Some people think they’re getting a bargain by buying supplements from lesser-known brands online instead of brands carried by their local natural products store. Unfortunately, sometimes the adage “You get what you pay for” holds true.
No one knows this better than Dan Richard, vice president of global sales and marketing at NOW, a natural products manufacturer that invests heavily in testing, both through internal and external labs. In 2017, NOW began testing lesser-known supplement brands and publishing its findings on its website, as well as sharing with the FDA and other trade organizations. Numerous products failed for potency and other quality issues.
Taste for Life recently caught up with Richard to learn more.
Taste for Life: Why did you start testing lesser-known supplement products sold online?
Dan Richard: I noticed certain brands selling CoQ10 400 milligrams in veggie caps. Our production people told me they couldn’t run this potency of sticky CoQ10 in a dry capsule on machines. I thought, “Hmm, that’s interesting.” Our internal team tested a brand, and it came back with just 25 percent of the potency claimed on the label.
At first, I contacted the Amazon sellers directly. Some said that whoever was making the ingredients for them was cheating—that they weren’t intentionally doing it. I watched to see what happened, but the brands continued to sell their products. A year later, we retested and got similar results.
TFL: What did you do next?
DR: We began testing more products to see how big the problem was. We published our results on our website and named names.
I emailed Jeff Bezos several times and received replies from someone who wasn’t him basically saying, “We’ll take a look at it.”
Then I started giving one-star Amazon reviews for products that failed. If a brand claimed CoQ10 400 milligram, and we tested it at 50 milligram, I left a review. I’d say, “My name is Dan Richard. I work for NOW Foods. We tested this lot number on this date, both internally and externally. The product is only 50 milligram—88 percent short of potency.” Then I added my own commentary. “This product should be recalled. You should not pay for this product.” We have some brands that have failed badly; one failed 11 consecutive tests with us. Consumers can see all the test results on www.nowfoods.com.
TFL: Are the products with potency below label claims sold in retail stores?
DR: We only test lesser-known supplement brands sold on Amazon, Walmart, or eBay. When a person walks into a health food store or Whole Foods or Natural Grocers and they find a product from Solaray or Solgar, they’re generally going to find a quality product produced with Good Manufacturing Practices.
TFL: What are your testing plans for 2025?
DR: We’re doing three tests this year. We just finished testing methyl B-12.
TFL: What else is your company focused on this year?
DR: Almost half of our business is international, so we’re concerned about tariffs. We have a division in Canada where we do a fair amount of business and a lot of cross-border business. Tariffs both ways harm business. If the US applies 25 percent tariffs and Canada does the same, prices leap.
A lot of natural ingredients come from India, including milk thistle and turmeric. It’s the world’s largest exporter of psyllium. India puts a high tariff on American agricultural goods. If we hit India with a reciprocal tariff, psyllium fiber may go from $12 to $20 a bottle. People will feel that.
We’ll see if we get there. I hope for the sake of everyone’s wallet that we don’t.
Testing Results
Find NOW’s testing results for the following ingredients on their website:
- Acetyl-LCarnitine
- Alpha Lipoic Acid
- Astaxanthin
- Berberine
- Bromelain
- CoQ10
- Curcumin
- Glutathione
- Magnesium Glycinate
- Methyl B-12
- Phosphatidylserine
- Quercetin
- Resveratrol
In April 2024, Amazon instituted a new requirement that all supplement sellers need Certificates of Analysis (CoAs) from approved third-party testing, inspection, and certification (TIC) organizations. Before that, it accepted CoAs directly from sellers.
