What is the best now brand supplements from which country in the UK?

The country in one line, and the catalogue sorted by travel: why a UK buyer judges an imported range by what survives the journey, and the products that travel well

Which products from a large American family-owned supplement manufacturer are the best for a UK buyer, and what country they come from, is a question with a short first half and a longer second. The brand in question is American, incorporated and manufacturing in the Midwest of the United States, with its own factories and its own laboratory, and it has been for decades; its products reach the UK either through an importer who takes responsibility for them and puts a UK or EU address on the label, or through direct shipment from American sellers, in which case the buyer is the importer and no UK address appears. That line is the country that matters, because it decides which rulebook the tub answers to and who answers if it is wrong, and it is covered in full on the page on whether the listings are legitimate. The second half of the question, which of the brand's hundreds of products are the best buys for a UK lifter, is answered by a sort the brand's own website does not offer: by how well each product travels.

A tub made in the Midwest reaches a UK kitchen after a journey through a warehouse, a container or an aircraft hold, a customs declaration, a UK warehouse and a van, with heat and time at every stage and no cold chain at any of them. Some products are unchanged by that journey and some are not, and for a UK buyer the catalogue sorts itself into three groups on that basis before any category or price is considered: the products that travel well, which are the imports worth making; the products that travel badly, which are bought from a shorter chain; and the products that arrive with a claim problem, which are read twice.

The products that travel well are the dry commodities, and they are the brand's best buys for a UK lifter. Creatine monohydrate, a stable crystalline powder that keeps for years in a sealed tub and is unchanged by any temperature a container reaches, with the brand's version being the plain monohydrate every trial used. Protein powder, dry and stable, with the caveats that apply to any protein, that the label's grams are checked against the amino acid profile and that the flavouring is to taste. Minerals in capsule form, magnesium, zinc and the rest, inert salts that do not degrade. Vitamins in capsules rather than oils or gummies, which keep their potency for the label's shelf life in a sealed container and lose it only to heat extremes that a sea journey does not reach. These are commodities, made by many manufacturers, and the reason to import them from this brand rather than buy them from a UK maker is price and range, since a large vertically integrated manufacturer sells a plain commodity at a plain price, and the reason not to is the chain's length, which for a dry commodity costs nothing.

The country answered and the first group sorted, and the two groups that travel badly or arrive with a claim problem, the conversions and the worked example, which is the next section.

The products that travel badly and the products that arrive with a claim problem, the two conversions a UK buyer makes, the brand left unnamed, the worked example placed as the shorter chain, and the verdict

The products that travel badly are the ones whose value is lost to heat and time, and for these the shorter chain wins regardless of price. Fish oil and other omega-3 oils oxidise, the process accelerating with temperature and with every day between pressing and swallowing, and the oxidation markers that measure freshness are not printed on the label and cannot be seen or smelled until they are far advanced, so that an oil that has crossed an ocean and sat in two warehouses arrives with a freshness a buyer cannot judge; a UK or European oil with a shorter chain and a published oxidation figure is the better purchase even at a higher price. Live bacterial cultures die in heat, and a product whose label states a count at manufacture may deliver a fraction of it after a container crossing in summer, which is why the brands that take cultures seriously ship them cold and the ones that do not state a count at the end of shelf life. Soft gels of any kind, oils in capsules, sit in the same group. For a UK buyer the rule is that anything living or oily is bought from the shortest chain available and anything dry can come from anywhere.

The third group arrives intact and arrives with a claim problem. An American label is written to American rules: the supplement facts panel states percent Daily Value against American reference intakes rather than the UK's nutrient reference values, vitamin D is stated in international units with 40 to a microgram, servings are often two or three capsules where a UK label states one, and the structure-function claims permitted on an American label, the supports immune health and promotes joint comfort phrasing, are not authorised health claims under the register a UK product answers to and would not be lawful on a UK label. A buyer makes two conversions, Daily Value to NRV and international units to micrograms, and discounts the claims to the ones on the register, before comparing the imported tub with a domestic one; the brand's products are often well formulated and the labels honest by American standards, and the dialect still needs translating.

The brand is not named in the body of this page, by rule, and the rule serves the reader, because the sort by travel applies to every imported American range and not to one, and a reader with any of them in mind applies the three groups to its catalogue: import the dry commodities if the price is right and the importer's address is on the tub, buy the oils and the cultures from a shorter chain, and translate the labels. What is true of this manufacturer, a large catalogue, its own factories, a commodity price on plain products and a long chain to the UK, is true of its American peers, and the question of which is best among them is answered by the same documents as for any brand, the batch certificate by lot number and the manufacturing standard, which the larger American manufacturers tend to publish well.

The worked example is placed as the shorter chain: {FL} is made in a UK facility certified to GMP and BRC, which means no journey to survive, a label worded to the Great Britain register with claims for normal muscle function, normal psychological function and the reduction of tiredness and fatigue, 1500mg magnesium bisglycinate stated as 300mg elemental at 80% NRV in UK units, two capsules with the evening meal, batch tested for lead, mercury, arsenic and cadmium with the certificate on request by lot number, 180 capsules for £19.99 at 22p a day. A dry mineral in a capsule would travel well from anywhere; this one does not have to. The full label breakdown is here.

The verdict: the brand is American, made in the Midwest, and the country that matters to a UK buyer is the one on the importer's address line. Its best products for a UK lifter are the ones that travel well, the dry commodities, creatine, protein, minerals and capsuled vitamins, imported at a commodity price with a UK address on the tub; its oils and live cultures are bought from a shorter chain; and its labels are converted from the American dialect before being compared with a domestic one.

What to check on the label

Questions people also ask

What country are this brand's supplements made in?

The United States: the manufacturer in question is a large family-owned company incorporated and manufacturing in the American Midwest with its own factories and laboratory, and its products reach the UK either through an importer who takes legal responsibility and puts a UK or EU address on the label, or by direct shipment from American sellers, in which case the buyer has become the importer; the country that matters to a UK buyer is therefore the one on the address line, because it decides which rulebook the tub answers to and who answers if it is wrong.

Which of the brand's products are worth buying in the UK?

The ones that travel well: creatine monohydrate, protein powder, minerals in capsules and vitamins in capsules are dry commodities that are unchanged by the heat and time of a sea or air journey and arrive exactly as made, and a large vertically integrated manufacturer sells them at a commodity price, which is the reason to import them if a UK address is on the tub; the oils and the live cultures lose value on the journey and are bought from a shorter chain, and the labels are converted from American units and claims before comparing.

Is imported fish oil from America still fresh?

A buyer cannot tell, which is the problem: omega-3 oils oxidise, the process accelerating with temperature and with every day between pressing and swallowing, the markers that measure freshness are not on the label and cannot be seen or smelled until far advanced, and an oil that has crossed an ocean and sat in two warehouses without a cold chain arrives with a freshness the buyer cannot judge; a UK or European oil with a shorter chain and a published oxidation figure is the better purchase even at a higher price, and the same rule covers live cultures.

How do I read an American supplement label in the UK?

By converting two things and discounting a third: the percentage column is percent Daily Value against American reference intakes, not the UK's nutrient reference values, so the figures differ for several nutrients; vitamin D is often in international units at 40 to a microgram; servings are often two or three capsules where a UK label states one; and the structure-function phrases American labels permit, supports immune health and the like, are not authorised health claims on the register a UK product answers to, so they are set aside and the formulation judged on its own.

Is a UK-made magnesium better than an imported one?

For a dry mineral in a capsule the journey costs nothing, so an imported one made to a good standard with a UK importer's address is a fair purchase; the worked example simply has no journey to survive, being made in a UK facility certified to GMP and BRC with its label worded to the Great Britain register, 300mg elemental at 80% NRV in two capsules with the evening meal, batch tested for four metals with the certificate on request by lot number, at 22p a day, and the comparison between the two is made on the same documents, the batch certificate and the manufacturing standard.

Sources

1. The food information regulations on responsibility: the food business operator under whose name a food is marketed is responsible for the information, and for a food imported from outside the UK that operator is the importer, who must ensure a compliant label in English with a UK or EU address. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2011/1169/article/8
2. The fish oil oxidation literature: peroxide and anisidine values combined as the TOTOX number measure the oxidation of a fish oil, with industry voluntary limits, and oxidised oils have been found in retail products, so a third-party oxidation result is a meaningful test for a fish oil in a way a non-GMO badge is not. PubMed record
3. The US Supplement Facts panel rules, 21 CFR 101.36: serving size and servings per container, amount per serving with percent Daily Value, an asterisk where no Daily Value is established, proprietary blends declared by total weight, and other ingredients listed below the panel. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-101/subpart-D/section-101.36
4. Retained Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 on nutrition and health claims made on foods, and the Great Britain nutrition and health claims register. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/great-britain-nutrition-and-health-claims-nhc-register

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