The Federal Trade Commission announced a physician's advocacy group that a controversial ad campaign suggesting milk aids weight loss will soon end.

The FTC made the announcement via an open letter to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, an organization promoting a vegetarian life style that had argued the ad campaign made false claims.

The dairy advertisements discussed included ads on television and in magazines saying “Milk your diet. Lose Weight!” and the “3-A-Day. Burn More Fat, Lose Weight” ads, which appear mostly on the Internet.

The PCRM said the weight loss claims were false and misleading and asked the commission, as far back as 2005, to put a stop to the ads.

The letter sent by the FTC to the committee says that the groups responsible with these advertisements will soon stop their campaigns themselves.

After a meeting between the FTC, Agriculture Department officials and representatives for the two campaigns, those responsible with the campaigns decided “to discontinue all advertising and other marketing activities involving weight loss claims until further research provides stronger, more conclusive evidence,” the letter says.

A spokesperson for the “Milk your Diet” campaign, Susan Ruland, who represents the National Fluid Milk Processor Promotion Board, defended the ads, stating they were not misleading.

“We absolutely stand behind our weight loss campaign and the science supporting our messages. There's a strong body of scientific evidence that demonstrates a connection between dairy and weight loss.”

The spokesperson added that the campaign would shift focus, from weight loss to a healthy diet.

The “3-A-Day” campaign has also changed, according to an announcement from The National Dairy Promotion and Research Board.

According to The Washington Post, the Agriculture Department, which has oversight of the two boards, had approved the ads; a spokesperson has already confirmed that the agency supports the decision to pull back from the campaigns.