As a marketer — this isn’t exactly true.

Scientifically proven and clinically proven are often used interchangeably in the industry. There’s no body (except the FDA if you’re writing in healthcare markets) that would even look into these claims. Both are what I’ve seen described as “non-sensical journalistic hyperbole.”

Furthermore, neither the FDA nor any other body makes a distinction between the two terms. One does not have any more weight than the other.

Also — just because a the manufacturer paid for the study doesn’t mean that there’s anything inherently wrong with it. Bad studies happen, sure. And there’s an obvious problem with confirmation bias in things like that. But the only alternative would be having taxpayers foot the bill for a government backed research program on every single product that comes to market — which is completely unrealistic.