XtendLife Review: Your choice for health supplements and skincare?

It’s hard enough to pay attention to what you’re putting into your body when it comes to food. Maybe you read every ingredient list, or maybe you’ve decided to make everything yourself so that you know exactly what you’re eating. But what about your supplements? You want to be healthy and fill any extra nutritional gaps, but do you know where each ingredient is from or why it’s included in your multivitamin?

Xtend-Life wants to ease your mind so that you don’t have to ask those questions. They are a supplement retailer based in New Zealand with two sub-brands selling skincare and superfood powders. Their supplement blends feature local ingredients and clearly laid-out testing processes. We tested their products to help you decide whether or not Xtend-Life’s supplements could work for you.

Xtend-Life is a supplement and skincare retailer that provides locally sourced health boosters. They can be expensive, and taking some of their products six times a day as directed can be burdensome, but they provide transparency of processes otherwise unseen in the industry.

In order to best unpack Xtend-Life’s products, we judged them on several criteria. This includes their range of products and quality and the quality of their support, with an emphasis on anything that could improve your experience or overall satisfaction.

Supplement quality

If there’s one thing that Xtend-Life knows they have in the bag, it’s their rigorous testing process and clearly sourced ingredients. They are so dedicated to quality that they own and run their own manufacturing plant, complete with videos on the site of how the facility works. Skincare products include no animal testing or microbeads; supplements are tested for heavy metals, mold, and other unpleasant hitchhikers who might have hopped along during transit. Their protein powder lacks protein compared to other powders, and not every supplement lives up to its daily suggested intake, but they live up to their mission well.

Supplement variety

Xtend-Life doesn’t have everything. If you’re looking for specific individual vitamins or something with a traditional formula, you probably won’t find what you’re looking for. Xtend-Life only offers one dosage for each pill, which only comes in 30-day supplies. However, they cover their bases with supplements for general wellness and a handful of specific conditions.

Likewise, their skincare line covers the basics – a cleanser, moisturizer, under-eye cream, exfoliator, and so on – but doesn’t sink into niche products. If you’re looking to start a routine or find alternatives to your staple products, you’ll find something here.

Cost

Xtend-Life’s supplements are relatively expensive. You won’t be able to find anything for less than $10, but the high quality of their ingredient sourcing, manufacturing, and testing makes it make sense. Of course, that doesn’t mean that a $105 premium multivitamin will fit your budget every month. Luckily, they also offer a full year of guaranteed returns, assuming you’ll pay to ship the product back to New Zealand.

Their skincare products are more reasonably priced but are still on the higher side of average.

Customer service

With multiple phone lines for international customers and their mailing address listed on their site, Xtend-Life makes it easy to get in touch no matter where you’re from. They also offer quick answers from an in-browser chat and 24-hour email responses. Everyone we spoke with was kind and offered a wealth of information, complete with deeper explanations of how they got the information they were telling our testers.

Navigation

You might not be able to sort the catalog by price, but Xtend-Life makes it easy to find literally everything else on their website. They supply every step of their production process, including videos of their manufacturing facility and how they source ingredients. Pages for individual supplements also host full ingredient lists, supplement facts, multi-question FAQs, and, importantly, detailed explanations behind every choice. Some supplement pages even have easy-to-read, colorful charts breaking down scientific explanations.

It's easy to see exactly how transparent a supplement company can be when you look at the sleek, clean graphic design, easy-to-click-through headers, and videos from the founder himself.

Over the past two decades, Innerbody Research has helped tens of millions of readers like you make more informed decisions to live healthier lives. We extensively test each health service we review.

Our team has spent over 171 hours over the course of months testing and researching Xtend-Life and its close competitors in order to give you an unbiased exploration of your supplement options, free of marketing jargon or gimmicks. Through a thorough and deliberate approach to every product we encounter, we evaluate services based on adherence to quality, the latest medical evidence and health standards, and a simple question: would we buy the product or service ourselves if it weren’t part of our job, and would we recommend it to family and friends?

Additionally, this review of Xtend-Life, like all health-related content on this website, was thoroughly vetted by one or more members of our Medical Review Board for accuracy.

After founder Warren Matthews lost everything in a bad business deal in 1998, he decided he needed to reconsider his health and his life choices. That same year, he founded Xtend-Life to help others extend their “health spans” and improve their quality of life with trusted ingredients.

Now operating out of Christchurch, New Zealand, Xtend-Life is a supplement retailer with a skincare line attached. They retain that original mission, taking control of every step of their product creation process. Xtend-Life controls the ingredient sourcing and all of their manufacturing, going as far as running and operating a “purpose-built” pharmaceutical-grade factory in Heathcote.

They are extremely open with the public about how they create their products and explain every step – from production to testing – on their website. For example, when a raw ingredient arrives at the factor, they say that they test it for:

• Identification (to ensure it’s the right material)
• Assay (Potency) testing (to confirm the active ingredient is there in the quantity they are expecting)
• Microbiological testing (to confirm there is no bacteria, mold, yeast, fungi, coliforms, E. coli, or Salmonella)
• Heavy metal testing (to meet specifications on contamination by heavy metals like mercury, lead, and arsenic)

Some ingredients are also tested for things like water content (as needed for the material). This stringent testing – and high levels of transparency and openness – might not be unique to Xtend-Life, but it guarantees that they take the science behind their supplements seriously.

Who is Xtend-Life best for?

Xtend-Life boasts more than 350,000 customers internationally. There are essentially no limitations regionally: as long as the product you’re ordering does not contain ingredients that are illegal to ship in your country (which are few and far between), you can order it.

Keep in mind that since Xtend-Life is based out of New Zealand, international shipping takes time. They currently estimate it’ll take eight to twelve business days for a package to arrive. If you need your supplement in the immediate future, this may not be the right company for you.

If you take any other medications, be sure to clear supplement use with your medical provider before starting a new supplement. There are many unpleasant drug interactions between prescription medications and supplements, including St. John’s Wort decreasing the effectiveness of antidepressants and artificial vitamin C interfering with some types of cancer treatment.

A vast majority of what Xtend-Life sells is supplements. Each supplement is defined by its unusual and often locally sourced active ingredients, but that isn’t all you can find on each supplement page. Instead, Xtend-Life offers:

• Description, including any features and benefits
• Full ingredients list, including serving sizes, daily values, and directions for use
• Hearty FAQs answering every question we could think of, including questions about changing formulas, comparisons between other products (competition and within Xtend-Life), and scientific specifications
• Customer reviews

Every supplement has a complete page loaded with rich information. However, note that most products only come in one dosage and a set number of pills, most often a 30-day supply.

There are several major types of supplements that they sell:

• Blood Sugar and Metabolic support
• Brain and Memory support
• Bone & Joint Health
• Digestive Health
• Children’s Health
• Heart and Cardio
• Immune Support
• Men’s Health
• Women’s Health
• Specialty
• Superfoods

Several products have multiple functions and overlap between categories, offering multiple functions and a more holistic approach to your health.

Blood Sugar and Metabolic support

Xtend-Life offers two dramatically different products for blood sugar and metabolic support. The first is one of their most well-known products: Marine Magnesium with Potassium. These capsules contain bioavailable magnesium from Irish seawater, high in pure elemental magnesium and containing 72 other trace elements vital for human health. Since most people don’t consume enough potassium, but magnesium and potassium are both necessary for cardiovascular health, a little kick of potassium rounds out the supplement.

The other supplement is called Systemic Care. Like it sounds, this product aims to help round out and boost the functioning of your vital organs, including kidney, eye, cardiovascular, liver, and circulatory health. It is also notably good at helping to boost blood sugar control, though it should not be taken as a replacement for prescription medication or insulin. Systemic Care contains:

• Biotin
• Calcium
• Magnesium
• Zinc
• Selenium
• Copper
• Manganese
• Chromium
• Molybdenum

It also has several plant extracts, amino acids, and enzymes that work on various systemic levels to improve a wide array of systemic concerns.

One month’s supply of Marine Magnesium with Potassium costs $12.95; one bottle of Systemic Care costs $77.95. This is a great example of Xtend-Life’s overall range. They even acknowledge the high cost of Systemic Care and explain in the product description how and why they arrived at this price.

Brain and Memory support

There are seven different supplements in the Brain and Memory category, but we’ll break it down into two subcategories. Xtend-Life offers several Omega-3 supplements and some neurologically designed brain and memory-specific supplements.

Currently, Xtend-Life offers three full-sized Omega-3 supplements. Omega-3s are a kind of fatty acid. They’re key to the structure of our cell walls and are commonly found in fish and certain seeds; there are many different kinds of Omega-3 fatty acids, but most of them come from our diet.

Xtend-Life’s Omega-3 supplements are all from fish oil, an extremely common fatty acid source. The three Omega-3 supplements are:

• DHA ($18.95), which contains 700mg of DHA, protecting the eyes and brain and supporting overall vitality
• DHA Plus ($21.50), which adds an antioxidant blend to the DHA formula to help slow skin aging and fight free radicals in the brain
• QH Premium ($29.50), which adds CoQ10 to the DHA Plus formula for optimum heart health as well as brain health

Two of the other Brain and Memory support products are Xtend-Life’s Neuro-Natural line. Neuro-Natural supplements are designed to improve mental sharpness through a long list of anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and other essential vitamins, minerals, and herbs. There is a general version – which costs less at $41.95 – and a Recall version, which is formulated for stronger memory recall and retention using SAMe (an essential part of dozens of biochemical reactions).

If you’re concerned about Fido’s health, Xtend-Life has recently started offering an omega-3 supplement for dogs as well, with scaling dose recommendations depending on your dog’s size. One bottle of 180 dog-safe soft gels costs $25.95.

Marine Magnesium with Potassium is also found under Brain and Memory support as well as Blood Sugar and Metabolism support. A new NAD+ Booster, called NR6, has been released, arguing that maintaining high levels of the chemical compound can keep your DNA intact, which maintains your youth. Finally, Xtend-Life carries Serene Saffron, a saffron-based supplement for stress management with ashwagandha to instill a sense of calmness. It’s available at the price of $43.95.

Bone and Joint Health

Alongside Xtend-Life’s collection of Omega-3 supplements, which have been shown to improve joint health even in cases of rheumatoid arthritis, the company offers three distinct bone and joint health supplements.

Green Lipped Mussel Powder is one of their most well-known and well-loved products. The supplement centers around an extract from the green-lipped mussel, which is found only in New Zealand. While no one knows exactly how the green-lipped mussels can support bone and joint health, GI health, and pain management, it may be related to their abundance of Omega-3s. As a New Zealand-based company, Xtend-Life takes advantage of their local fauna to bring a simple yet complete supplement. The only ingredients in each capsule are green-lipped mussel powder and rosemary extract. One bottle of Green Lipped Mussel Powder costs $32.95.

Xtend-Life offers individual supplements for bone health and joint support, appropriately named Bone-Support and Not Just Joints. Not Just Joints takes a cue from Green Lipped Mussel Powder and uses it as one of its four major ingredients (alongside glucosamine, chondroitin, and MSM) to support cartilage and healthy inflammation management, minimizing cartilage destruction over time. However, this supplement can get expensive at six tablets per day with a 15-day supply in every $44.95 bottle.

On the other hand, Bone-Support relies on calcium easily absorbed by the body from organic sources to bolster your bone density. This helps prevent breaks and fractures and improves your strength, mobility, and posture with time. Paired with vitamins and minerals that help calcium absorb and process in the body, Bone-Support provides essential nutrients for $30.95 per month.

Digestive Health

Without proper digestion, you can't absorb nutrients, so digestive health is essential for your body's functioning.

The potent Kiwi-Klenz is a staple in Xtend-Life's catalog. Kiwi-Klenz is 100% kiwifruit. Kiwis are uniquely high in vitamin C and provide relief from irritable bowel syndrome symptoms with an increase in water retention from high fiber, protein digestion from the enzyme actinidin, and probiotic effects. It helps your stomach and intestines to break down, process, and absorb nutrients, in addition to removing waste and toxins for easy, regular bowel movements and a reduction in IBS symptoms. Rather than eating multiple kiwis a day, the supplement offers 500mg total of extract and powder for optimum digestive health.

Kiwi-Klenz contains all of the benefits of eating fresh fruit without having to blow your budget – or meal plan – on kiwi pulp, seed, and skins. Instead, the physiological benefits cost $37.50 per bottle, containing either one or two months' worth of product depending on how often you're taking it.

If you're looking for an immediate fix of a digestive problem, Advanced Candida Support may be able to help. The supplement works to decrease levels of candida (a fungal yeast) in the body, which causes yeast infections, uncomfortable white spots in the mouth, and even septic shock if in your bloodstream. Crucially, this supplement has been tested with clinical standards and has been found to work as well as some antifungal medications. However, note that this is not a pharmaceutical and should not be taken in place of your prescription medication.

Even if you haven't developed obvious symptoms of candida overgrowth like oral thrush, you may still have candida overgrowth. It can be a factor in an inability to lose weight, abdominal bloating and discomfort, fatigue, and headaches. At $23.90 per month, Advanced Candida Support uses polygodial to fight funguses like candida in the same way that Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand, have for hundreds of years.

Of course, digestive care is reliant on care for the whole body. Xtend-Life's premium multivitamins – which have recently-updated formulas with better ingredients – offer specific digestive support alongside all of their other benefits. These vitamins are potent, with ingredient lists dozens of items long for full-body health. The Total Balance Premium line comes in three formulas:

• Men's, with prostate, libido, and hormonal support
• Women's, with optimum PMS and menopausal hormonal support
• Unisex, without any sex-differentiated nutrients

However, premium vitamins come at a premium price: one bottle featuring a month's supply of both the Men's and Women's Total Balance Premium cost $105.95, and one bottle of the Total Balance Unisex Premium costs $93.45.

Heart and Cardio

Alongside Marine Magnesium with Potassium and Omega-3 QH Premium, Xtend-Life provides two supplements curated for optimum heart health. CX8 (Cardio Support) is designed for the general population, intended to:

• Reduce calcification of the arteries
• Improve circulation
• Reduce inflammation
• Increase adult stem cells
• Rebalance cholesterol levels by increasing HDL cholesterol and decreasing LDL cholesterol and triglycerides

This supplement contains eight total ingredients, many of which are difficult to find in other supplements:

• Vitamin D3
• Tocotrienols (antioxidants)
• Vitamin K2 Mk-7
• Organic Omega-7
• Organic Sea Buckthorn proanthocyanidin extract (antioxidant known for stimulating stem cell growth)
• Rutin (flavonoid)
• Nattokinase
• New Zealand Blackcurrant polyphenols extract

Considering that a heart attack sparked the founder to create Xtend-Life, it makes sense that CX8 is the crown jewel of Xtend-Life’s catalog. One thirty-day supply of CX8 costs $69.95, but Xtend-Life is so confident in the supplement that if you can find a cardiovascular health supplement with the same ingredients at the same quality for a lower price, they’ll give you nine months of CX8 for free.

However, they note that if you already know you’re at low risk for future heart problems (under 45 or have had a clear Coronary Arterial Calcification scan), CX8 may not do much for you.

If you have high cholesterol and are on a statin medication to control it, Xtend-Life has a supplement designed specifically for you. GG PURE was developed to increase the amount of geranylgeraniol (GG) in your body, which supports muscle repair, testosterone synthesis, calcium movement into bones, and cellular energy. Statin medications often accelerate GG depletion in our bodies because GG is built from cholesterol.

GG PURE was developed over ten years and is synthesized from sustainably harvested Annatto seeds; GG is the only ingredient in the supplement. It essentially tops off the levels of GG in your body, ensuring that you have enough without interfering with your statin medication or cholesterol levels. One bottle of GG PURE costs $44.95 and contains a months’ supply.

Immune Support

Multivitamins are a great place to start boosting your immune system. Xtend-Life recommends this, classifying their Total Balance and Total Balance Premium multivitamins as immune support. They also have another multivitamin, called Multi-Xtra, which is a cost-effective multivitamin that promotes full-body optimization with a substantially stripped-back ingredient list. Multi-Xtra costs $19.95 for a 30-day supply.

Of course, there are ways to directly give your immune system a helping hand. Immu-Stay is Xtend-Life’s major immune system booster, including:

• Vitamin C
• Calcium
• Magnesium
• Zinc
• Turmeric root extract
• Green tea leaf extract
• Piperine (from black pepper)

The supplement blend also contains 14 other vitamin, mineral, herb, and enzyme ingredients. Just be aware that supplemental zinc can sometimes prevent antibiotics from working, so check with your doctor before starting Immu-Stay.

If you have problems with your lungs or live in a heavily polluted area, your body might respond well to Lung-Support Plus. This supplement was designed specifically for lung support and immune support, providing vitamin C and antioxidants through grape seed extract and a proprietary mushroom blend. This is a relatively inexpensive supplement, providing a one-month supply of 120 capsules for $28.95.

Men’s Health

Xtend-Life has several product suggestions to build a healthy male body:

• Total Balance Men’s Multivitamin, for holistic care
• Total Balance Men’s Premium Multivitamin, for holistic care
• Omega-3 / QH Premium, for joint health with CoQ10 for heart health
• Omega-3 / DHA Fish Oil, for joint health
• Kiwi-Klenz, for digestive health

However, Xtend-Life also developed two supplements specifically for men’s health: Male Rejuvenator and Prostate Health. Male Rejuvenator boosts your overall testosterone levels using vitamin C, niacin, L-Arginine, and other vitamins and herbs for $32.95 per 15-day supply.

Prostate Health does exactly what it sounds like – provides prostate support, decreasing frequency of bathroom urges – using stinging nettle root extract and saw palmetto root extract. Prostate-Support costs $26.95 for one months’ supply and is usable in combination with Male Rejuvenator if desired.

Women’s Health

Xtend-Life has several product suggestions to build a healthy female body:

• Total Balance Women’s Multivitamin, for holistic care
• Total Balance Women’s Premium Multivitamin, for holistic care
• Advanced Candida Support, for yeast infections, fatigue, and bloating
• Omega-3 / QH Premium, for joint health with CoQ10 for heart health
• Omega-3 / DHA Fish Oil, for joint health
• Kiwi-Klenz, for digestive health
• Pure NZ Sheep Placenta and Marine Collagen

In addition, Xtend-Life sells Hormone-Support For Her, a supplement designed to mitigate the negative symptoms of hormonal shifts. This can look like monthly symptoms of mood swings, low libido, and PMS, or life-stage changes like menopause. However, you don’t have to live with these unpleasant experiences.

Each Hormone-Support For Her supplement is made with calcium, magnesium, and an array of amino acids and herbs such as L-Tyrosine and red clover leaf extract. One month of Hormone-Support For Her costs $31.50.

Children’s Health

If you have children in your life who need to keep their growing bodies strong, Xtend-Life has two options. This is not common, as many small supplement companies won’t create children’s formulas for their products.

Total Balance Children’s Multivitamins, which also come in Men’s, Women’s, and Unisex versions, are designed for kids aged five to twelve. These tablets contain over 85 active ingredients, such as:

• Vitamin A, B6, B7, B12, C, D, and E
• Coenzyme Q-10
• SAMe
• Lutein
• Boron
• L-Arginine HCl, L-Lysine HCl, L-Tyrosine, and L-Methionine
• Sea Buckthorn fruit extract and Blackcurrant extract

These ingredients are designed to comprehensively support all areas of a child’s nutritional needs, emphasizing the immune system and vision support. One bottle, containing a 30-days’ supply, costs $31.95.

Even children can benefit from Omega-3 supplements. However, they don’t need as much as an adult, and oil-filled capsules can be difficult – if not impossible – to split. Xtend-Life created a solution: Omega-3 DHA / Fish Oil mini gels. These soft gels are half the size and strength of the standard Omega-3 DHA / Fish Oil supplements for easy swallowing.

While these mini gels were specifically designed with children in mind, adults can take them as well: just take twice the recommended dose to reach the 700mg of DHA suggested for adults. Each bottle contains two months’ worth of pills at a children’s dose, or one month at an adult dose, for $20.95.

Similar to supplements, Xtend-Life offers a sub-brand of superfoods called Zupafood. These superfoods are packets of powders made from dozens of different superfoods, including mushrooms, marine calcium, organic spirulina, barley grass, kiwi extract, and more. There are no added sugars in any powders, and their flavorings are all derived from real fruit.

Your first purchase of any superfood powder comes with a complimentary BPA-free, twist-top lid Zupafood-branded shaker, or you can purchase one for $3.10.

Xtend-Life runs its own skincare line through its sub-brand, Kanapa. The range of products, which has grown in the past year, is crafted with the same care Xtend-Life puts into its supplements. They are dermatologically tested through DERMATEST in Germany, and they’re suitable for all skin types, including sensitive skin. Each product is guaranteed to be completely free from BPA, parabens, and hydroquinone. Kanapa is also cruelty-free, not testing on animals at any stage of the process under any circumstances. For this, they’ve been recognized by PETA for cruelty-free beauty products and wear a certified cruelty-free logo on all of their product boxes.

Several products also offer a men’s version, with different packaging and labels specifically “for men.” All products below that are denoted with an asterisk offer men’s versions.

Facial cleansers and exfoliators

A clean face is a happy face. But every face needs something different, and though Xtend-Life doesn’t make many facial cleansers, they carry a wide range of options. Every product uses natural ingredients like manuka honey and avocado oil, and the exfoliator does not use microbeads. Instead, sustainably sourced pumice works to buff away dead skin cells.

Xtend-Life sells two facial cleansers and one exfoliating product:

• Foaming Facial Cleanser* ($23.75)
• Revitalizing Exfoliating Scrub* ($26.50)
• Purifying Cleansing Cream ($26.50)

Moisturizers and night creams

At their core, moisturizers are used to soothe skin, reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, and hydrate your skin. They take many forms – thick night creams, facial oils, under-eye creams, light creams for day use – using different natural ingredients. Most of the ingredients list is still dense, but you’ll notice recognizable terms like “honey” and “grapeseed oil” or “algae extract”. As always, these ingredients are some of the best herbal options for your skin. Some traditional skincare ingredients like hyaluronic acid also make their way into the list.

Xtend-Life’s moisturizer catalog currently includes the following:

• Hydrating Facial Fluid* ($45.50)
• Soothing Eye Contour Cream* ($34.50)
• Nourishing Day Cream ($34.75)
• Luminous Facial Serum ($69.00)
• Nourishing Facial Oil ($37.95)
• Restorative Night Cream ($37.75)
• Ultra-Light Sheer Day & Night Cream ($35.75)

Lotions and body creams

While all of your body needs moisture and hydration, some parts like knees, elbows, hands, and feet need something thicker than your face can handle. Instead of applying facial moisturizer several times a day, body lotion is designed specifically for tough spots. Most of Xtend-Life’s are also designed to hydrate dry, irritated, and sensitive skin and reduce redness. These creams use shea butter and jojoba oil bases, some of the most vitamin-filled and nourishing agents for dry skin.

Xtend-Life sells three lotion and body cream options:

• Replenishing Body Lotion* ($48.75)
• Softening Hand Cream ($14.75)
• Luminous Day & Night Cream ($42.75)

Luminous Day & Night Cream contains skin bleaching products Axolight and Brightenyl, which are relatively new brightening serums that block melanin creation. They are stronger than vitamin C, but note that Axolight is derived from wheat bran and is not safe for people with celiac disease.

Using Kanapa products

Xtend-Life’s Kanapa skincare products come with specific directions for use. The Soothing Eye Contour Cream, for example, specifies use twice daily – once in the morning and once before bed. It also explains that you should apply it by massaging it in circular motions starting from the outer edges of the undereye area, taking care to avoid getting any product in the eyes.

As long as you can stick with Xtend-Life’s guidelines, the results will pay off. Our testers found that the Soothing Eye Contour Cream worked exceptionally well to hydrate the sensitive skin under the eyes, reducing dark circles, fine lines, and puffiness within 48 hours when applying twice a day as directed.

After the first few applications, the cream dried to a sticky consistency, but the lingering textures didn’t last longer than an hour and disappeared completely after our first few uses. One of our testers with particularly sensitive skin noted a slight tingling sensation after the product absorbed into their skin, but the feeling wasn’t intense and disappeared after the first few uses.

For any pill or oral supplement to work, it needs to both disintegrate (crumble into smaller pieces) and dissolve (fully combine with liquid) after it’s been taken. The rate of disintegration and dissolution depends on:

• The supplement’s ingredients and their solubilities
• The pH of your stomach acid
• The amount of movement occurring in your gut
• Hundreds of other factors

But your body can’t use a supplement if it isn’t absorbed into the bloodstream.

In the United States, there is no formal federal testing agency that verifies whether or not a supplement works. There are more regulations in New Zealand through the Dietary Supplements Regulations 1985, which falls under the Food Act 2014. They also need to comply with the Animal Products Act 1999 (if using any animal products) and the Biosecurity Act 1993.

However, it’s important to note that, despite all of these acts in place, it is still the duty of the person or organization making the supplements to make sure that the supplements are made to an acceptable quality, do what they say they’re going to, and are safe to use.

To see whether or not Xtend-Life’s supplements work, we took matters into our own hands. We created an artificial stomach-like environment to test some of Xtend-Life’s most popular supplements for proper disintegration. This allowed our testing team to check Xtend-Life’s average disintegration quality and, therefore, the likelihood that the supplements will be absorbed into your bloodstream.

All of the supplements that we tested disintegrated completely. They did not dissolve at all – some stayed in the same shapes they’d started in, though agitation did help shake them apart – but it is difficult to test dissolution because of the complexities of the human stomach. We were pleased to see that Xtend-Life’s purported high quality held up in our trials.

Like many other online retailers, Xtend-Life offers a free Loyalty Program. This program provides several benefits, including:

• 10% off all orders
• Members-only promotions

However, many of the perks listed on Xtend-Life’s website (such as customer care and 365-day money back guarantee) are benefits extended to everyone regardless of Loyalty Program status.

In order to use their Loyalty Program, all you’ll need to do is create an account. This requires your name, email address, and password to set up. From there, opt-in on the shopping cart page when you check out and reap the rewards.

Our testers received their products in Xtend-Life branded cardboard boxes with the floral logo pattern printed on the front. Due to our orders being processed during a time of heightened pandemic stress on global shipping, it took over a month to receive the packages; this is not Xtend-Life’s fault as they shipped the packages the same day they were ordered. In our experience, Xtend-Life’s shipping times are fairly predictable when pandemic shipping woes aren’t a factor.

If you would rather use courier services, Xtend-Life offers partnerships with several international couriers to get your package to you in eight to twelve business days rather than the standard 10 to 16. However, this is not an option available at checkout; you’ll need to reach out to their customer service before placing your order to get courier shipping set up.

All orders over $100 come with free shipping. If you don’t make that threshold, shipping costs a flat rate of $7.50 for standard and $17.50 for courier packages.

Xtend-Life also offers a 365-day money-back guarantee. If something is wrong with your product, or you try it and just don’t like it, you can call or email Xtend-Life to get a refund any time in the first year after placing the order. However, you will have to cover the cost of shipping your product back.

Because Xtend-Life has an international customer base, the country you’re in determines how you will get in contact with customer service representatives. For the most part, you have three options: a phone call, email, or online chat.

Every country has access to a phone number for Xtend-Life’s headquarters. That number changes depending on the country you’re in but is almost always toll-free. If you live in a country with no toll-free numbers, they offer an alternative you can call.

The office can take calls from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM on weekdays (Monday through Friday). However, these hours are in New Zealand time, which is 18 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, meaning they are open from 2:00 AM to 11:00 AM ET.

If an early morning call doesn’t work with your schedule, fear not – you can still contact Xtend-Life staff through an email contact form, physical letter, or in-browser chat. We recommend using their in-browser chat; no matter the time of day we reached out, our testers were immediately greeted by friendly, extremely knowledgeable customer service representatives. They answered all of our questions and gave deep answers that predicted follow-up questions we otherwise would have asked. Even emails are quick – Xtend-Life aims to respond to all in 24 hours or less.

Life Extension

Life Extension and Xtend-Life’s names may sound the same, but their actual practices could not be more different. Both supplement retailers set out to help others extend their lifespans and maximize their health, and both have relatively limited catalogs because of their strict testing policies. Life Extension even carries in-house skincare products like Xtend-Life. However, Life Extension also offers pet care, hair products, third-party lab testing, and an in-person retail market that Xtend-Life does not. This expanded catalog comes at a price – Life Extension’s products trend more expensive than Xtend-Life’s, and with a lower quality.

Thorne

If you’re not sure where to start or just beginning your supplement journey, even a smaller catalog like Xtend-Life’s can feel overwhelming. In that case, it might be worth it to try a personalized vitamin program. There are dozens of these online, but Thorne is one of the best.

Thorne offers a combination of both supplements and at-home health tests, as well as guidance and tools to help you identify your nutritional gaps from home. They offer a vitamin and supplement quiz that sorts through your dietary needs and points you to the supplements they think fit your lifestyle best based on your habits and health goals. Their products are about the same price as Xtend-Life’s on average, but shipping times are dramatically shorter.

Ritual

Just need a multivitamin without any extra frills or hassle but with an emphasis on sourcing? Ritual’s got you covered. The supplement company provides multivitamins specifically formulated to fill in common nutritional gaps, with no-nonsense views into what they’ve picked and why. They are as transparent as Xtend-Life in terms of their science, ingredients, and formulations, providing a healthy and helpful amount of information to you.

While they might not be the best choice for people who need a specific vitamin, are deficient in anything, or have above- or below-average needs, they thoroughly cover common ground. If you want a great multivitamin, Ritual is the place to look; if you need anything else, you’ll be out of luck.

HUM Nutrition

If you know you’ll need a supplement every month, a subscription service like HUM Nutrition might be best for you. Meticulously formulated and tested like Xtend-Life’s supplements, HUM Nutrition provides beauty-focused supplements and protein powders that can help with your skin, hair, nails, hormonal imbalances, stress, and sleep. They might not be as holistic as Xtend-Life, but they provide bright, fun nutritional support to help you look as good as you feel. They’re priced in the same general bracket as Xtend-Life and are generally a solid counterpart with a slightly different focus.

Binto

As another personalized subscription supplement service, Binto provides monthly kits for your nutritional needs. They also offer pre-made kits with different focuses like prenatal nutrition, managing menopause symptoms, or magnesium drink mixes for better sleep. A vast majority of these supplements focus on menstrual health, regulating periods, providing fertility care, and pre- and post-partum nutrition support. Individual vitamins are easy to find, but the overall catalog is slim.

Binto is unique as a supplement retailer because they offer personalized telehealth consults with four licensed medical providers (registered nurses and physician’s assistants), who help you identify exactly the vitamins you need for your life stage. These fifteen-minute appointments are relatively inexpensive and a unique way to get more involved in your health.