Tahitian Noni Settles Hormone Cream Suit

Tahitian Noni paid $50,500 to the California Women's Law Center, a Los Angeles-based women's civil rights group, and its executive director, Katherine Lee Buckland, to settle a lawsuit alleging violations of California's health and safety codes and other consumer protection laws relating to unlawful competition and false advertising.

Tahitian Noni, in its settlement, agreed to add warning labels to its product -- the Tahiti Trim Plan 40 Body Balance Cream -- that states it contains progesterone, "a chemical known to the state of California to cause cancer" and should only be used with a physician's advice.

According the National Cancer Institute, a large clinical trial published in 2002 showed that hormone replacement therapy (a combination of the hormones estrogen and progesterone) increased women's risk of developing breast cancer and heart disease.