Sakura Forest's supplements 'lowered blood pressure' — beyond the claim it filed

Sakura Forest, a health-food e-commerce company, sold two foods with function claims: Kinari Takumi and Kinari Kiwami. The notified claims were limited — DHA/EPA lowers triglycerides; a hesperidin ingredient lowers blood pressure only in people with high-normal readings. The advertising ran far wider. On its website, in booklets and on the packaging, Kinari Takumi was sold as a 'functional supplement to lower high blood pressure' that 'lowers blood pressure significantly', with testimonials saying 'my high blood pressure returned to normal' beside photographs of blood-pressure monitors.

Kinari Kiwami followed the same pattern: 'triglycerides −21%', and testimonials about health-check grades improving. The Consumer Affairs Agency found no reasonable basis for the displays as made — they implied effects beyond the notified function, which the final product had not verified. The case was reported as the first surcharge order built specifically on a food's notified function claims lacking reasonable grounds, rather than on exaggerated wording.

On 19 March 2025 the CAA ordered Sakura Forest to pay 109,030,000 yen: 43,050,000 on Kinari Takumi's 1.44 billion yen of sales (January 2022 to June 2023) and 65,980,000 on Kinari Kiwami's 2.20 billion (July 2020 to June 2023), payable by 20 October 2025. Roughly 3.6 billion yen of supplements had been sold on the strength of the displays.