Is NOW a trusted brand for supplements?

Trust has a jurisdiction: what a large American brand's trust was earned under, why none of those rules protects a UK buyer, and the first two lines of conversion, the responsible operator and the claims

Is a large American family-owned manufacturer a trusted brand for supplements is a question that most answers treat as if trust were a property of the brand that travels in the tub, and the honest answer starts by noticing that it is not. The brand named in the question is not named in the body of this page, by rule, and nothing about its current formulations is quoted; what follows applies to any large American supplement brand bought by a UK buyer, and the brand in the question is the largest example of the case. Its trust was earned at home over decades, under American rules: a facility standard set by the American regulator and inspected by it; a label format with a Supplement Facts panel and daily values; a claims regime in which a brand may say a product supports a function of the body provided it carries a disclaimer; a recall system run by the American regulator and reported in American records; and a customer base that has read all of that for a generation. That is a real trust, built under a real system, and it is a trust in how the brand behaves under those rules.

A UK buyer is protected by none of those rules. In Great Britain a supplement is a food, the person responsible for it is the food business operator whose name and address are on the label, the claims it may make are the ones on the GB register of authorised health claims and no others, the doses are read against UK reference values and the upper levels set by the UK assessment, the label is governed by the UK food information rules, and the record of products found to be unsafe is kept by the UK food safety authority and the UK medicines regulator. So the trust a brand earned at home has to be converted at the border, line by line, into trust under the UK rules, and a brand can convert well on most lines and badly on a few. That conversion, not the brand's reputation in its home market, is what answers the question for a UK buyer.

The first line is the responsible operator. An imported tub must carry the name and UK or EU address of the food business responsible for it in Great Britain, which for an American brand means its official importer or its own UK entity; a tub bought from a UK retailer or the brand's own UK channel carries that address, and the trust converts, because there is now a UK business answerable for the product. A tub bought from a marketplace seller who shipped it from an American warehouse carries only the American address, no UK operator has taken responsibility for it, and the trust has not crossed at all, however good the brand; that is a grey import, and the brand's reputation does not attach to a tub nobody in the UK is responsible for.

The second line is the claims. The American regime lets a brand say a product supports immune function or promotes relaxation with a disclaimer; the GB register either has an authorised claim for that nutrient and that function or it does not, and a claim with no register entry may not be made on a tub sold here. For most of a large catalogue, the plain vitamins and minerals, the register has the claims, and the trust converts; the products whose entire American pitch is a structure and function claim with no register entry, which is the case for many botanicals and blends, arrive in the UK with no lawful claim to make and are sold by an importer who either relabels them or breaks the rules. The remaining three lines, doses, label and record, with the catalogue sorted into what converts and what does not, the worked example and the verdict, are in the next section.

The last three lines, doses against UK reference values and upper levels, the label against the UK rules, and the record against the UK lists; the catalogue sorted by whether its trust converts; the worked example with nothing to convert; and the verdict

The third line is the dose. American daily values and UK nutrient reference values differ for several nutrients, so a tub formulated to look like a sensible multiple of the American value can be an odd multiple of the UK one, and more importantly the UK upper levels, the daily intakes above which the UK assessment finds a risk, are the ceiling a UK buyer reads a dose against; a large American catalogue carries high-potency lines formulated for a market that tolerates them, and the trust does not convert for a vitamin B6 or a vitamin D at a dose above the UK upper level, because under UK rules that dose is not a trusted brand's dose but a risk. The fourth line is the label, which under the UK rules must carry the ingredients in descending order, the quantity of each nutrient per daily dose and as a percentage of the UK reference value, the warning not to exceed the stated dose, and the statement that a supplement is not a substitute for a varied diet; an imported tub with only its American panel has not been labelled for the UK, which is the importer's job, and a tub that has been overstickered with a UK panel has converted on this line. The fifth line is the record: the American brand's recall and inspection history is kept in American records, which a UK buyer can read, and its UK history is kept in the UK food safety authority's withdrawals and the medicines regulator's lists, which the buyer searches by brand; a large catalogue with a long UK presence and a clean UK record has converted its trust on the line that matters most, and the search takes a minute.

Sorted by those five lines, a large American catalogue falls into two piles. The commodity products, plain vitamins and minerals at doses below the UK upper levels, creatine monohydrate, plain amino acids, and the oils, convert on every line when bought through a proper UK importer: a UK operator is responsible, the register has their claims, the doses are within the UK ceilings, the label has been done, and the record is clean. For that pile the brand is as trusted in the UK as at home, and often cheaper than the UK equivalent. The other pile is the products that fail a line: the botanicals and blends whose only pitch is an American claim with no register entry, the high-potency lines above a UK upper level, and the products the UK medicines regulator treats as borderline medicines, which the American rules allow as supplements and the UK rules do not. For that pile the brand's trust does not cross, not because the brand is worse but because the rules are different, and the UK buyer who buys from it is buying under the American rules without the American regulator.

The worked example was built under the UK rules and has nothing to convert, which is the one advantage a UK-made product holds in this comparison and the only one this page claims for it: {FL}, 1500mg magnesium bisglycinate stated as 300mg elemental at 80% of the UK nutrient reference value, below the UK supplemental upper level, with a UK responsible operator and address on the label, claims for normal muscle function and the reduction of tiredness and fatigue taken from the GB register, the UK label format, batch testing for lead, mercury, arsenic and cadmium at an accredited UK lab, UK made under GMP and BRC, and a record searched in the UK lists in a minute; 180 capsules for £19.99 at 22p a day. The full label breakdown is here.

The verdict: a large American family-owned manufacturer is a trusted brand under the rules it earned the trust in, and a UK buyer converts that trust at the border on five lines, the responsible operator, the claims, the doses, the label and the record. For the commodity pile bought through a proper UK importer, the trust converts on every line and the brand is as trusted here as at home. For the botanicals, the blends with American-only claims and the high-potency lines above a UK upper level, it does not, and the buyer who wants those products is buying outside the UK rules. Trust has a jurisdiction, and the question is answered one tub at a time.

What to check on the label

Questions people also ask

Is a large American supplement brand safe to buy in the UK?

Safe under the UK rules when its trust has been converted on five lines: a UK or EU responsible operator's address on the tub, which a proper importer provides and a grey import shipped from an American warehouse does not; claims that exist on the GB register, which the plain vitamins and minerals have and many botanicals do not; doses below the UK upper levels, which the high-potency lines may cross; a label done to the UK rules; and a clean entry in the UK food safety and medicines regulator lists, searched by brand in a minute; the commodity pile converts on all five and the botanicals, blends and high-potency lines often fail one.

Why are American supplement doses different from UK ones?

Because the two systems set different reference values and different ceilings: the American daily values and the UK nutrient reference values differ for several nutrients, so a sensible multiple of one is an odd multiple of the other, and the UK upper levels, the intakes above which the UK assessment finds a risk, are lower than the doses an American high-potency line is formulated at for a market that tolerates them; a UK buyer reads any imported dose against the UK upper level, and a B6 or a vitamin D above it is not a trusted brand's dose under UK rules whatever the brand's home reputation.

Can an American brand make the same claims on a UK label?

Only where the GB register has an authorised claim for that nutrient and that function: the American regime lets a brand say a product supports immune function or promotes relaxation provided a disclaimer follows, while in Great Britain a claim either exists on the register or may not be made, so an importer either relabels a product to the register's wording, which works for the vitamins and minerals, or sells a product whose whole pitch is an American claim with no lawful UK equivalent, which is where the botanicals and blends fall, and a UK buyer who sees the American wording on a UK listing is reading a claim that should not be there.

What is a grey import supplement?

A tub shipped into the UK outside the brand's official import channel, typically by a marketplace seller from an American warehouse, which carries only the brand's American address and no UK or EU responsible operator, so that no business in the UK has taken legal responsibility for it, the label has not been done to the UK rules, and the brand's home reputation does not attach to a tub nobody here answers for; it is often cheaper and sometimes older, and the buyer who wants the brand's trust to cross the border buys through a UK retailer or the brand's own UK channel where an importer's address is on the tub.

Is this site's magnesium trusted under UK rules?

It was built under them and has nothing to convert, which is the one point this page claims for a UK-made product: a UK responsible operator and address on the label, claims for normal muscle function and the reduction of tiredness and fatigue taken from the GB register, 1500mg magnesium bisglycinate stated as 300mg elemental at 80% of the UK reference value and below the UK supplemental upper level, the UK label format, batch testing for lead, mercury, arsenic and cadmium at an accredited UK lab, UK made under GMP and BRC, a record searched in the UK lists in a minute, and 180 capsules for £19.99 at 22p a day.

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 US dietary supplement manufacturing framework, 21 CFR Part 111: current good manufacturing practice requirements for dietary supplement manufacturers, with facility registration and inspection by the Food and Drug Administration, the regime under which an American supplement facility operates. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-111
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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