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Should you pay more for a proprietary supplement
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Should You Pay More Money for a Supplement Containing a “Proprietary Blend”?

“NEW proprietary blend of organic herbs, vitamins, and minerals scientifically proven to {insert your choice of health goal}”. Sounds sexy, right? Proprietary blend. Mmm. Scientifically proven. Oh, yes, please. 

When you see these terms on a dietary supplement, buying it almost feels like a no-brainer — it must be effective and, therefore, worth the eye-watering price tag, right?

Sorry to burst your bubble, but “scientifically proven” doesn’t mean anything (we dive into why that’s so in this article). And, unfortunately, a dietary supplement featuring a “proprietary blend” is likely to be as effective as a cup of water in snuffing out a raging forest fire. Useless.

Continue reading to understand why.

Proprietary Blend 101

While the FDA does not have legal purview over the approval of dietary supplements sold in the United States, it does require manufacturers to disclose the following information:

  • Every dietary ingredient
  • Amount of every dietary ingredient per serving (declared as a quantitative amount by weight, a percentage of the Daily Value, or both)

That means, technically, you, the consumer, will always know how much of a given active ingredient you’ll get in a supplement.

Well, unless those ingredients are part of a proprietary blend.

What’s that? A proprietary blend (also known as "complex", "matrix", or "formulation") is a cocktail of several ingredients often unique to a particular product and sometimes given a special name on the product's Supplements Facts panel.

(Fictitious) examples include “Bye-Bye Bloating Complex”, “Metabolism-Boosting Formulation”, and “Laser-Sharp Focus Matrix”.

As seductive as these may sound, there's a catch: manufacturers don't have to list the specific amount of each ingredient in proprietary blends; they're only obliged to disclose the total combined amount in the blend.

So, all you’ll know about a “Bye-Bye Bloating Complex", for example, could be:

Ingredients:

  • Fermented fruits and vegetables
  • Vitamin C
  • Digestion enzymes

Total Amount Per Serving: 2,070 mg

How much fermented fruits and vegetables are you getting? What about vitamin C? Or digestion enzymes? Too bad — you’ll never know.

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