How to spot fake NMN

With the anti-aging supplement market expanding at an exponential rate, more and more companies offer NMN (Nicotinamide Mononucleotide) to the health – conscious consumers worldwide. 

The myriad benefits of this revolutionary Vitamin B3 derivative include improved cellular health, optimised focus and enhanced amelioration of the hallmarks of aging to name a few. Those are benefits that have just been demonstrated in mice, but NMN has been found to be safe and well tolerated in a human clinical study, and is taking the world of supplements by storm ever since. More human studies are underway, and we hope to see the results from rodent studies being replicated in the ongoing clinical trials. 

There are multiple companies that now sell NMN and it’s quite challenging to find a reliable supplier of this supplement that is more pricey than your average Multivitamin. 

We did all the research to help you decide on what’s the optimal brand of NMN you should trust and here are our top tips for choosing the best NMN on the market.

First and foremost, the most important thing you should pay attention to is of course the Certificate of Analysis. Most companies offer a certificate of analysis for their product. But there is a catch! What is the date that the certificate was issued? It is suggested that before you buy your NMN from a company displaying a CoA, that you check the date on the certificate. Surprisingly, we did some digging and even big supplement companies that offer NMN were displaying a CoA that was 18 months old! Meaning that this is most likely a CoA from a previous product batch. It goes without saying that a company that values their customers would test each batch of their premium product. 

Next, what is the CoA for? Most companies only test the purity of their NMN, with no results displaying for any other tests. However, the presence of heavy metals such as Arsenic, Mercury, Lead and Cadmium; the so-called Class I heavy metals that can significantly damage human health. This is another test that in our opinion, all manufacturers should be performing for each batch of their product. 

What else is essential to check for? The presence of microorganisms such as Escherichia Coli and Salmonella is something else you want to exclude before catering to consumers. Especially with raw materials that are not manufactured in the same country where they are encapsulated and packaged, ensuring that the product is clear of pathogens is crucial. 

And finally, a pH measurement. For specialty products such as NMN, the acidity may serve as another indicator of purity. The standard pH range of NMN is between 2.0-4.0. This means that by measuring the pH and verifying that the powder is indeed within this pH range before encapsulation, can only add to the customer’s confidence when evaluating a brand selling NMN. If the pH of the powder is outside of this range, it is likely that the product is cut or impure. If there is no pH measurement, well… do with this info what you want!

In the race after a bigger market share in this roaring NMN market, many companies are unfortunately misleading consumers with statements that are untrue. An example of such statement would be “Made in the US” (or equivalent such as “made in the UK”). At the moment, there are no manufacturing facilities outside of China that have the capability to produce NMN. There are some companies that claim that their product is “Made in the US/UK” while what they really mean is that they bought the raw materials from China and packaged it in their country of operation. 

Another example of a misleading statement is claims like “increased absorption” or “microionized” with no further evidence of this claim being backed by a certificate of analysis or otherwise. This of course applies not only to NMN, but to all supplements. Spotted a statement about the product quality or absorption? Ask for the evidence!

While less is more when it comes to calorie restriction and life expansion, same cannot necessarily be said for NMN prices. Yes, the prices of NMN are going down for the past year or so. But if you analyze the pricing of many vendors, especially on the Amazon marketplace, the race to the bottom in terms of pricing may actually be dangerous. The numbers don’t really make sense and most of these companies don’t offer a certificate of analysis. As NMN is a premium product that is produced through a multistep process in the lab, where complex biological reactions are taking place, you sure won’t reap the benefits of NMN with a cut product. Usually (there are of course exceptions to every rule), the cheapest companies are not the ones that can offer a superior quality. And with a product like NMN, quality is much more of a definitive factor than price. 

Of course, there are companies that overcharge as well and try to exploit consumers. So do your own due diligence before purchasing to ensure that your health is in good hands. 

The transparency of a company is a reflection of their values and the way they conduct business. Can you easily find a customer support email or phone number? And if so, do they actually reply to their customers’ queries? Is their company registration number and address displayed on their website? Do you know who is behind the company? Who leads their research? Who is putting their name on the line? Ask yourself what adds credibility to the company and what doesn’t seem right. 

Surprisingly, there are operational companies with a founder nowhere to be found and a trading name being different from the actual company name, adding layers of complexity for obtaining additional information about the business. 

Recent events have led many customers to questioning the good intentions of companies that chase aggressive growth and profits. For example, influencer marketing that takes many forms, may misguide consumers, creating an illusion that particular companies are great while others don’t even bother to do the bare minimum for their customers. An example of such incidence was in a popular Facebook group where people were complaining about only one company providing a group discount to it’s members. While others commented that they actually have reached out to the group administrator to offer better pricing so customers can choose, the post was shortly deleted and multiple members that were objecting to this practice were kicked out of the group. The group admin claimed that they were not receiving any renumeration from the particular company, however their actions speak louder than words. 

Another example of a bad growth practice is hijacking the comment sections of YouTube videos, where the YouTuber is talking about specific brand. We’ve observed this in multiple channels where a video is made about company X, but someone in the comments is talking about company Y. Usually it’s the same person mentioning company Y multiple times under many videos of the same YouTube channel.

If that is how they acquire customers, just ask yourself how they run their business when no one is watching!

This is probably not an exhaustive list of things to look for when choosing your NMN supplier, but we hope it gave you an idea of what to look for. Choosing a supplement brand is hard but hopefully after reading this article, you will be in a position to choose wisely!