Introduced by Massachusetts Representative Lindsay N. Sabadosa (D), HD.716 is similar to recent bills introduced in Virginia at the start of 2015 and Texas at the end of 2024. Both bills specifically mention creatine, green tea extract, raspberry ketone, garcinia cambogia, and coffee bean extract.
“Once again, the Massachusetts legislature has proposed a misguided overreach that undermines personal freedom and public health,” Kyle Turk, Vice President of Government Affairs for the Natural Products Association, told NutraIngredients-USA. “The NPA has defeated this proposal for several years now, and we will continue our efforts during this session.
“Consumers don’t deserve excessive regulation, this bill caters to fear-mongering and threatens an industry that provides millions of Americans with safe and effective health products. Congress must act now to pass legislation that preempts the states, ensuring uniform standards that protect access to dietary supplements.”
This is not the first time that restrictive bills have been introduced in Massachusetts, which is unsurprisingly given that the state is home to the Strategic Training Initiative for the Prevention of Eating Disorders (STRIPED), launched as a “public health incubator” based at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Boston Children’s Hospital. STRIPED is seen as the originator of these bills.
STRIPED and other proponents of the restrictions cite a purported link between the use of such products and the worsening of eating disorders. However, a review of the scientific literature, funded by the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), concluded that the “evidence to date does not support a causative role for dietary supplements in eating disorders.
“The use of dietary supplements for weight management in both male and female teens appears to be declining, and the objective of weight loss is not observed as a common motivation for the use of dietary supplements among this age group,” wrote Susan Hewlings, PhD, RD, the author of the review, which was published in Nutrients.
Robert Marriott, Director of Regulatory Affairs at the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA), told us: “Massachusetts HD.716 is one of many anti-sports nutrition bills already announced or anticipated in 2025. These age restriction bills are products of campaigning by the STRIPED organization and rely on the false claim that weight loss and muscle-building supplements cause eating disorders.
“Unlike a similar New York bill that entered law in 2023, many of these bills would apply to protein products, and would mandate physical access restrictions in brick-and-mortar retail. AHPA opposes any state law proposing to restrict access to a class of dietary supplements.”
Marriott noted that there is a parallel senate docket bill (SD.603).
Elsewhere
As reported by NutraIngredients-USA, similar bills were introduced in Virginia, Texas and pre-filed in New Hampshire.
All of these bills contain very similar language to the one that passed in New York in 2023.
Earlier in 2024, the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA), the Natural Products Association (NPA), and the United Natural Products Alliance (UNPA) expressed joint opposition to controversial legislation in California that also aimed to restrict dietary supplement sales to minors. The bill failed to pass Senate appropriations; a result hailed by the dietary supplements industry.
A similar bill passed the New Jersey Assembly in October 2024 (A1848). The bill was received in the New Jersey Senate on December 5, and referred to the Senate’s Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee. S3987 was introduced in the New Jersey Senate on December 19.
Over the last 10 years, similar proposals have been defeated in Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Missouri and Rhode Island.
