Research note · September 2026 · 9-minute read · How to check an NMN supplement · Lab results by lot
One year after FDA changed course on NMN, what does a certificate of analysis prove about the bottle you bought?
What does an NMN certificate of analysis prove about the bottle? An NMN certificate of analysis shows what the lab measured in the sample it tested from one lot. It speaks to your bottle when the lot number printed on the bottle matches the lot on the report. For NMN360 lot NMN251218, HPLC identified NMN and measured 533.28 mg per serving against a 500 mg label claim.
On September 29, 2025, FDA concluded that NMN “is not excluded from the dietary supplement definition” under the drug exclusion provision. The agency later sent confirming letters to specific NMN ingredient suppliers. Neither action approved NMN360 nor verified any product's contents.
Why this matters
A certificate of analysis covers the sample a brand sent to the laboratory, not the bottle on the shelf
The laboratory prints that limit on the certificate itself, so it is neither a technicality nor a secret:
"The presented report is only applicable to the sample specified above and may not be applied to any similar or identical products." Ethos Analytics Laboratory, on both Numi Naturals certificates discussed below
Two published reports show how much that limit matters.
Put plainly: "third-party tested" means a sample passed on a date. The lot number printed on both the certificate and the bottle is what connects the two. Six checks below confirm the molecule and the dose on any NMN supplement before you buy.
The short result
533.28 mg of NMN per 1,280 mg serving equivalent, against a stated specification of 500 mg per serving. Reported by HPLC for the powder sample submitted as lot NMN251218.
The figure covers a powder sample, not each capsule, and says nothing about other lots or any health outcome. If your bottle's lot code starts with NMN251218, though, this is the report for the exact batch it came from.
Check your own bottle
- Turn the bottle over. The lot code is printed on the bottom. Use the part before the dash.
- Find that code in the lot archive. A match means the certificate listed beside it was issued for the same lot as your bottle.
- Code not listed? Email hello@numilove.com with it. We publish every NMN360 lot's certificate, whatever it reports.
Reading a certificate properly means reading four things: the sample tested, the method, what the laboratory measured, and what the report leaves open. This note does that for one public report, the Ethos Analytics Laboratory certificate for NMN360 lot NMN251218, including the parts that work against us.
Primary documents: HTML transcription of the report · the lot archive · the complete unaltered Ethos certificate (PDF)
How can you check an NMN supplement's dose before you buy it?
Ask the seller for the certificate of analysis that matches the lot number on the bottle, then confirm three things on it: the analyte is NMN, the method measures an amount, and the result is stated in milligrams per serving against the label. A seller who can't name the lot or produce its report has told you something already.
- Get the lot-specific certificate. Not a general brand certificate or the supplier's raw-material sheet. Its lot number should match the code on the bottle.
- Look for the molecule by name. The analyte line should read nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN).
- Check that the method measures quantity. HPLC reports an amount. An identity test such as FTIR shows the molecule is there, but it doesn't say how much.
- Compare the amount with the label. A product sold as NMN 500 mg should show a milligrams-per-serving result against that 500 mg.
- Don't read purity as dose. "99% pure NMN" describes the powder. A capsule of pure NMN can still hold less than the label says.
- Find out who tested it, and when. Look for a named lab, its ISO/IEC 17025 standing, a sample ID, a completion date and a signature, then read the limitation clause.
What those checks find on NMN360
How NMN360 lot NMN251218 reads against the six checks:
- The lot code is printed on the bottom of the bottle, and the certificate names the same lot, NMN251218.
- Nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) is the named analyte, and HPLC is the method.
- For that lot, the certificate reports 533.28 mg of NMN per serving, against a 500 mg per serving specification.
- Ethos Analytics Laboratory, which tests to ISO/IEC 17025:2017 standards, completed the report on January 3, 2026, and its laboratory director signed it.
Read it yourself in the HTML transcription or as the complete unaltered certificate (PDF).
How do you read a certificate of analysis for an NMN supplement?
Start with the Label Claim Profile. It names the analyte, the method, the measured result and the specification it was compared against, and those four fields decide whether a certificate speaks to dose at all. For lot NMN251218 the certificate records the following:
| Field | Reported information |
|---|---|
| Analyte | Nicotinamide Mononucleotide (NMN) |
| Method | HPLC |
| Result | 533.28 mg/serving |
| Specification | 500 mg/serving |
| Limit of quantification | 100 ppm |
| Serving size used | 1,280 mg |
| Sample type | Powder |
| Lot identifier | NMN251218 |
| Laboratory sample ID | 25EA1224-003 |
| Date completed | January 3, 2026 |
| Certificate issued to | Vox Nutrition |
| Authorized by | Noel Samsum, Laboratory Director |
The arithmetic comes to 106.7% of the nominal label amount. That ratio is here for transparency. We don't call it a laboratory "pass." The certificate marks the NMN analysis Complete, and it sets no upper acceptance limit and no conformity decision for the result.
Vox Nutrition, the contract manufacturer, is the customer named on the certificate. The report doesn't say who collected the sample or give a sampling plan.
HPLC is named as the method, with no chromatogram, replicate results or measurement uncertainty published. Read 533.28 mg as the lab's point estimate for this sample, not a method validation dossier.
What does "third-party tested" actually mean for an NMN supplement?
"Third-party tested" means an outside laboratory analyzed a sample and issued a report on it. The limitation clause quoted at the top of this note does more work than any "lab tested" badge. It won't let a result stretch to another lot, a look-alike product or a whole category.
Batch-linked laboratory reporting is the honest label for what this report offers. The lab reported on the sample it received, and no independent party has yet bought an NMN360 bottle off a shelf and tested it.
What this report establishes, and what it does not
| Evidence in the report | What it establishes for the submitted sample | What it does not establish |
|---|---|---|
| Measured HPLC: 533.28 mg/serving against a 500 mg/serving specification |
The amount of NMN reported for the powder sample using the certificate's 1,280 mg serving basis | Capsule-to-capsule uniformity, an upper conformity limit, stability through expiry, another lot, or a different product |
| Screened Arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury below the stated limits of quantification |
Those four metals were not quantifiable in this sample at the report's stated thresholds | Absence of every possible contaminant |
| Screened Seven microbiological results within their stated specifications |
The listed organisms and counts met the certificate's specifications for this sample | Sterility or the absence of organisms not listed |
| Identified Lot NMN251218 and laboratory sample ID 25EA1224-003 |
The document identifies which submitted sample the results describe, and bottles whose lot code starts with NMN251218 come from that lot | Independent verification of the manufacturer's sampling or lot-to-bottle chain |
| Scope Laboratory limitation clause |
The results cannot be carried over to similar or identical products | That one tested sample represents every unit in the lot |
No result on this certificate measures absorption, NAD+ changes in the body, effectiveness, safety for a particular person, or any clinical outcome.
What does matching your bottle's lot number establish?
Matching a lot number establishes traceability: the certificate and the container name the same batch. For a bottle whose lot code starts with NMN251218, lot matching delivers that link in full. It's the difference between a certificate for the product in general and the certificate for your batch.
Lot matching doesn't establish how evenly that lot was divided across every capsule. The laboratory tested powder, and fill-weight variation sits between the powder and a capsule. Your capsules still come from the same lot the laboratory reported on.
Lot matching is one rung on a ladder of evidence a brand can pay for:
- A certificate on a sample. In place for lot NMN251218.
- A lot code tying that sample to the bottle. In place, printed on the bottle bottom.
- A test of finished capsules. Not yet commissioned.
- Retail bottles bought and tested by someone else. Not yet done for NMN360.
NMN360 is the newest product in the line, so NMN251218 is its first lot, and each new one joins it in the lot archive.
Why this question matters after FDA's decision
The September 2025 response settled one threshold question. NMN is not excluded from the dietary-supplement definition under the drug-exclusion rule. That isn't approval, and it didn't create an FDA-approved product category. NMN is still a new dietary ingredient.
The response didn't address whether any supplier or formulation meets the notification requirements attached to that status, and this note makes no such claim. Product quality is a separate question, and two published reports have measured it.
| Report | What it found | What weighs against it |
|---|---|---|
| GeroScience, 2024 |
NMN content ran from −100% to +11.2% of label claim. 3 of the 18 NMN products had no detectable NMN. | Describes the products and samples in that study. Not a measurement of every NMN product now on sale. |
| ChromaDex, October 2021 |
64% below the method's reporting limit, meaning under 1% of the claimed NMN. 23% at 88 to 99% of label claim. 14% at or above it. Not detected at all in 14%. | A company publication, not peer reviewed. ChromaDex sells a nicotinamide riboside product competing with NMN. Samples bought in 2021, 4 years before the FDA decision. |
One detail in the 2021 survey outlasts its headline percentage. Ten of the 22 products named the same distributor, shared packaging and lot-coding conventions, came back at or below the reporting limit, and carried the same unidentified peak in the chromatogram.
Regulatory status, factory controls and a lab result each answer a different question. One can't stand in for another.
Sources: FDA response, September 29, 2025 · FDA's new dietary ingredient notification process · Testing the amount of nicotinamide mononucleotide and urolithin A as compared to the label claim, GeroScience 46(5):5075–5083, 2024 · ChromaDex, Quantitative Analysis of Twenty-Two NMN Consumer Products, 20 October 2021 (company publication, not peer reviewed)
The same laboratory, a different certificate, and a different answer
"Certificate of analysis" doesn't name one universal test. A second Numi Naturals report from the same lab answers a different question.
| Field | NMN360, lot NMN251218 | Saffron360, lot SAF250523 |
|---|---|---|
| Method | HPLC | FTIR |
| Result | 533.28 mg/serving | "ID Confirmed - Test sample has characteristics of the standard" |
| Specification | 500 mg/serving | "ID (Presence)" |
| Serving size used | 1,280 mg | Not specified |
| What it supports (this note's reading) | An amount for the submitted sample | Identity against a presence specification for the submitted sample |
The saffron result is an identity screen. It puts no number on the 88.5 mg the label lists, and neither certificate measures a health outcome.
Open the Saffron360 report transcription · the complete unaltered certificate, lot SAF250523 (PDF)
Why we publish the fields as HTML
The certificate itself is the controlling record, but it's hard to search. Each lot page carries the unaltered certificate beside its fields typed out as searchable HTML, limitations included.
Numi Naturals calls this lot-to-document publishing path BatchProof. BatchProof publishes and organizes documents. It doesn't test, select samples, certify products or expand what a certificate proves.
Lot report questions
What does the certificate not prove?
It covers the sample the lab tested from that lot, not other lots. The NMN251218 certificate lists the sample type as powder.
Who tested NMN360 lot NMN251218?
Ethos Analytics Laboratory, an independent third-party lab, under laboratory sample ID 25EA1224-003. Its ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation covers the heavy metal and microbial tests on the report.
Disclosure
Numi Naturals sells NMN360 and Saffron360. The certificates discussed here were commissioned through its contract manufacturer and issued to that manufacturer. Numi Naturals did not independently select retail samples for these reports. This page is Numi Naturals' interpretation of the published documents; the unaltered laboratory reports remain the controlling records.