"Proprietary Blend" Is a Supplement Label Loophole

It lists the ingredients without telling you how much of each.

Flip over a pre-workout or "immune blend" and you'll often see "Proprietary Blend" with a single total weight. That's doing a lot of hiding.

The dosing black box

A proprietary blend lists its ingredients (in order of amount) but not the individual doses — just one combined number. So a blend can headline an impressive-sounding ingredient while including a sprinkle of it, padding the rest with something cheap. You can't tell an effective dose from fairy dust.

Why brands love it

It's legal, it protects "secret formulas," and it conveniently hides underdosing. The trouble is you're trusting the label to be generous exactly where it doesn't have to be.

The move

Favor supplements that disclose the amount of each active ingredient, and check those doses against what research actually uses. Transparency on the label is a good proxy for a brand that has nothing to hide.

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