Should we be banning supplements for teens?
In a bold move, New York recently banned the sale of weight loss and muscle-building supplements to people under the age of 18, becoming the first U.S. state to do this. It doesn’t matter if the young person tries to buy the products from a store or online, or even from a coach or trainer at the gym. Violations are punishable by a fine of up to US$1,000.
Of course, the devil is always in the details. In the murky world of diet pills and muscle-building supplements, just what is covered and what is exempt from the ban?
The new law (New York
State Assembly Bill A5610D) relies mainly on what the seller claims, citing products that are “labelled, marketed or otherwise represented to achieve weight loss or muscle building.” The age ban specifically exempts protein powders and drinks unless they contain another ingredient that would be banned.
The New York law does give a bit more guidance about which products are being targeted. Anabolic steroids head the list, though they already require a prescription in the U.S. and Canada, where they are a Schedule 3 controlled substance. Other products that make the new law’s blacklist include “creatine, green tea extract, raspberry ketone, garcinia cambogia, green coffee bean extract.”
The law applies to both males and females, but considerable evidence shows that boys are a particular target, especially for muscle-building products. Writing in the journal Performance Enhancement & Health, Kyle T. Ganson of the University of Toronto and colleagues note that Canadian data on the use of these products is scarce.
They did observe that “one recent study with data collected in 2021 has investigated muscle-building supplements use among (Canadian) young people ages 16 to 30 years. Findings from this study documented that 82.5 per cent of boys and young men and 51.9 per cent of girls and young women reported use of whey protein powders or shakes in the past 12 months, while
50.3 per cent of boys and young men and 9.7 per cent of girls and young women reported use of creatine monohydrate in the past 12 months.”
These researchers also note “there is a growing body of literature that has described a plethora of adverse health and psychosocial correlates of muscle-building supplements use.”
These include “problematic alcohol behaviours including binge drinking, future use of anabolic-androgenic steroids, criminal offending and sexual risk behaviours.”
In another paper by Ganson and other colleagues, the authors observe that many of these products are “loosely regulated” in Canada and are characterized as “natural health products.” They write that “this is particularly problematic for adolescents and young adults who may be susceptible to misinformation and lack the critical thinking skills to discern what and how much is safe to use.”
Since supplements aren’t cheap, especially on a teen’s budget, something must be driving the desire to use them. Experts say it is body dysmorphia — dissatisfaction with one’s body image. Of course, social media and its relentless algorithms play a major role in driving people to hate their bodies and want to change them.
There are dozens of excellent books on body dysmorphia for girls, but not much for men. One is the fascinating memoir by Brian Cuban, brother of Mark Cuban of Shark Tank fame. In his book Shattered Image, and on his blog (briancuban.com/blogs), the younger Cuban says he has “been in long-term recovery from alcohol, cocaine and bulimia since April of 2007.”
The magazine Men’s Heath is tackling male body image with a soon-to-be-released film called Generation Flex. It will be “a new documentary about social media, supplements and the rise of body dysmorphia in teenage boys.”
The trailer notes that “when you are a little boy, you are always flexing, and proving how strong you are. When you get older you start looking at guys with muscles and that looks good to you.” The teen boys interviewed in the film then talk about spending two and a half hours a day at the gym.
The program highlights the role of social media, with one youth saying “the more boys post fitness-related content, the more likely they are to get likes.” Another notes that “you see influencers that, like, have a lot of muscle, promoting these different brands. Most of these are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration.”
There’s a decent chance that the New York state age restriction will get other jurisdictions, including here in Canada, thinking about similar restrictions.
Indeed, Ganson and colleagues recommend exactly that, noting “there is an urgent need to strengthen Canadian regulations of muscle-building supplements to protect the health and well-being of young people.”
Dr. Tom Keenan is an award-winning journalist, public speaker, professor in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape at the University of Calgary, and author of the bestselling book Technocreep: The Surrender of Privacy and the Capitalization of Intimacy.