NOW tests creatine gummies, finds limits

NOW Health Group said on March 1, 2024 that it tested 12 creatine gummy products and found that half failed to meet their labeled creatine content claims. The results, published by Nutritional Outlook, also highlighted a second issue: NOW said it could not find a reputable third-party lab equipped to test gummy products alongside its in-house work. The company used high-performance liquid chromatography, or HPLC, with a creatine reference standard to measure potency. The findings landed as creatine sales continued to rise and brands pushed the ingredient into newer formats such as gummies and chewables. ### Which creatine gummy brands passed and which failed? NOW said six of the 12 brands it tested met or exceeded label claims: Bear Balance, Bod, Effective Nutra, Iron Labs Nutrition, Peach Perfect and Zhou. The other six brands — Astro Labs, Beast Bites, Create, Con-Cret, Greabby and Njord — failed to meet label claims, according to the company. (nutritionaloutlook.com) The tested products covered labeled serving sizes from 750 milligrams to 5,000 milligrams of creatine per serving, Nutraceuticals World reported, citing NOW’s results. The number of gummies per serving ranged from one to five, and claimed creatine per gummy ranged from 250 milligrams to 1,700 milligrams. (nutritionaloutlook.com) ### Why did NOW say gummies are harder to judge than powders? NOW said the failed gummies also showed creatinine, which it described as an unwanted creatine metabolite. The company said creatine is commonly sold in powder form because powder is stable, while adding creatine to water can lead it to convert to creatinine. Gummies are made with water, which NOW said makes dosing more difficult. (nutraceuticalsworld.com) Nutritional Outlook wrote in February 2026 that quality concerns persisted for gummies because of label-claim shortfalls and elevated creatinine linked to degradation from heat, moisture, acidic pH and storage, while powders were steadier. That later article cited the earlier NOW testing as one example of the issue. (nutritionaloutlook.com) ### What was unusual about the lab-testing problem? Katie Banaszewski, NOW’s senior director of quality, said the company was unable to identify a third-party lab that could test gummies. “It’s concerning that NOW was not able to identify a third-party lab to test the gummies, given the rapid growth of that delivery system and the regulatory requirement to confirm label compliance,” Banaszewski said, according to Nutritional Outlook. (nutritionaloutlook.com) NOW said its normal practice is to use reputable outside labs to generate a second, independent result. In this case, the company said, that step was not available because the labs it vetted and approved were not capable of testing gummy products. ### Did any brand dispute the results? (nutritionaloutlook.com) CON-CRĒT disputed NOW’s findings. Mark Faulkner, chief executive and founder of CON-CRĒT, told Nutraceuticals World that NOW’s analysis of its Creatine HCl Gummies was “inaccurate.” Faulkner said Vireo Systems, CON-CRĒT’s parent company, had established testing protocols and worked with multiple accredited labs during product development. (nutritionaloutlook.com) He said at least two trials at an independent ISO/IEC 17025:2017-accredited laboratory showed creatine HCl content above the 250-milligram label claim per 4-gram gummy, and said CVS Caremark also tested the product before putting it on shelves. (nutraceuticalsworld.com) ### What does this say about the broader creatine market? SPINS data cited by Nutritional Outlook showed creatine sales in the mainstream multioutlet performance category rose 71.9% in the 52 weeks ended Nov. 30, 2025, while natural-channel energy support sales rose 48.9%. Scott Dicker, SPINS’ senior director of market insights, said the ingredient’s consumer base had widened beyond young men to include women and older users, while new formats such as ready-to-drink products, gummies and chewables added momentum. (nutraceuticalsworld.com) Jim Emme, CEO of NOW Health Group, said in a December 2025 interview that the company continues to share testing results with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Federal Trade Commission and Amazon. Emme said the testing program, which he said has been running since 2017 or 2018, had also prompted some contract manufacturers to revisit their lab relationships and quality controls. (nutritionaloutlook.com) Nutritional Outlook revisited creatine on Feb. 13, 2026 in its “Ingredients to Watch” coverage, again citing gummy-format quality concerns alongside rising sales. NOW’s March 1, 2024 test results remain one of the named data points in that discussion, and Emme said the company plans to continue releasing testing results to regulators, marketplaces and trade publications. (nutritionaloutlook.com 1) (nutritionaloutlook.com 2)