NOW Foods Review 2026: Value, Testing and Dose Limits

Last updated: September 25, 2026 · Originally published August 28, 2026 · Published by Eternal Elixir

Edited by Elaine Fletcher, Researcher

Quick answer: Our NOW Foods review for 2026 finds a long-established, low-priced brand with serious in-house testing and modest doses on its longevity products. NOW makes an NMN capsule at 250 mg, a 600 mg resveratrol, a 500 mg glutathione blend and a 400 mg berberine softgel, and several were on sale when we checked. On a cost-per-gram basis the results split: NOW wins on resveratrol while its sale lasts and ties on berberine, and we win on NMN and glutathione. Our pick is Eternal Elixir NMN 500mg: the front label declares 500 mg of NMN per capsule, 90 capsules for $49.99, about $1.11 per gram against $1.40 for NOW’s NMN at its sale price.

Eternal Elixir makes NMN 500mg and the other products we compare with NOW Foods below, and NMN 500mg is our pick. We compete with NOW, so read this as a competitor’s review. We did not buy or lab-test NOW products. Every NOW figure comes from its US product pages and its company and testing pages, read on September 25, 2026, plus ConsumerLab’s public brand page. Here is how we write and review content.

NOW Foods review 2026: who makes it

NOW Foods was founded in 1968 by Elwood Richard, who started making his own products to supply his health food stores. It is based in Bloomingdale, Illinois, and describes itself as a family- and employee-owned company. In 2026 it announced an employee stock ownership plan. Its international arm, set up in 2000, sells the brand in more than 70 countries.

The catalog is huge and mostly everyday: vitamins, minerals, sports nutrition, essential oils and foods, sold at low prices. Its product pages say the supplements are made and quality tested in the USA with globally sourced ingredients, and the NMN page lists an Intertek GMP certification.

Where NOW stands out is its own lab work. Its testing page says its in-house laboratories run more than 31,000 tests a month across 68 categories of testing, covering identity, potency, microbes, heavy metals, pesticides and possible adulterants. It says its analytical and microbiology labs are accredited by A2LA, and that it also sends samples to outside labs for independent checks, including Informed Sport testing on its sports line.

Is NOW Foods a good brand? What outside testing shows

ConsumerLab, a subscription service that buys supplements and tests them, lists 44 NOW Foods products as tested. It says 38 were approved for quality and 20 of those are Top Picks. That is a strong record for a budget brand, though it covers a small share of the catalog, and the product-level results are for members only.

Put together with the in-house testing, NOW earns its reputation as a safe, low-cost choice for basics. The trade-off shows up on specialty products. Where NOW carries a longevity ingredient, the dose per capsule tends to be conservative, and some formulas add other ingredients to the headline one.

NOW Foods vs Eternal Elixir: the overlapping products

Four NOW products overlap with ours. The table uses prices on each brand’s US site as of Sep 2026 and the serving on each label. Several NOW products were on sale, so we show the sale price and the regular price where NOW listed both. Our NMN figures use the 500 mg per capsule declared on our front label.

Add NMN 500mg to cart · $49.99

NMN is the clearest win for us. NOW’s capsule holds half as much, and even at its sale price, a gram of NMN costs $1.40 from NOW against $1.11 from us. You would need two NOW capsules to reach 500 mg, which the label allows, and the 60-capsule bottle then lasts 30 days.

Glutathione depends on how you count. NOW’s capsule is cheaper per serving because the serving is smaller: 500 mg against our 2,000 mg. Per gram of glutathione, ours costs $0.67 and NOW’s costs $0.97 even in its largest bottle. NOW’s formula also adds milk thistle and alpha lipoic acid, which some buyers want and others don’t. Our glutathione supplement comparison covers reduced and liposomal forms from other brands.

Resveratrol goes NOW’s way while the sale lasts. Both products give 600 mg in one capsule. At $37.49, NOW’s works out to $0.62 a serving against our $0.67. At its regular $49.99, it is $0.83 a serving, and ours is cheaper. Our bottle holds 90 capsules against NOW’s 60, so it lasts half again as long. Our resveratrol supplement comparison covers more brands.

Berberine is a tie on cost per gram, at $1.11 each. The difference is the routine: NOW’s label suggests three 400 mg softgels a day with MCT oil, and ours is one 500 mg capsule per serving. Berberine can interact with some medicines, so talk to your doctor before taking it if you use prescription medication. Our berberine supplement comparison covers other brands.

Where NOW’s doses land against the research

NMN: 250 mg is within the tested range

In a 60-day randomized, placebo-controlled trial in GeroScience (Yi and colleagues, 2023), 80 healthy middle-aged adults took a placebo or 300 mg, 600 mg or 900 mg of NMN once a day. Blood NAD+ rose in all three NMN groups and was highest at 600 mg and 900 mg. Six-minute walking distance improved more in every NMN group than with placebo. Three of the authors were employees of ingredient companies. A 12-week trial in older adults (Morifuji and colleagues, 2024) used 250 mg a day, so NOW’s capsule is a real trial-level amount, and taking two gets you to 500 mg. Evidence level: small randomized human trials measuring blood NAD+ over a few months. NMN has not been shown to extend human lifespan, and we found no published trial of either brand’s product. Our best NMN supplements comparison and our NAD+ supplement comparison cover the category.

Glutathione: the amount made a difference

In a six-month randomized, placebo-controlled trial in the European Journal of Nutrition (Richie and colleagues, 2015), 54 non-smoking adults took 250 mg or 1,000 mg of oral glutathione a day, or a placebo. Glutathione levels in the blood rose at both doses. At six months the higher dose raised levels in red blood cells, plasma and lymphocytes by 30% to 35%. The lower dose raised blood and red-cell levels by 17% and 29%. Levels fell back to baseline within a month of stopping. NOW’s 500 mg capsule sits between the two tested doses, and our 2,000 mg serving sits above the higher one. Evidence level: one six-month randomized human trial measuring glutathione levels. A higher intake than 1,000 mg a day has not been shown to work better.

Add Reduced L-Glutathione to cart · $39.99

Resveratrol: well absorbed, then cleared fast

In a small study in Drug Metabolism and Disposition (Walle and colleagues, 2004), six volunteers took a 25 mg oral dose of labeled resveratrol. At least 70% was absorbed, but only trace amounts of unchanged resveratrol reached the blood, because the gut and liver convert it quickly. That caution applies to NOW’s product and ours equally.

Beyond the overlap: single ingredients in our range

Our range is small and built around single ingredients, each with the amount per capsule on the label and an evidence note on the product page. If your list goes beyond the four products above, these may be relevant, with the caveats our own pages state:

• TUDCA 500mg: one capsule per serving, 60 servings, $59.99. Most TUDCA research involves people under medical care, so talk to your doctor first if you have a liver or gallbladder condition or take prescription medicines. Our TUDCA supplement comparison covers other brands.
• Trans-Pterostilbene 500mg: one capsule per serving, 90 servings, $64.99. Human outcome research on pterostilbene is limited.
• Spermidine 10mg and Ca-AKG 500mg: both 60 servings for $49.99. Spermidine evidence is still developing, and the Ca-AKG lifespan research was done in mice, so no human longevity benefit has been shown.

Our guide to the best longevity supplements explains where each of these fits.

Who NOW Foods suits, and who should shop elsewhere

NOW suits you if most of your list is everyday basics and you want low prices from a company with extensive in-house testing. It is also the cheaper choice for resveratrol while the sale price holds, and it matches us on berberine per gram.

Shop elsewhere if you want a higher amount per capsule on longevity ingredients. For NMN and glutathione, our products give more of the active per capsule or serving and cost less per gram, and our NMN comes in a 90-capsule bottle. If NMN is your main purchase, our NMN 500mg is our pick.

For the same label-by-label comparison of other value brands, see our reviews of Solaray, BulkSupplements, Nutricost, Double Wood and Micro Ingredients. At the premium end, we have reviewed Thorne and Life Extension, and for NMN specialists, Toniiq.

NOW Foods review: frequently asked questions

Is NOW Foods a good brand?

For everyday supplements, yes. NOW has made supplements since 1968, runs large in-house labs, and ConsumerLab says 38 of the 44 NOW products it tested were approved for quality. On longevity ingredients its doses per capsule are modest, and on NMN and glutathione it costs more per gram than ours.

Is NOW Foods third-party tested?

NOW does most of its testing in its own labs, which it says are accredited by A2LA and run more than 31,000 tests a month. It also says it uses outside labs for independent checks, and its sports line goes through Informed Sport testing. ConsumerLab has tested 44 of its products.

Who owns NOW Foods, and where are its products made?

NOW describes itself as a family- and employee-owned company based in Bloomingdale, Illinois, and it announced an employee stock ownership plan in 2026. Its product pages say its supplements are made and quality tested in the USA with ingredients sourced from around the world.

Why are NOW supplements so cheap?

NOW makes its own products, a model that goes back to its founding, when Elwood Richard started manufacturing to supply his own stores, and it runs its own testing labs. It also keeps doses modest on specialty ingredients, which lowers the price per bottle. Compare cost per gram of the active, not the price per bottle.

Is NOW NMN any good?

It is a plain NMN capsule with 250 mg per capsule and a suggested use of one capsule once or twice a day, from a company with strong testing. At $20.99 on sale for 60 capsules, it costs about $1.40 per gram of NMN. Our NMN 500mg declares 500 mg per capsule on its front label and costs about $1.11 per gram.

How can you tell if a supplement brand is trustworthy?

Check four things: the exact amount of each active per serving, whether that amount matches what human studies used, whether the brand tests finished products and shows results, and whether it says what the ingredient has not been shown to do. NOW scores well on testing. Our product pages state the amount per capsule and the evidence level for each active, so you can hold us to the same checks.

What is the best alternative to NOW NMN?

Our pick is Eternal Elixir NMN 500mg, which we make. The front label declares 500 mg of NMN per capsule, twice NOW’s amount, and a 90-capsule bottle costs $49.99, about $1.11 per gram against $1.40 for NOW’s NMN on sale. Our NMN comparison covers other brands.

Add NMN 500mg to cart · $49.99

Our verdict on NOW Foods

NOW Foods is a trustworthy, low-cost brand for everyday supplements, backed by more in-house testing than most. On longevity ingredients it is a mixed buy: cheaper on resveratrol while on sale, level on berberine, and more expensive per gram on NMN and glutathione, with smaller amounts per capsule. For NMN, our NMN 500mg gives twice the amount per capsule at a lower cost per gram.

See everything else in the Eternal Elixir shop.

Sources

• Yi L, Maier AB, Tao R, et al. The efficacy and safety of β-nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) supplementation in healthy middle-aged adults: a randomized, multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, dose-dependent clinical trial. GeroScience, 2023. PubMed 36482258
• Morifuji M, Higashi S, Ebihara S, Nagata M. Ingestion of β-nicotinamide mononucleotide increased blood NAD levels, maintained walking speed, and improved sleep quality in older adults in a double-blind randomized, placebo-controlled study. GeroScience, 2024. PubMed 38789831
• Richie JP Jr, Nichenametla S, Neidig W, et al. Randomized controlled trial of oral glutathione supplementation on body stores of glutathione. European Journal of Nutrition, 2015. PubMed 24791752
• Walle T, Hsieh F, DeLegge MH, Oatis JE Jr, Walle UK. High absorption but very low bioavailability of oral resveratrol in humans. Drug Metabolism and Disposition, 2004. PubMed 15333514
• NOW Foods product pages for NMN 250 mg, Glutathione 500 mg, Resveratrol, Maximum Strength 600 mg and Berberine Glucose Support, read September 25, 2026.
• NOW Foods, company history, about us and comprehensive testing, read September 25, 2026.
• ConsumerLab, Reviews and information for NOW Foods, read September 25, 2026.
• Eternal Elixir product pages for NMN 500mg, Reduced L-Glutathione 2000mg, Trans-Resveratrol 600mg, Berberine HCl 500mg, TUDCA 500mg, Trans-Pterostilbene 500mg, Spermidine 10mg and Ca-AKG 500mg (US, September 2026).

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.