Nearly one year after FDA changed course on NMN, what does a certificate of analysis prove about the bottle you bought?

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.

Under-dosed NMN and NMN that isn't there at all are what published label-accuracy testing has turned up. Both are checkable on paper before you spend anything, using these steps on any NMN supplement you are considering.

1. Get the lot-specific certificate. Ask for the report for the lot you would receive, not a general brand certificate or the ingredient supplier's raw-material sheet. The lot number on the certificate should match the code printed on the bottle.
2. Look for the molecule by name. The analyte line should read nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN). A report that lists other compounds, or no analyte at all, doesn't answer the question.
3. Check that the method measures quantity. A dose question needs a quantitative method such as HPLC reporting an amount. An identity test, often FTIR with a result like "ID confirmed", shows the molecule is present without saying how much.
4. Compare the amount with the label on the same serving basis. The result should be in milligrams per serving, or a percentage of label claim, beside the specification it was measured against. A product sold as NMN 500 mg should show its result stated against that 500 mg.
5. Don't read purity as dose. NMN purity figures such as "99% pure NMN" describe the powder. A capsule filled with pure NMN can still hold less than the label says, and only an amount per serving tells you what each dose carries.
6. Find out who tested it, what and when. Look for a named laboratory, its accreditation (ISO/IEC 17025 is the common standard), a sample ID, the sample type, a completion date and a signature. Then read the limitation clause, which says what the report covers and what it doesn't.

What those checks find on NMN360

Numi Naturals publishes the full certificate for each NMN360 lot, and the first one is public now. Run the six checks on it and here is what they show.

• 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 is ISO/IEC 17025 accredited, completed the report on January 3, 2026, on a powder sample submitted by the manufacturer, and its laboratory director authorized it.

The report covers that powder sample, not each capsule. A bottle printed NMN251218 comes from that same lot, so the certificate you are reading is the one for your batch. Read it yourself in the HTML transcription or as the complete unaltered certificate image.

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:

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, and the sample type is powder. The published report doesn't say who collected that sample, doesn't give a sampling plan, and doesn't record a retail purchase.

The accurate description is analysis of the powder sample submitted as lot NMN251218, not of a retail bottle chosen at random. Bottles printed with that code belong to the same lot the sample was identified with.

HPLC is named as the method, and the public document stops there, without a method identifier or detector, a chromatogram, reference-standard details, replicate results, recovery data or a measurement uncertainty. Read the number as the lab's point estimate for this sample, not as a validation dossier for the method.

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 laboratory's most important sentence is the limit it puts on that report, and on both Numi Naturals certificates it reads like this:

One clause does more work than any "lab tested" badge. It stops a result being stretched to a second sample, to another lot, to a product that looks identical, or to a whole category.

The clause also marks where this report stops, and where the lot number takes over. The certificate ties its results to lot NMN251218, and NMN360 bottles from that batch carry the same code, printed on the bottom.

Nothing in the published report shows that the laboratory picked the sample, watched it being made, checked capsule-to-capsule uniformity, or bought a finished bottle at retail. It reports on what arrived in the post.

Batch-linked laboratory reporting is the honest label for what this report offers. The certificate and a bottle marked NMN251218 share a lot number, and no independent party has bought that bottle off a shelf and tested it.

What this report establishes, and what it does not

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 marked 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 does not establish representativeness, which is whether the tested material reflects a given capsule. The laboratory tested powder, and you swallow a capsule. Blending, settling of the powder and fill-weight variation all sit between the two, and capsule-to-capsule uniformity was not tested.

Your capsules still come from the same lot the laboratory reported on. What the report can't tell you is how evenly that lot was divided across every capsule that was filled from it.

Lot matching is one rung on a ladder of evidence a brand can pay for. Here is where this note's evidence sits.

1. A certificate on a sample. Numi Naturals has this, in the Ethos Analytics report for lot NMN251218.
2. A lot code tying that sample to the bottle. Also in place, since bottles from that batch carry NMN251218 on the bottom.
3. A test of finished capsules from the same lot. This would measure the product as filled, uniformity included, and Numi Naturals has not commissioned one.
4. Retail bottles chosen by someone else. The top rung needs an independent party to buy bottles off the shelf and send them to a laboratory. Nobody has done that for NMN360 yet.

Numi Naturals publishes the certificate for every NMN360 lot, whatever it reports. One lot is published so far, and each new one will join 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 is not the same as approval, and no FDA-approved product category was created. NMN is still a new dietary ingredient.

Nothing in the response addressed whether any given supplier, process, formulation, dose or condition of use meets the notification requirements attached to that status. This note makes no claim that they do.

Product quality is a separate question, and two published reports have measured it.

• At or above label claim. 3 of 22 products.
• 88 to 99% of label claim. 5 of 22 products.
• Below the reporting limit, meaning under 1% of the claimed NMN. 14 of 22 products, with none detected at all in 3.

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.

The practical lesson is narrow. Regulatory status, ingredient research, manufacturing controls and sample-specific lab measurements each answer a different question, and none of them stands in for the others.

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" does not name one universal test. A second Numi Naturals report, from the same laboratory, answers a different question about a different sample.

An identity screen against a presence specification is all the saffron result is. It puts no number on the 88.5 mg the label lists and says nothing about saffron markers, potency or dilution. Both certificates stop at the sample named on the page, and neither measures a health outcome.

Open the Saffron360 report transcription · the complete unaltered certificate image

Why we publish the fields as HTML

The certificate as issued is the controlling record, but it's hard to search and easy to summarize too loosely. The lot pages therefore carry the unaltered certificate alongside its fields typed out as searchable HTML: sample and lot identifiers, lab and completion date, method, analyte, measured result, specification, and the report's own limitations.

Numi Naturals calls this lot-to-document publishing path BatchProof. BatchProof publishes and organizes documents; it does not perform laboratory testing, select samples, certify products, or expand what a certificate proves.