NOW Foods flags creatine gummy testing limits

NOW Foods said its testing program found quality-control problems in creatine gummies and raised questions about how reliably the products can be tested by outside labs. The company said gummy formulations can complicate analytical sampling and, in some cases, leave tested ingredient levels out of step with label claims. The findings were published in trade coverage in late February and March 2024 and have continued to circulate in supplement-industry reporting into 2026. NOW said the issue was not only product potency, but also the lack of validated third-party methods for gummy formats. ### How many products did NOW test, and what did it say it found? NOW said it tested 12 creatine gummy brands using high-performance liquid chromatography, or HPLC, with a creatine reference standard of known concentration. The company said six brands met or exceeded label claims: Bear Balance, Bod, Effective Nutra, Iron Labs Nutrition, Peach Perfect and Zhou. It said six brands failed to meet label claims: Astro Labs, Beast Bites, Create, Con-Cret, Greabby and Njord. (nutritionaloutlook.com) Nutraceuticals World reported that the tested products claimed between 750 mg and 5,000 mg of creatine per serving, with one to five gummies per serving and claimed per-gummy amounts ranging from 250 mg to 1,700 mg. That spread, NOW said, added to the challenge of comparing label claims with measured content across different formulations. (nutritionaloutlook.com) ### Why did NOW say gummies are harder to test than powders? NOW said the gummy format itself creates analytical problems. In the company’s explanation, creatine is commonly sold as a powder because it is more stable in that medium, while adding creatine to water can lead it to convert into creatinine, a metabolite that NOW described as unwanted in this context. Gummies are made with water, which NOW said can make accurate dosing more difficult. (nutraceuticalsworld.com) The company said it detected creatinine in all of the gummies that failed to meet creatine content claims. Nutritional Outlook reported that some products also appeared visually similar enough for NOW to suspect common suppliers or manufacturers across multiple brands, though the outlet attributed those observations to NOW’s testing team. (nutritionaloutlook.com) ### What was the third-party testing issue? Katie Banaszewski, NOW’s senior director of quality, said the company could not identify a reputable outside lab equipped to test the gummies as part of its usual practice of obtaining a second, independent result. “It’s concerning that NOW was not able to identify a third-party lab to test the gummies,” Banaszewski said, according to Nutritional Outlook. (nutritionaloutlook.com) Nutraceuticals World separately reported that none of the outside labs NOW vetted and approved were capable of testing gummies in this case. Broader trade coverage later said the results highlighted a shortage of validated testing methodologies for gummy matrices among trusted third-party labs. ### Did any company dispute NOW’s findings? (nutritionaloutlook.com) Mark Faulkner, CEO and founder of CON-CRĒT, disputed NOW’s analysis of his company’s creatine HCl gummies. Nutraceuticals World reported that Faulkner called the analysis “inaccurate” and said Vireo Systems had established testing protocols and worked with multiple accredited labs during product development. (nutraceuticalsworld.com) Faulkner also said the company had tested the gummy in at least two trials using an independent ISO/IEC 17025:2017-accredited laboratory and that those trials showed creatine HCl content above the 250 mg label claim per 4 g serving. He added that CVS Caremark had subjected the gummies to its own testing program before putting them on shelves. (nutraceuticalsworld.com) ### What should readers take from the report itself? NOW framed the findings as a quality-control and testing-method problem, not as a challenge to creatine as an ingredient. On its current product pages, NOW continues to market creatine monohydrate powder and describes powder as a standard delivery format, while its quality pages say the company conducts extensive in-house testing and about 31,000 quality tests each month. (nutraceuticalsworld.com) The practical next step for readers is to check whether a gummy product discloses the form of creatine, serving size and third-party testing details. NOW’s results remain available through trade coverage published on March 1 and February 29, 2024, which list the tested brands and the company’s stated methodology. (nutritionaloutlook.com) (nowfoods.com)