Bloomingdale, IL—Since 2017, NOW has been conducting an industry self-policing program of testing unfamiliar brands found on Amazon with a goal of addressing bad quality products in the marketplace. The company has now expanded its efforts to include testing products sold on Walmart.com, due to the platform’s increasing market share. NOW noted that it has not felt the need to test health food store brands or practitioner brands, as it views these brands as less suspect.

“NOW does this testing to publicly report which brands are labeling accurately,” said Dan Richard, VP of Global Sales and Marketing, NOW Health Group. “We welcome brands to communicate with NOW about these findings and openly share this information with all customers, industry trade groups and FDA.”

About Astaxanthin

NOW's latest round of testing (its 15th round) focused on Astaxanthin products. This carotenoid antioxidant is naturally derived from algae such as Haematococcus pluvialis, but it can also be made synthetically, NOW shared. Demand for astaxanthin supplements is growing. As WholeFoods Magazine has reported, the global astaxanthin market size was valued at $1.9 billion in 2022, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 17.2% from 2023 to 2030. (Read more about the benefits of astaxanthin: Astaxanthin: 5 research-backed reasons to love it.)

NOW reported that potencies have increased over the years; the company found three brands being sold today on Amazon at 24 mg. As NOW explained: "Astaxanthin is typically sold by producers in 1%-10% levels. This means that a 10% oil will require 100mg Astaxanthin algae in a softgel to get 10 mg label claim of Astaxanthin. Most Astaxanthin is sold in a liquid, oil-soluble form, which is packaged in softgels. Astaxanthin powders are more costly per gram, but still available."

NOW's Testing of Astaxanthin Products

This round of testing was prompted by a consumer who contacted the company and suggested problems in labeling and potencies.The consumer purchased a 24 mg product on Amazon and believed the product was mislabeled. The clues: the oil color and measured weight inside the softgel. NOW noted that 24 mg is a very high potency for Astaxanthin, and the prices advertised seemed too good to be true.  

NOW purchased two bottles of each product from 22 brands (including the NOW brand) on both Amazon.com and Walmart.com at the end of April 2023. These brands were chosen because they are less known and sold almost entirely on the two online platforms.

NOW shared that it has tested some of the same brands previously in other categories and found many problems. "For example, the aSquared brand has failed seven different product tests and has the worst record for potencies tested among all brands. This includes CoQ10 tested four different times from 2017-2022 and always testing below 50% of label claim. We Like Vitamins is another repeat offender, failing six different tests, and each of this brand’s potencies were less than 33% of label claim!  While We Like Vitamins did pass two earlier tests, previous tests showed zero potency of both Bromelain and Phosphatidyl Serine." 

Two tests were performed to assess the quality of each brand, using NOW in-house labs: 

• HPTLC (high-performance thin-layer chromatography) was used for identification of astaxanthin as coming from Haematococcus pluvialis algae.  
• HPLC (high-performance liquid chromatography) was used to quantify the amount of astaxanthin in tested products. 

NOW also sent one unopened bottle of each brand to Alkemist Labs (an industry-leading botanical identification contract laboratory)  to provide an independent report on the same products. Alkemist Labs performed HPTLC tests.

The results, as outlined by NOW:

• Even before the testing was conducted, NOW observed several brands with mislabeled potency claims on the front label panel versus the side panel.  
• TerraVita brand had "a drastic label error" by claiming 450mg “Astaxanthin Algae” per dry capsule. NOW explained: "The aSquared brand mislabels the supplements facts panel by stating 'Astaxanthin 10 mg…yielding 5% potency.'  This is very deceptive since the name of the product and Amazon’s description both clearly state 'Max Strength 10mg'. We Like Vitamins does the same labeling trick but is more deceptive by adding '10% potency yield' in a small, barely legible font. Later we found We Like Vitamins side panel to list the '10% potency yield' in normal font and another listing showed no '10% potency yield' on the label of their same product.
• 14 out of 22 samples failed potency testing
• 13 out of the 14 failures contained less than 1 mg of astaxanthin.
• Each of the 24-mg products "failed very badly" and the only gummy tested contained less than 1% of astaxanthin.

Previous testing by NOW has been conducted on brands that sell:

• Bromelain
• ALA
• glutathione
• phosphatidyl serine
• CoQ10
• SAMe
• quercetin
• curcumin

NOW also has reported multiple supplements sold on Amazon impersonating the NOW brand, as well as another prominent industry supplement brand.

WholeFoods Magazine Honors Quality Activists

WholeFoods Magazine recently recognized NOW and other industry leaders for such efforts, naming the 2022 Person of the Year: The Amazon.com Quality Activists. Richard told WholeFoods: "It is frustrating that honesty is not winning the day. Transparency on NOW’s part is not winning the day. Quality is not winning the day. People are buying products such as CoQ10 400 mg as serious heart support and could have a major health problem, and they are being cheated of the health benefits they want and need. That is the biggest disappointment.  Safety should be first for all brands, but cheaters continue to win the buy box for too many supplements on Amazon.”

In terms of how industry can help, Richard added: “Stores can publish NOW’s results to let consumers know ‘buyer beware.' They can share some of the many articles published about our testing programs in their newsletters or on social media. The low prices online are sometimes too good to be true. Local stores have many advantages that online stores can’t offer including service, in-person experience, sampling, and more. It’s not easy these days for any business, but many natural retailers still succeed by finding a worthwhile niche, providing quality health products and at a reasonable price.”