The Advertising Standards Authority has banned four social media advertisements from two UK men's health companies over the way they described low testosterone. Rulings published on 26 August 2026 upheld complaints against Vir Health Ltd, trading as Numan, and BioIdentical Hormone Therapy Ltd, trading as BioID Health. Two Facebook advertisements from Numan, which ran in January 2026, carried the lines "40% OF MEN WITH OBESITY HAVE LOW TESTOSTERONE" and "95% OF MEN WITH LOW TESTOSTERONE ARE UNDIAGNOSED", set alongside pricing for a blood test. The ASA said neither figure was adequately substantiated, and found that the 40% statistic was drawn from a narrow subgroup of the cited research rather than the wider population the advertisement appeared to describe. The two BioID Health advertisements addressed men whose GP had told them their testosterone was fine, and said the company would "test deeper than your doctor did". The regulator ruled that none of the four may appear again in their investigated form.
Substantiation is the test, not plausibility
Both rulings turned on evidence rather than on whether low testosterone matters. The ASA cited CAP Code rules 3.1 on misleadingness and 3.7 on substantiation in each case, plus rule 12.1, which governs claims for products and services presented as health interventions. The BioID Health ruling also engaged rule 1.3 on responsible advertising, because the regulator considered that wording such as "test deeper than your doctor did" implied GPs were insufficiently thorough. According to the ruling, the company accepted it did not hold evidence adequate to substantiate the comparison. Neither ruling assessed whether the underlying tests or treatments work; both assessed only whether the advertising could be supported.
What this means for your supplement routine
Prevalence statistics are one of the least examined parts of health marketing, and these rulings show why they are worth reading closely. A figure taken from a small clinical subgroup and presented as if it described men generally is the pattern the ASA objected to here, and it is common well beyond testosterone testing. The same caution applies to any product or service that opens by telling you how many people supposedly have a hidden deficiency. Where a claim is about a nutrient rather than a service, the GB Nutrition and Health Claims Register sets the only wording a business in Great Britain may use, and Northern Ireland continues to follow the EU register. Our Perqen FAQs set out how we describe what we sell.
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