[@RenaissancePeriodization] Inside The Lab That Busts Fake Supplements (Huge Problem)

Link: https://youtu.be/zykO04T9r08

Duration: 16 min

Short Summary

Light Labs in Ann Arbor tested Amazon's top-selling creatine gummy and found zero creatine in the $40 product. A protein powder claiming 21g of protein contained only ~3g—an approximately 90% miss. Multivitamins are identified as especially problematic products because formulating 10+ vitamins that remain stable over an 18-month shelf life across various matrices (gummies, capsules, gels) involves significant chemical incompatibility challenges that cause degradation within 6-9 months.

Key Quotes

1. "The number one seller on Amazon did not have any creatine in their gummy." (00:02:07)
2. "Protein powder claiming 21 g of protein, and they had something closer to 3 g of protein." (00:00:21)
3. "To miss by that much, you have to intentionally be filling it with something else." (00:00:26)
4. "the economic incentive for fraud is so high" (00:04:27)
5. "I would say multivitamins as a category" (00:08:35)

Detailed Summary

Key Findings: Supplement Testing and Quality Issues

Creatine Gummy Fraud on Amazon Light Labs in Ann Arbor, Michigan tested the #1 selling creatine gummy on Amazon and found zero creatine in the product—despite it selling for $40. Creatine is the most expensive ingredient in supplements, creating strong economic incentive for fraud. Amazon is now beginning to require stricter testing and proof that products contain what they claim due to this fiasco.

Protein Powder Mislabeling A protein powder claiming 21g of protein contained only ~3g, with the excess being carbohydrates. This product was sold in grocery stores (not just Amazon), missing the mark by approximately 90%.

Why Multivitamins Are Especially Problematic

• Formulating multivitamins with 10+ vitamins that remain stable over an 18-month shelf life is extremely challenging due to chemical incompatibility issues
• B vitamins are highly susceptible to degradation during heat and pressure in manufacturing, unlike creatine which is relatively stable
• Chemical incompatibility causes degradation that can make products significantly less effective within 6-9 months, even if they test fine at day zero
• Multivitamins are described as "hard mode" products, especially when formulated as gummies, capsules, or gels
• Simple powder products in bags are much less likely to have efficacy issues than complex proprietary blend products in advanced matrices or gummies

Real-World Case: Vitamin D Degradation

A case was described where someone's D vitamin blood levels continued dropping despite doubling supplementation. This was likely due to oxidation degradation during warehouse storage and shelf time, demonstrating that even brands that manufacture correctly can end up with degraded products.

Supply Chain Vulnerabilities

Heat, light exposure, and improper storage conditions during supply chain transit can degrade supplements even when the brand manufactured them correctly initially. This is why off-shelf testing—purchasing products from retail locations and testing them in the lab—is recommended to ensure efficacy throughout the supply chain up to the point of expiration.

Recommendations for Consumers

1. Ask brands for their Certificate of Analysis (COA) or lab data showing actual test results for that product down to the lot level
2. Look for GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) certification as a baseline verification
3. Look for stability studies that test products at multiple time points throughout the claimed shelf life
4. Where you buy matters—retailers like Whole Foods require proof of product claims, while platforms like Amazon are only recently beginning to enforce stricter requirements

Industry Vision

The vision for the supplement industry is to make rigorously tested products the standard so that brands doing it right can win market share and incentivize competitors to fix quality issues.

Full Transcript

Show transcript

Hey folks, Dr. Mike here with Life
Strength, and I'm here at Light Labs in
Ann Arbor, Michigan, and we're going to
find out if the supplements that you're
taking have actual supplements in them.
Let's go find out.
>> The number one seller on Amazon did not
have any creatine in their gummy. Wow,
legit. Protein powder. Yeah, protein
powder claiming 21 g of protein, and
they had something closer to 3 g of
protein.
>> 3 g of protein. To miss by that much,
you have to intentionally be filling it
with something else. [music] To me, it
speaks to
>> what I would say is clearly a bad actor.
How do I as a consumer do a little bit
extra to make sure I'm not getting
screwed over?
>> [music]
>> Yeah, so this room is where all of our
supplements are tested for active
ingredients, things like creatine,
vitamins, the potency of all of that.
Like, this is where This is where it
happens.
So, that's the same temperature as the
surface of the sun. No kidding. Yeah,
it's basically like blasting anything in
there to its like individual like
elements.
What do you guys do at Light Labs?
What's Light Labs all about? So, the
main goal behind Light Labs is increased
transparency in the consumer good space,
which includes food, supplements,
vitamins, etc., so the consumers can
start to understand what's in and what's
not in the products. Excellent. There
must be some stories you guys know about
supplements
Yeah. in the health space, fitness space
>> Yeah. that have gone considerably
off the freeway ramp of claims versus
what's in them. I think one of the areas
that
was pretty insane to look into was the
creatine gummy category. Creatine
gummies.
>> This is probably the most [music]
popular performance-enhancing
supplement.
>> But I'm taking it now more consistently
than I've ever taken it before, cuz with
the gummies, it's so easy. This is what
what I checked a few months ago, but the
number one seller on Amazon at the time
did [music] not have any creatine in it.
And so Can you say that again just to
make sure [laughter] we're
understanding? The number one seller on
Amazon did not have any creatine
>> [music]
>> in their gummy. And the It was a
creatine gummy.
>> creatine gummy. Sold not because it
tasted good, but because it had
ostensibly creatine in it. Exactly. And
it didn't. It did not.
>> So, when you mean did not, it means it
had less than proposed with 97% of the
creatine or or or
>> [music]
>> You mean 0%? I believe it was like
>> This was zero. It was zero. Okay. This
was zero. Yeah.
>> [music]
>> It's It's absolutely insane, and
>> Holy crap. And the reviews were good. I
think people were just placebo effect,
[laughter] right?
>> Yeah, oh yeah. We can't really tell when
you're on creatine to be Correct. You
can't. You can't. It's like Yeah, how
much do I weigh today?
>> [laughter]
>> Muscles feel fuller.
>> Right. Um but it's pretty insane.
What's that protein [music] story that
uh
So, I might get the numbers wrong, but I
want to say they claimed 21 g of protein
and it had 3 g of protein. And then the
excess was just carbohydrates. And it
was sold in grocery stores, right? And
so, it wasn't even like People can argue
Amazon, and they're doing things to
change this, where they're going to
require stricter testing to prove that
you have what you claim to have and are
free of certain contaminants.
>> [music]
>> Um and I think Amazon's beginning to
shift in that direction because of the
creatine gummy fiasco, [music]
but this was sold in a high-end
retailer.
>> It's insane. And just missed the mark by
whatever that percentage is. 90, 90%.
So, this Let's get the whole story here.
This was a protein powder.
>> Protein powder. Yeah, protein powder
claiming 21 g of protein, roughly around
there, and they had something closer to
3 g of protein. To three? 3 g of
protein. [music] Yeah. And the actual 18
g between that was carbohydrate. Filler,
right? Obviously. Yeah, filler. Do you
think this was nefarious?
Okay, that's To be that off Right.
[laughter] I was going to say. So,
don't have all the details, so can't
opine. I can opine, and I will. Please.
It has to be nefarious. To miss by that
much, you have to intentionally be
filling it with something else. And if
your manufacturer's responsibility is to
test inbound raw materials, so
>> should have caught this. So, [music] to
me, it speaks to one of the instances of
what I would say is clearly a bad actor
[music] who is just optimizing on great
margins. Like they just
>> [laughter]
>> Yeah. And the margins don't weigh
already.
And that's actually the issue is like
the economic incentive for fraud is so
high, [music] right? Cuz these creatine
gummies are selling for $40 a pop. And
there's no creatine, and that is
obviously the most expensive part of a
creatine gummy.
>> Wow.
>> this is why I think more brands, more
platforms [music] being online, but also
retail stores
are going to start forcing some amount
of testing because consumers are waking
up to this idea. There's more and more
exposure that what you're buying is not
necessarily guaranteed to be what you're
getting.
If you're in Whole Foods, you're likely
in other stores. [music] Whole Foods and
these other retailers
they do require some level of proof.
Sure. So, I would say where you buy
actually matters a tremendous amount.
[music] Um and this is why Amazon is
beginning to shift way more in this
direction because it's a huge
I would argue risk to their business,
where if you learn that anything can be
peddled on Amazon I just don't go on
Amazon.
>> Exactly. You're not going to buy your
supplements on Amazon. As a consumer,
other than like going to Whole Foods and
Amazon and just trusting that they have
my back, which they largely do
is there anything else I can make sure
like I'm looking up like the lab stuff?
I know that if I turn the back of my
container for protein, it's got like GMP
something or other. What What is all
that? How do I as a consumer do a little
bit extra to make sure I'm not getting
screwed over? Yeah. I think the thing
that the component that makes all the
difference is just asking the brand for
their certificate of analysis or for
their lab data.
Um if you ask any company, they should
be able to send that to you. They should
have that on file. They should have it
readily accessible and send you the
actual lab results for that product down
to the lot. Okay. That company that was
selling the not protein protein
Yeah. did they not have a lab vetted at
all?
We don't know the specifics. I mean, you
can't, right? There's no lab that could
accidentally test Right. and show that
they actually had the 21 g of protein or
like plus or minus 20%. Um that's more
for food less so for supplements, but
there's no lab that's going to be off by
90%. So, my gut would say no. They
didn't work with a testing partner. You
mentioned GMP. A lot of supplements,
it's good manufacturing practices.
There's a certain level of testing uh
required of GMP facilities. And so, I
would definitely look for a GMP mark.
And then third, which is I actually
think almost more interesting than a
certificate of analysis, something
called stability study. COA is a uh
point-in-time result of we received the
sample as is, we tested this day, here
are the results.
The issue is
everything that you consume, especially
when it gets into supplements, uh some
of the actives are highly susceptible to
degradation.
>> the active ingredients. The active
ingredients. Like the creatine. Yeah,
creatine gummies.
>> Creatine is is a pretty stable, but like
your your B vitamins, right? Anytime you
manufacture something, you're
introducing it typically to like heat,
pressure, unless it's just a straight
like powder encapsulation or a straight
powder in a bag. This introduces
elements that you have to take into
account when you're formulating. A
stability study basically says we're
going to test this product over the
period of the shelf life. So, if you
claim 2-year expiration, you test at
these different time points to show that
at each time point up until point of
expiration, it has what it claims to
have on the SFP. And so, you have some
formulas that are
chemically incompatible
and degrade close to immediately. And
so, you're buying a product that even if
you test it like day zero it's going to
be a different product from a efficacy
standpoint call it 6 to 9 months down
the road because of the potential
degradation.
>> Yeah. So, I would say stability studies
paired with a COA, paired with you know,
good manufacturing practice, co-packers,
which most brands will highlight that as
a selling point. Those are the things
that you know, I look for now. Very
cool.
Are there any
classes of supplements
which are more often running into
trouble than other classes of
supplements, and can you guys speak to
that? I would say multivitamins as a
category.
Um
it's incredibly complex to formulate a
tiny product that has
10 different vitamins in there that are
all going to be stable over the course
of like say 18 months shelf life where
uh what Nick was saying is around like
chemical incompatibility Mhm. where many
of these vitamins may not be compatible
uh in certain what what are called
product matrices. Without getting too
technical, like gummies versus capsules
versus gels. Yeah, what's holding the
product together?
>> Exactly.
>> Mhm. And given that
lab data is very much just a
point-in-time snapshot, if you kind of
actually plot every single vitamin in a
gummy over the course of 18 months
formulation becomes this incredibly hard
challenge
>> Yep. where you need someone incredibly
competent who's testing and is super
rigorous about it. And so, that's what I
call like hard mode, where that's where
I it has more problems than others.
>> Mhm. But then once you go to something
like creatine just scoop plain powder,
like that's like all the
>> Physical powder in a bag. Yeah.
Generally is much more likely to be not
BS than a proprietary blend combo
product especially in a kind of matrix
that's like
>> Yeah. Yeah. advanced, like not just all
all a powder or like a drink. Like cuz
the unit is water, you have massive
degradation potential, temperature
range, gummies.
>> It's just harder to mess up, right?
>> Right, right. And then just put the
stuff in the bag and it's not
>> Exactly. And I will say yes to
This kind of gets back to the class of
it's very easy to start a brand. Yeah.
Where it tends to be like low minimum
order quantities needed to get started.
There is a tipping point where there's a
lot of risk associated to not having
what you claim to have. And so all this
to say that yes, those forms are
more difficult to be J's point on hard
mode.
But if you're a legitimate brand, you're
most likely spending a ton on testing.
Your manufacturer is spending a ton on
testing. So I think there are great
brands, there's plenty of great brands
to buy from that have nailed it. It's
not like this impossible thing to figure
out. You just need to care.
>> [laughter]
>> Yeah. Just need to
>> test a little bit more. So all that to
say you know, it's not a
impossible
>> fear-mongering thing like don't take a
multivitamin. Right.
>> It's just you can ask questions. The
odds of it actually having what it
claims to have are
high. Yes.
>> But you just need to do your due due
diligence basically. Yeah. Okay, so you
guys are looking forward to a world in
hopefully 5 years or so
where finding a supplement through a
vetted website like Amazon or a vetted
place like Whole Foods that isn't
rigorously tested by companies such as
yours is like a
very highly unlikely thing. It's a
unicorn. It's like finding like
unapproved chemicals in paint today
versus a 1970 where you could just drink
>> Exactly.
Yeah. [laughter]
You shouldn't, but people did. Yeah.
Okay. That's your vision is like no more
question marks. Yeah. And allow the
brands that are doing it right to win
the category. Right? If you're a brand
that spends the money to put the
creatine in and then there are brands
that are, you know, charging $15 less
they're the ones that are the number one
seller. To me that's an incredibly dumb
situation. And so it very much is allow
the brands that are doing it right to
win which then gives the incentive for
brands who might have points of
contamination might have degradation,
might not have what they claim to have
to fix that so they can then compete the
competitors who are transparent and
winning the category.
>> Yes. Yeah. Scott
can I can I tell a story about my friend
and keep it anonymous? Sure.
I have a friend
>> [laughter]
>> who was getting his uh D vitamins
blood levels checked.
And taking D vitamins from the store. D
vitamins are fat soluble and so
ostensibly you take them, then your
levels go up. Potentially even too much
and you need to stop taking them.
And my friend continued to take them and
went to the doctor and the doctor said,
"Yep, still kind of low on D vitamins."
So he took double the amount for some
time came back with even lower levels.
And so where the hell are the D
vitamins? Apparently this does actually
happen, huh? Yes. Yes. I suspect I'm
going to get a guess going and you guys
tell me what the most likely thing is.
I suspect they actually were putting D
vitamins into the product but through
some like matrix issue there's some
oxidation happening and then just after
a few weeks of the thing sitting in a
warehouse and then the thing sitting on
a truck and then the thing sitting on a
shelf on a shelf, there's just no more D
vitamins in it. Yeah, highly possible.
Growing up I would always read like keep
in a cool, dry, dark area and I never
knew what that that meant.
>> Yeah. You do that because you expose it
to heat, you expose it to light and that
can degrade the actual supplement. And
so that's it's kind of the wild thing is
a brand can be doing everything
correctly and then somewhere along in
the supply chain where they kind of lose
a little bit of the control it can be
exposed to these circumstances that
degrade the efficacy. And so
it's just a hard problem.
>> [laughter]
>> At the end of the day But you can
technically test off-shelf testing for
your own brand, right? You can have like
someone come in, buy things at a store
bring them back to the lab. And that's
is that a good idea? You guys think
people should be doing that? I think if
you own the brand, it is your ultimate
responsibility Yeah. to ensure efficacy
up to point of expiration
at all different call it points
throughout your supply chain.
>> That makes a lot of sense.
>> [music]
>> And
you know what? I I think uh yeah, it's
been about a month. Maybe we can do one
right now. Yeah. You're kidding. Yeah.
What?
>> [laughter]
>> Mike, you ready for a shower?
Yes.
Wait, what's a shower?
May may I? Are we good, Matt? Yeah,
yeah.
>> [laughter]
>> Hey. Like just pull that? Yep.
>> [laughter]
>> All right, now just push it back up. All
right.
All right, folks, that's that. We
learned some stuff. I didn't break
anything so far, which is great. It's
super, super important that everyone
involved in the supplement business in
general gets up to the highest level of
standard in vetted testing so that all
of us that consume supplements can make
sure that they're free of lead and other
crazy stuff and actually are getting us
jacked. Light Labs is one of the
companies that's doing an amazing job at
this testing. Link in the description
for them if you want to contact them for
anything at all. Now it's time for me to
go do stuff in a science lab that's
going to get me kicked out. I'm going to
try drinking random chemicals. See you
next time, maybe.