obligations bind the individuals as well as the business.

For households, the practical lessons are modest. A review is weaker evidence when the seller controls who writes it. Claims that a supplement will change a child’s growth deserve a conversation with a pediatrician before a purchase, not after.

What’s next: The order is now final, so the focus shifts to compliance. The FTC invites the public to report suspected scams and bad business practices at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.