How do we guarantee quality?

Buying supplements can be a daunting task. Whether it’s online or in a store, many doubts might go through your head. Are the supplements safe for me to eat? Am I actually getting the molecules that are advertised? And what is the scientific backing of the claims that some of the brands are making?

We - at For Youth - are consumers too and we understand these struggles. In fact, the access to high-quality longevity supplements has been the main reason why we founded For Youth a little more than a year ago. That’s why we set high targets for the products that we offer. They need to be safe, pure and effective. We work together with third party labs to ensure that we live up to our promises.

Safety first!

There are actually a few dimensions to safety. Firstly, we look at whether the product is safe for human consumption. In the case of NMN and resveratrol, both molecules are already present in a lot of the foods that we eat. Our bodies can even produce NMN! But, the mere fact that these molecules are of natural origin or can be produced by our bodies is not enough to deem them safe just yet. The dose at which we sell NMN or resveratrol is a lot higher than the amounts you would normally find in foods. One capsule or 250 mg of The Base - NMN contains the equivalent of the amount of NMN in 25 kg of broccoli. Fortunately, both NMN and resveratrol have been studied for quite some time and there is enough evidence that they are safe at the recommended dosages (and even above).

Contamination is another element of safety. That’s why let a third party test every batch on the presence of heavy metals such as mercury and lead. Heavy metals are naturally present in nature and the foods we eat, but when we are exposed to levels that are too high, they can cause serious diseases. It is not uncommon to find high levels of heavy metals in supplements. For instance, a study from 2020 found that 40% of the protein powders that were tested had elevated levels of heavy metals. There’s actually a higher chance of elevated levels in supplements of plant origin because of the presence of heavy metals in nature. But, also because of the use of machines that are needed to extract active ingredients from plants. Note that we always publish the latest test results on our website.

The last element of safety is interaction - or, how supplements interact with other supplements, drugs or specific illnesses. For this element of safety, we generally need to refer you to a health professional as they know more about the other drugs that you could be taking or the illness that you might have. NMN and resveratrol can be taken together and are not known to have many interactions with other supplements. In our FAQ we have listed a few drugs and supplements that could interact with NMN and resveratrol, but always consult your doctor first.

Purity

A high-quality supplement contains ingredients in the amounts that are advertised, with a high level of purity. Unfortunately, not all brands can be trusted on that aspect. A 2021 study showed that 64% of the top 22 brands on Amazon US contained significantly lower amounts of NMN than advertised. Three brands didn’t even contain NMN at all!

Some of these brands might not have had the intention to fool their customers, but they would have been too reliant on the information their suppliers had provided. Our suppliers give us so-called Certificates of Analysis showing their own test results, but we still run our own tests to validate their claims. For this, we work with third party labs using a method called HPLC - or high-performance liquid chromatography. We can therefore confirm the substance (is the product what we trust it is?), purity (is it not mixed with other substances?) and the quantity of the supplements that you buy from us.

Effectiveness 

This article aims to explain how we source the products that we are selling. But, first and foremost, the claims that we make with our products need to be backed by science. That’s why we work with scientific advisors that help us understand the results of the many scientific studies that have been published. This actually deserves an entire blog post in itself (to be continued!).

Another important element of effectiveness is often overlooked by consumers and that is the topic of bioavailability. This refers to the ability of a drug or supplement to be absorbed by the body and ultimately be available for biological activity in your cells and tissues. Critics might say that supplements are just creating very expensive pee as they fear that the active ingredients are not absorbed and instead excreted again. There is truth to that fear, but careful selection of ingredients can avoid the problem.

There aren’t many concerns about the bioavailability of NMN. A 2022 Japanese study once again proved that NMN taken orally (through the mouth) effectively increased NAD+ in the blood. NMN is also not destroyed by the stomach acid and therefore enteric capsules (resistant against these stomach acids) are not required.

Resveratrol is not soluble in water and that makes it harder for the body to absorb the molecule. The Grape - Resveratrol therefore comes in enteric capsules and we recommend to eat resveratrol preferably with some (fatty) food.

Soon we will be launching another product called The Zombie - Quercetin. Quercetin targets your so-called zombie cells, combatting one of the most important 9 Hallmarks of Ageing. Quercetin in its pure form is not highly bioavailable. However, our liposomal quercetin is 20x more bioavailable as the active ingredient will be wrapped in a little sphere of lipid or fat.