That is not a slogan or hyperbole. It is a record of action that stretches from the earliest battles over consumer access to natural health products to passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA), consequential regulatory actions and landmark litigation.
NPA’s legacy matters because in 2025, the industry again faced a convergence of threats that required more than consensus-building or messaging alignment. It required leadership willing to absorb risk, expend precious resources, and confront government actors directly. Once again, NPA rose to the occasion.
I’d like to address a recurring narrative that there is “no single voice” for the dietary supplement industry. Unfortunately, this lamentation obscures the responsibility of trade associations to further the interests of the industry, even if it means making uncomfortable, high-stakes decisions with uncertain outcomes.
There is a voice when it matters. It is the organization that shows up first, incurs risks, perseveres through hardships and hits, and delivers meaningful results. In 2025, that voice was the Natural Products Association.
Advocacy is not measured by participation in video calls, alignment in press releases or elaborate in-person events on the seashore. It is measured by outcomes — legislative defeats, regulatory reversals, court decisions and economic relief secured for companies and consumers alike.
State level threats
The most aggressive and coordinated threats in 2025 emerged at the state level. What once appeared sporadic hardened into a national strategy of age-restriction bills, ingredient bans, warning label mandates and state-specific compliance schemes designed to bypass FDA authority under DSHEA.
In this environment, leadership is not theoretical. It is personal, public and, at times, hostile.
In Massachusetts, NPA was the only national trade association directly attacked on the record by a state legislator while it was doing its job of defending the industry. That moment is not anecdotal but instructive. Legislators do not attack organizations that are absent or ineffective. The attack occurred precisely because NPA was engaging lawmakers, challenging flawed assumptions, and exposing the lack of evidence behind proposed restrictions.
The experience in Boston was emblematic of a broader reality across the country. In California, New Jersey, Maryland and multiple other states, NPA was often the only organization actively engaged early enough to matter, educating legislators, mobilizing retailers, activating grassroots networks, and working behind the scenes with governors’ offices and committee leadership to stop bad bills before they gained momentum.
State advocacy is resource-intensive, relationship-driven and unforgiving. It requires infrastructure that cannot be assembled overnight. NPA’s ability to defeat or stall multiple state proposals in 2025 was not accidental. It was the product of decades of investment in grassroots capacity, legislative credibility and institutional memory.
The central policy principle at stake in these state battles is federal supremacy. DSHEA established a national framework precisely to prevent the type of regulatory fragmentation now being pursued by state legislators. But the national framework under DSHEA is not invincible and cannot be taken for granted. It must be defended continuously.
In 2025, NPA did that work not only in state capitals, but in Washington, D.C.
The industry’s largest economic policy win of the year came through tariff relief efforts led by NPA. These efforts directly saved the industry billions of dollars, stabilizing supply chains and preventing additional cost burdens from being passed on to consumers. This was not abstract advocacy. It was material relief at a moment of global disruption.
Victory for NMN
Perhaps the most defining regulatory battles of recent years have centered on ingredient status and innovation. The NMN fight crystallized what regulatory uncertainty means in practice: a loss of confidence in the dietary supplement category, removal of products from e-commerce platforms, reluctance to innovate and invest, and risks and losses for responsible companies.
Resolving the fight over the legal status of NMN was not a product of informal engagement or incremental pressure. It required NPA to file a citizen petition, pursue a lawsuit against FDA for the second time in four years, and sustain pressure through all three branches of government.
This multi-year effort resulted in a favorable outcome, specifically an FDA reversal of its prior decision that NMN is excluded from the definition of a dietary supplement. In the 26-page letter sent to NPA on Sept. 29, 2025, FDA provided greater clarity regarding its interpretation of the drug preclusion clause in DSHEA.
FDA’s letter offers the industry a roadmap to amend (through legislation) the drug preclusion clause, but without our efforts, FDA would not have offered additional context on the meaning of the term, “substantial clinical investigation,” for example. We may disagree with FDA’s legal interpretations, but at least its point of view is now on the record.
NPA was also the organization that shaped a positive outcome for NAC, which was the subject of an NPA lawsuit filed against FDA four years ago. In both cases (NMN and NAC), NPA spearheaded expensive, time-consuming and risky actions. Many companies and organizations benefited from this work, but few were willing to fund or lead it.
These disputes were structural case studies in how regulatory ambiguity chills markets and how clarity can only be achieved when an organization is willing to challenge regulators directly, without any predetermined guarantee of success.
In 2025, NPA also secured a victory by requesting that FDA exercise enforcement discretion regarding placement of the DSHEA disclaimer. NPA worked with the American Herbal Products Association on this initiative, reinforcing that while NPA is fiercely independent it also values mutually beneficial partnerships.
FDA’s recent letter to the dietary supplement industry (regarding the DSHEA disclaimer) and its potential future regulatory amendment should quell opportunistic litigation and protect responsible companies from frivolous lawsuits.
Leadership
Institutionally, 2025 was also a year of leadership reinforcement. The appointment of NOW CEO Jim Emme as Chairman of NPA’s Board of Directors and the addition of industry journalist and lawyer Josh Long (as VP of Communications and Regulatory affairs) strengthened NPA’s bench. NPA is extremely grateful for the service of previous NPA Chairman Mark LeDoux, who led the organization in that role for many years.
NPA’s leadership translated directly into execution. NPA hosted the largest Fly-In Day the dietary supplement industry has ever seen, with hundreds of congressional offices visited across more than 30 states. This was not symbolic but strategic. It reinforced the importance of federal supremacy over dietary supplements, educated lawmakers, and put political weight behind the industry’s priorities.
Again, outcomes matter. This level of engagement does not occur without planning, credibility and relationships — all of which NPA has built over decades.
I cannot tolerate a narrative to persist that “everyone is doing the same work,” when the record clearly shows otherwise.
Silence has consequences. It enables free riding, discourages investment and weakens collective action. When companies benefit from regulatory certainty, tariff relief, litigation victories and state-level defeats without acknowledging or supporting the institutions that delivered those outcomes, the regulatory framework eventually collapses.
The lesson of 2025 is not subtle. Collective action cannot survive on goodwill alone. Leadership requires honesty about who shows up, who leads and who delivers results.
For too long, the industry has allowed others to define its story. In 2026, that must change. Supplements are not a fringe or fly-by-night category. They are part of the daily health routine for most American households.
Public policies in Washington, D.C., and across the U.S. will not reflect that reality unless companies invests in the associations driving efforts to protect the industry. With virtually 90 years of history, capped by a year of consequential wins in 2025, NPA is in the best position to lead these efforts.
