ChromaDex Tested NR Supplements in 2025. 87 Percent Failed.

If you've been spending money on NAD boosting supplements over the last few years, brace yourself. There's a good chance the bottle in your cupboard contains less of the active ingredient than the label claims.

How much less? In some cases, none.

In 2025, ChromaDex, the company that makes Tru Niagen and holds key patents on nicotinamide riboside, ran an independent test on a basket of NR supplements sold online and on retail shelves. They tested 28 different brands. Most of them were marketed as containing 250 to 500 milligrams of nicotinamide riboside per serving.

The result? Eighty seven percent failed to meet their label claims.

Some had less than half the stated amount. Some had no detectable NR at all. A few contained substances that weren't even pharmaceutical grade nicotinamide riboside. They had a related compound that gets metabolised differently and probably doesn't deliver the same benefits.

Now, before we go further, you should know that ChromaDex has a commercial interest in this. They sell the most expensive NR supplement on the market and they hold patents that competitors are accused of infringing. So a study showing that competitors' products are garbage is, conveniently, also a study that boosts ChromaDex's market position.

That's worth keeping in mind. But the methodology of the study was sound, the labs were independent, and similar testing by other groups has found similar patterns in the broader supplement market. The conclusion, that the NAD precursor supplement industry is full of products that don't contain what they say they contain, is consistent with what consumer protection investigators have been finding for years.

The supplement industry is a 50 billion dollar business globally. It is barely regulated. Manufacturers don't have to prove a product works before selling it. They don't even have to prove it contains what the label says. The FDA only investigates after problems emerge, which usually means after people have been ripped off for years.

You, the consumer, are the quality control system. Which is fine if you know what to look for. Most people don't.

So here's how to actually evaluate a supplement brand. This applies to NMN, NR, creatine, vitamin D, anything you're putting in your body that came in a pill bottle.

The first thing to look for is third party testing. The phrase you want is "Certificate of Analysis" or "third party verified". Reputable companies pay independent labs to test their products and publish the results. The certificates should be available on their website, with batch numbers, dates, and the name of the testing lab. If a company won't show you their COA, treat that as a red flag and move on.

The second thing is the source of the active ingredient. Most supplement companies don't manufacture their raw materials. They buy them from suppliers, often based in China or India, and put them into capsules. The same raw material can vary wildly in purity depending on the supplier. Companies that disclose their supplier or use patented, branded ingredients with documented quality control are usually more trustworthy than ones that just say "nicotinamide riboside" with no further detail.

The third is GMP certification. Good Manufacturing Practice certification means the facility producing the supplement meets basic standards for cleanliness, batch consistency, and quality control. NSF, USP, and Informed Sport are the most common certifiers. A GMP certified product isn't guaranteed to be excellent, but a non certified product is much more likely to be junk.

The fourth is whether the company makes specific, testable claims. If a supplement company says "supports cellular energy production", that's a vague marketing statement that doesn't mean anything. If a company says "contains 300mg of nicotinamide riboside per capsule, third party verified" and provides documentation, that's a specific claim you can hold them to. Specific claims with documentation are good. Vague claims without documentation are usually a sign the company doesn't actually know what's in their product.

The fifth is reviews from people who actually know what they're talking about. Not Amazon reviews, those are easily manipulated. Look for independent supplement reviewers who do their own testing. Examine.com is one of the better resources for honest, unfunded analysis. Lab test reports from sites like Labdoor are useful but their coverage is limited. Use these, not random YouTube influencers being paid by the brands they're promoting.

The sixth is to be deeply suspicious of brand new companies with hyper aggressive marketing. The supplement world has a constant churn of new brands launched by people who saw a TikTok trend and decided to slap their logo on a generic pill. They source the cheapest possible raw materials, package them prettily, run paid ads, and disappear within two years. By the time independent testing catches up, they've already moved on. Look for companies with a track record. Ten years in business is a much better signal than two months and a viral influencer post.

What about price? Honestly, price is a weaker signal than people think. Some expensive supplements are excellent. Some are overpriced for the same generic ingredient. Some cheap supplements are surprisingly good. The price tells you more about the marketing budget than the product quality. The third party testing tells you about the product quality.

Now, what should you do if you've been taking an NR or NMN product and you're not sure if it's legitimate?

Two practical steps. First, look up your specific brand on Labdoor or check whether the company publishes a Certificate of Analysis on their site. If you can't find independent verification, assume the worst until proven otherwise. Second, if you really care about the outcome, get a baseline NAD blood test before you start a supplement, then test again after 8 weeks. A few companies offer this. If your NAD didn't move, the supplement isn't working, regardless of what's on the label.

The bigger picture here is that the supplement industry runs on consumer trust that's mostly unwarranted. The longevity space in particular has been flooded with low quality products riding on the wave of celebrity scientist endorsements and influencer marketing. The actual research is sometimes solid. The actual products you can buy are sometimes garbage. Those two facts are not the same fact, and confusing them is expensive.

David Sinclair takes a gram of NMN every morning. That's his choice and he can afford to be careful about the source. If you're following his lead, the question isn't whether you should take NMN. It's whether the bottle on your shelf contains anything close to what the label says.

For most NR products in 2025, the answer is no.

For most supplement categories generally, the answer is "you have no idea unless you check".

That's not a great place to be when you're spending hundreds of dollars a month on something you can't verify. The fix is to do the verification yourself, every time, before you buy. Annoying. Necessary.

The supplement industry isn't going to clean itself up. The regulators aren't going to do it for you. The only person looking out for your wallet and your health on this one is you.

Think of it this way. You wouldn't put petrol in your car without checking the pump was actually delivering petrol. The chemistry going into your body deserves at least the same level of scrutiny.

Worried that what you're putting in your body might not be doing what you think? Take the Longevity Quiz at longevityfutures.online and find out where your habits actually have you.

Originally published on [Longevity Futures](https://longevityfutures.online)