6 checks that tell you whether a longevity supplement is worth buying

You can’t tell a good longevity supplement from a bad one on the day you take it.

The molecules in them aren’t stimulants. On day one, a capsule with the full dose and a capsule with almost nothing feel the same.

So the decision has to be made on paper, before you buy. These 6 checks do most of that work.

11. Does a serving reach the dose the studies used?

Every molecule worth taking has a dose the research used. Find it, then compare it with the label.

For sulforaphane, the published studies that show significant health benefits use between 30 mg and 70 mg per day.

For NMN, doses up to 2,000 mg per day have been studied in controlled trials. One trial found higher doses produced the greatest gains in aerobic capacity (Liao et al., 2021).

For spermidine, 20 mg meets or exceeds the dosage in every major study linking it to a longer life. Some protocols call for 40 mg.

Then look at what products deliver. 2 sets of lab tests show how wide the gap can be.

In October 2024, IEH Laboratories measured how much sulforaphane 21 supplements deliver per serving, in the finished capsule. The 20 competing products were bought at retail and tested alongside BROQ.

The testing was commissioned and paid for by the maker of one of the twenty-one products.

In September 2026, an independent 3rd-party lab measured 6 NMN products and 6 spermidine products, in retail packages it received unopened. Its reports are dated September 17, 2026.

That testing was commissioned and paid for by the maker of one of the six products tested in each group.

The sulforaphane results were the starkest. Of the 20 competing products, 11 delivered less than 1 mg per serving.

For spermidine, 4 of the 5 top competitors tested delivered 11.0 mg or less.

For NMN, more than half of the supplements sold today deliver 500 mg or less. In the lab panel, 4 of the 6 products were labeled at 500 mg or less, and each delivered close to what its label promises.

22. Is it the form that works?

The name on the front of the pack doesn’t settle this.

Only the beta form of NMN builds NAD+, and a label that just says NMN doesn’t tell you which form is inside.

Sulforaphane forms when glucoraphanin, a compound in broccoli, meets an enzyme called myrosinase. A capsule needs a source of that enzyme, so look for one on the label.

Most spermidine supplements use wheat germ extract: a big capsule of plant material where only about 1% is actual spermidine. In the lab panel, 2 of the 6 labels gave only the weight of the extract, not the amount of spermidine in it.

Ask which form. If the page won’t tell you, that’s your answer.

33. Does it get past your stomach?

This one matters most for sulforaphane.

A delayed-release capsule opens in your intestines, not your stomach, so the ingredients aren’t destroyed by stomach acid before your body absorbs them. Of the 21 sulforaphane products tested, only 6 come in delayed-release capsules, and the top 3 were all among them.

Delayed release on its own isn’t proof of anything, though. Those 6 products ranged from 0.1 mg to 25 mg per serving, which is why the next check matters.

44. Who measured it, and can you read the result?

4 different things get called testing, and they prove 4 different things.

GMP certification is about the factory. It matters, and it doesn’t tell you how much of the active ingredient is in a given capsule.

Raw material testing measures the powder before it became a product.

A certificate of analysis is a result for one batch. Ask which lab ran it, which batch, and which method.

A certificate from the manufacturer is the manufacturer’s own measurement. That’s different from a report by an outside lab.

Published results are the ones you can check for yourself.

It’s fair to ask who ran a test, and who paid for it.

That’s the case for published reports. With the method and the numbers for every product in front of you, you can weigh a result for yourself.

Read the published lab reports

55. Was the finished capsule tested, or only the ingredient?

A test of the raw ingredient tells you what the brand bought from its supplier. A test of the finished capsule tells you what you’ll swallow.

A lot can change between the two. So if a brand publishes a report, read what was sampled.

The same goes for numbers in a product’s name. A large milligram figure can describe the weight of an extract instead of the active ingredient you get from it.

All three lab comparisons above measured the finished product.

66. Can you read the whole label?

You should be able to read a label and know what’s in the capsule, and how much of the active ingredient you’re getting.

A short ingredient list makes that easy.

For reference, BROQ, NMN-99 and SPMD-99 each contain 3 ingredients.

BROQ has broccoli, a plant source of the myrosinase enzyme and an organic fiber.

NMN-99 has NMN, organic acacia fiber and organic rice hulls. SPMD-99 has spermidine, organic acacia fiber and organic rice hulls.

BROQ, NMN-99 and SPMD-99, checked against all 6

BROQ, NMN-99 and SPMD-99 delivered the most in their lab comparisons, so here’s how they do on all 6 checks.

Scroll sideways to see all 4 columns

In each of the three lab comparisons, the testing was commissioned and paid for by the maker of one of the products tested.

The latest-batch figures come from an independent 3rd-party lab, in reports dated September 17, 2026 and published by the products’ maker.

See the batch reports for BROQ, NMN-99 and SPMD-99

Any product that passes all 6 is worth buying, whoever makes it.

Sources

• Liao et al., 2021
• Read the published lab reports
• See the batch reports for BROQ, NMN-99 and SPMD-99

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Brands have paid for promotional consideration in these articles.