Coconut Beverage’s “Healthy” Marketing Misleads, Consumer Alleges

A consumer has filed a putative class action alleging that The Hain Celestial Group’s Coconut Dream, “a coconut ‘milk’ style drink that is primarily coconut oil (or coconut oil and added sugar) in water,” is marketed to appeal to health-conscious consumers despite being “basically saturated fat (or saturated fat and added sugar).” Andrade-Heymsfield v. Hain Celestial Grp. Inc., No. 19-0433 (S.D. Cal., filed March 5, 2019). The complaint alleges that Hain Celestial misleads consumers by representing Coconut Dream as healthful despite studies purportedly linking coconut-oil consumption and increased risks of cardiovascular heart disease. The plaintiff also alleges a link between sugar consumption and obesity, metabolic syndrome and diabetes. She seeks class certification, damages, corrective advertising, destruction of misleading materials and attorney’s fees for alleged violations of California consumer-protection statutes.