The most recent examination from NOW’s (Bloomingdale, IL) award-winning testing program, demonstrated “profound quality and labeling failings continue” for SAMe samples purchased on Amazon in October 2024. This is the 19th round of testing NOW has performed.
NOW previously investigated “suspicious” SAMe (S-adenosylmethionine) supplements from Amazon in March 2020 with all 11 testing at low potency and two testing at zero potency, the company said.
NOW said it chose to investigate SAMe again because the product is expensive and brands “appear to cheat regularly with costly products.” In the re-examination, NOW gathered a new round of samples from more brands to see if anybody corrected their false claims. In October 2024, NOW purchased two bottles each of 24 “suspicious” SAMe supplements from Amazon to test in-house and externally at Eurofins.
According to NOW, it chose some brands because they appeared to be “mislabeled based on excessively high potency claims.” It also chose several gummy supplements because “SAMe is unstable and can degrade quickly due to moisture and heat.” All the samples were tested using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).
According to NOW’s report, 20 of the 23 brands (excluding its own brand) failed potency testing, and 16 of the 23 brands contained less than 20 percent of label potency. Six brands contained zero potency including both gummy products. Also, five brands that failed in 2020 failed again with one containing zero potency and three containing less than 20 percent, NOW said.
For more information, visit www.nowfoods.com.
