Top selling NMN products on Amazon do not necessarily have the NMN potency that they claim on their labels. Shockingly, only 3 of the 22 products that were recently tested by ChromaDex, an independent company, had NMN content at or above the labeled amount. To find the “best NMN supplement,” consumers need to take a more analytical approach, rather than following claims made by top-selling manufacturers.
Shockingly, 14 out of 22 supplement brands contain virtually no NMN:
NMN and NR are considered dietary supplements, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not regulate the manufacturing processes of supplements, quality control is a critical factor consumers need to consider. The quality control issue came under scrutiny when ChromaDex, a company that makes NR, tested and published in October 2021 the purity of 22 NMN products with the highest market share on Amazon. ChromaDex received those samples on September 8, 2021 and analyzed them by conducting High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) tests using a UV-Vis detector. The results are tabulated below:
This data was shocking because 14 of the 22 brands had below reporting limit (BRL) or not detected (ND) results, i.e. less than 1% of the claimed NMN content.
Which brands are acceptable?
5 of the 22 had NMN content “just below label claim,” in the 88-99% range.
Only 3 of the 22 brands had content at or above the label claim. Those three top brands are
- Infinite Age NMN
- Macc10 NMN
- ProHealth Longevity NMN
Some manufacturers are now responding to consumers’ quality concerns by self-reporting third-party conducted analyses of their own products. For example, ProHealth Longevity hired Micro Quality Labs, Inc. in Burbank, California, to test its product and displayed its results on Amazon.
Another manufacturer, Renue By Science (formerly known as Alive By Science), also used Micro Quality Labs to test and show that their products are at least 98% “pure.” Since manufacturers are continuously self-reporting updated third-party tests, consumers should look for those updates.
Can you run supplement quality tests on your own?
Consumers themselves can choose to hire a third-party analytical lab to test a product. While many analytical labs might not entertain the idea of working with individual clients, some labs like Summit National Laboratories in Utah charge approximately $200.00 to analyze samples for any clients. The analytical labs request that you send them about 20 – 25 grams of the samples of your interest.
Go with products with high purity
In conclusion, any of the top brands listed below that reported at least 98-99% purity in their products appear to be a sensible choice:
- Infinite Age NMN
- Macc10 NMN
- ProHealth Longevity NMN
- Renue By Science NMN