What should you look for in informed sport checker?

The checker is a database searched from a tub: its five inputs, why each is needed, its three outputs, and the four things it cannot return because they were never attested

What should you look for in an Informed Sport checker is a question about a tool, and the tool is simpler than the name suggests: it is the programme's public product database, searched from the tub in the buyer's hand, whether through the programme's website, its app or a barcode scan. What a buyer looks for in it is the right inputs going in and the right reading of what comes out, because the checker answers a narrow question precisely and is misread when a buyer expects it to answer a wider one.

The checker wants five inputs, and all five are on the tub. The brand, because the database is organised by the companies that enrolled. The product name, because a brand certifies products one at a time and a brand with thirty products may have certified eight. The flavour, because certification attaches to a formulation and a vanilla is a different formulation from a chocolate, with different flavour systems and sometimes different sources. The size, because a different pack size can be a different production line, and some brands certify one size only. And the lot number, printed on the tub near the best-before date, because the programme tests every batch before release and lists the lots it tested, so the lot is the input that turns a product answer into a tub answer. A search by brand alone returns a list of what the brand has certified, which is useful for choosing and useless for checking; a search by all five returns an answer about this tub.

The checker gives three outputs. Whether the product, in that flavour and size, is currently certified under the programme. Whether the lot entered was tested, which is the output a tested athlete is there for, since a certified product's untested lot is, for strict-liability purposes, an unscreened tub. And the date, of the lot's test or of the product's certification, which tells the buyer whether the mark on the tub is still backed. Nothing else comes out, because nothing else was attested, and the four things a buyer most often expects and does not get are these: the purity of the raw material, which is a certificate of analysis from the supplier; the metals, which are a separate analysis under a separate law; whether the dose in the tub matches the label, which is a finished-product assay; and whether the dose is right for the buyer, which is the label read against the UK upper levels. The checker screens one risk, banned substances, and the four other questions are answered by four other documents, which the previous pages in this section cover.

Five inputs, three outputs and four absences set out, with the three meanings of not found and how each is resolved, the habit of checking before each purchase, the worked example outside the checker and the verdict in the next section.

The three meanings of not found and how each is resolved; checking before each purchase rather than once; the worked example not in the checker and carrying its own certificate; and the verdict

The result a buyer most needs to read correctly is not found, because it means one of three different things and the three call for three different responses. The first meaning is that the product was never certified: the brand is not enrolled, or is enrolled for other products and not this one, and the mark on the tub, if there is one, refers to something else or to nothing. That is a decision for the buyer, and for a tested athlete the decision is not to take it. The second meaning is that the product is certified but this lot was not tested: the product entry exists, the flavour and size match, and the lot number returns nothing, which happens when a lot was released without the programme's test, when a lot is so new that the database has not updated, or when the printed lot does not match the programme's record. For a tested athlete that is an unscreened tub whatever the product's status, and the response is to contact the brand with the lot number, since brands can and do confirm lots that were tested and not yet listed, and to treat the tub as unscreened until they do. The third meaning is that the search was wrong: a flavour name entered differently from the database's wording, a size entered in grams when the database lists servings, a lot number with a letter read as a digit, or a product renamed since certification. That is a retry, with the inputs read again from the tub, and most not-found results in practice are this one.

The checker is run before each purchase and not once, because the three outputs change: a product's certification can lapse or be withdrawn, a brand can leave the programme, and above all each lot is a new entry, so that the tub bought last time being listed says nothing about the tub in hand. A tested athlete who checks once at the start of a season and not again has a certified product and, after the first tub, an unverified habit; the check takes a minute per tub and the habit is the protection.

The worked example is not in the checker and says so, and it carries a different document by lot: {FL}, 1500mg magnesium bisglycinate stated as 300mg elemental at 80% NRV, two capsules with the evening meal, is not enrolled in any sport programme, so a search for it returns the first meaning of not found, honestly, and a tested athlete who wants a magnesium chooses one that returns a tested lot; what the product does carry is a batch certificate of analysis for lead, mercury, arsenic and cadmium by ICP-MS from an accredited UK laboratory, matched to the lot printed on the label and available on request, which answers one of the four questions the checker cannot, with the other three answered by the label's 300mg elemental against the UK upper level and the three-ingredient list. It is UK made under GMP and BRC, 180 capsules for £19.99 at 22p a day. The full label breakdown is here.

The verdict: look for the five inputs going in, brand, product, flavour, size and lot, all read from the tub, and the three outputs coming out, certified, lot tested, and date. Read what the checker cannot return, purity, metals, dose against the label and dose against the upper level, from the documents that do. Read not found as one of three things, never certified, lot untested, or a wrong search, and resolve each in its own way. Run the checker before each purchase, because each lot is a new entry. A product that is not in the checker is unscreened for banned substances, and may still carry every other document that matters.

What to check on the label

Questions people also ask

How do I use the Informed Sport checker?

By giving it the five things printed on the tub, the brand, the product name, the flavour, the size and the lot number near the best-before date, and reading the three things it returns, whether the product in that flavour and size is currently certified, whether that specific lot was tested before release, and the date; a search by brand alone returns a list of what the brand has certified, which helps with choosing and not with checking, and the check is run before each purchase rather than once, because every lot is a new entry and a certification can lapse.

What does it mean if a product is not on the Informed Sport checker?

One of three things, which the buyer tells apart before concluding: the product was never certified, because the brand is not enrolled or is enrolled for other products, which for a tested athlete is a decision not to take it; the product is certified but this lot was not tested, because it was released without the test, is too new for the database or has a lot number that does not match the record, which is an unscreened tub until the brand confirms the lot; or the search was wrong, a flavour worded differently, a size in the wrong units, a letter read as a digit or a product renamed, which is the commonest result and is fixed by re-reading the tub.

Does the Informed Sport checker show heavy metals or purity?

No; it screens one risk, substances on the anti-doping prohibited list, and returns whether the product is certified, whether the lot was tested and when, with nothing about the four things buyers most often expect from it: the purity of the raw material, which is a supplier's certificate of analysis; the metals, which are a separate analysis under a separate law with their own limits; whether the dose in the tub matches the label, which is a finished-product assay; and whether the dose is right for the buyer, which is the label read against the UK upper levels; each of those is a different document, asked of the brand or read from the label.

Do I need to check every batch on Informed Sport?

Yes, if the reason for checking is a test you could fail: the programme tests every batch before release and lists the lots it tested, so the protection attaches to the lot and not to the product, and the tub bought last time being listed says nothing about the tub in hand; a certification can also lapse or be withdrawn and a brand can leave the programme between purchases; a tested athlete under strict liability runs the five-input check on each tub, which takes a minute, and a recreational lifter who is never tested can check the product once and skip the lot, since the excess that leaves has no payout for them.

Is this site's magnesium on the Informed Sport checker?

No, and a search returns the first meaning of not found honestly, because it is not enrolled in any sport programme; a tested athlete who wants a magnesium chooses one that returns a tested lot, and this page says so rather than implying otherwise; what the product carries is a different document by lot, a batch certificate of analysis for lead, mercury, arsenic and cadmium by ICP-MS from an accredited UK laboratory, matched to the lot printed on the label and available on request, for 1500mg magnesium bisglycinate stated as 300mg elemental at 80% NRV in two capsules, UK made under GMP and BRC, 180 for £19.99 at 22p a day.

Sources

1. The sports supplement certification programmes: Informed Sport, Informed Choice, BSCG and NSF Certified for Sport test products or batches for banned substances, the assurance competing athletes rely on. https://sport.wetestyoutrust.com/
2. UK Anti-Doping guidance on supplements: strict liability means an athlete is responsible for any prohibited substance in their sample regardless of how it got there, contaminated supplements have produced UK anti-doping violations, and batch testing under a recognised programme is the risk-reduction step the agency describes while stating no supplement can be guaranteed free of prohibited substances. https://www.ukad.org.uk/athletes/supplements
3. The heavy metals analysis literature: inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry is the standard method for quantifying lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic in dietary supplements against regulatory maximum levels. PubMed record
4. The UK and EU guidance on tolerances for nutrition declarations: declared values may deviate from measured values within published tolerance bands, macronutrients by roughly 20% and vitamins and minerals in food supplements by roughly 20% below to 50% above the declared value, with rounding rules for each nutrient. https://www.food.gov.uk/business-guidance/nutrition-labelling

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