Informed Sport is one of the most rigorous third-party certification programs in the supplement space — batch-level lab testing by an ISO 17025 accredited facility with no pay-for-placement — but its registry is structurally limited to brands that have paid enrollment fees, so it measures contamination risk only within a self-selected, fee-paying pool.
What it's really for To give competitive athletes a verified shortlist of supplement batches that have been screened for banned substances, reducing inadvertent doping risk
What our grade covers The grade on this page is about Sports and nutritional supplements tested for WADA-prohibited substances at the batch level, not everything the site does.
High Scoring Confidence Checked against primary sources. We are confident in the facts and the grade here.
- Operating since
- 2008 (18 years) · source
- What it costs you
- Free to read The reviews are free to read.
- How they make money
- Brands pay LGC per-batch testing and certification fees to enroll their products. The consumer-facing registry is free to search. No advertising, affiliate commissions, or pay-for-placement.
- What they do
- LGC's accredited anti-doping laboratory tests every batch of enrolled supplements against WADA prohibited-substance lists before products are released to market. Brands that pass each batch test earn the Informed Sport mark and appear in the public searchable registry. Consumers can enter a product's batch number on the site to verify its certified status.
- What to watch for
- The registry only covers brands that have paid LGC to enroll in the program. Absence from the registry does not mean a product is unsafe — many clean brands simply have not paid for certification. The site provides no editorial reviews, head-to-head comparisons, efficacy ratings, or value assessments; it tells you only whether a specific batch passed a contamination screen.
- Composite score
- 3.70 / 5.00 → grade B+
How the grade was reached
Does the site take money from the very entities it ranks? Pay-for-placement, vendor-funded data, and affiliate commissions all pull this down. The less the ranking can be bought, the higher the score.
What is the ranking actually built on? Hands-on testing scores highest, then verified first-hand reviews, then opinion or popularity surveys and self-reported figures, then pay-to-rank, which scores lowest.
Is the methodology published, specific, and reproducible? Can a reader see how a given rank was reached, or is it a black box?
Are commercial relationships, sponsorships, and affiliate arrangements disclosed clearly and near the rankings themselves, rather than buried?
How hard is it to game? Controls against fake reviews, solicited reviews, and vendor gaming raise this; an open box anyone can stuff lowers it.
Evidence
- The homepage states Informed Sport is operated by LGC Group and has certified products in 132 countries with 330+ certified brands and over 2,000 tested products. Source: Informed Sport homepage →
- The about page states the program was 'Established in 2008' and uses an ISO 17025 accredited laboratory that 'tests more than 25,000 samples per year,' with every batch tested before market release. Source: Informed Sport About page →
- The site describes post-certification blind testing of samples to maintain ongoing standards, and consumers can verify any batch number directly on the site. Source: Informed Sport About page →
- The homepage prompts brands with 'HOW CAN MY PRODUCTS BECOME CERTIFIED?' and links to a certification process guide, confirming the B2B enrollment model where brands initiate and fund participation. Source: Informed Sport homepage →