Don't Be Fooled: 6 Things To Check When Reading A Supplement Label

Walk down any supplement aisle, and you’re spoiled for choice. Pretty labels and flashy marketing; every bottle seems to be auditioning for your attention. But good packaging doesn’t necessarily mean a good supplement, so how do you know what’s actually worth buying?

We’re here to help. This no-nonsense guide will show you how to read supplement labels, spot the red flags and make more informed choices, so you can find a supplement that’s effective and suited to your needs.

1. Double-check the daily dose

A bottle containing 200 capsules might look like a great deal, but check how many you're actually supposed to take each day. Some supplements require several capsules to reach the recommended daily dose. That means your bargain bottle might only last a month, and you could be swallowing six capsules a day! That's a lot, especially if you're already taking other supplements.

This is another reason why liquid supplements are great. For example, to get the same therapeutic dose of chamomile, you could take 5ml of our Rest and Calm or eat 7 gummies.

2. Ignore the shouty text - find the actual dose

‘High Strength 50,000 mg’ looks impressive, but let’s take a closer look.

Some herbal supplements advertise what's known as the herbal equivalent, rather than the actual amount of extract in the tablet. For example, a product might advertise 50,000 mg of a herb, but when you look a little closer at the ingredients, you'll see it actually contains 560 mg of herbal extract.

The 50,000 mg refers to the amount of original plant material (i.e. 50,000 mg = 50 grams of milk thistle) used to produce that extract, not what's physically inside the tablet.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as herbal extraction is a valuable process that can concentrate particular plant compounds, but it is an important distinction, especially when comparing products.

3. More is not automatically better

Your body is not a storage locker. You can't just throw nutrients in until you reach peak health. Larger doses can absolutely cause more problems. For example, too much vitamin B6 can damage your nerves, excessive zinc interferes with copper absorption, and fat-soluble vitamins like vitamin A and D can build up in the body and can become toxic, so it is important to be mindful with supplementation.

4. Bigger numbers don't always mean better supplements

It's tempting to assume that more must mean better, but our bodies don't quite work that way. Take vitamin C, for example: we absorb around 70–90% at moderate intakes, but this drops to less than 50% at doses above 1,000 mg per day. So, a 2,000 mg supplement doesn't automatically offer four times the benefit of a 500 mg one.

The same goes for herbal supplements. The amount of herb is only one piece of the puzzle. Which part of the plant is used, how it's grown, harvested and prepared, and which compounds are being extracted all influence the finished product.

A good herbal formulation isn't about cramming in as much as possible; it's about choosing the right plants and preparing them in a way that makes the most of what they have to offer.

5. Read the ingredient's surname

‘Magnesium’ is only half the story. It could be magnesium oxide, citrate, bisglycinate or an amino acid chelate, and the form matters. Different forms vary in elemental magnesium content, absorption, digestive tolerance, evidence and cost.

Take magnesium oxide, for example. While it provides a relatively high amount of elemental magnesium, it is generally less well absorbed and can have a laxative effect. Not particularly helpful if that wasn't what you were taking it for.

6. Standardisation

Standardisation is a way of ensuring a herbal extract contains a consistent amount of a particular plant compound (or group of compounds) in every batch. This can be helpful when comparing supplements, but it can also make labels a little confusing.

Take Withania, for example. One product might contain 600 mg of Withania root powder, while another contains 300 mg of Withania extract standardised to 5% withanolides (naturally occurring compounds in the plant).

At first glance, the 600 mg option might look like better value. But it doesn't tell you how much withanolide it contains, whereas the second product does. So, the bigger number doesn't necessarily mean more of the compounds you're looking for or a better product.

And to make things a little more confusing, standardised doesn't automatically mean better, either. The plant part used, extraction method and extract ratio all matter.

Comparing herbal supplements by milligrams alone is a bit like comparing tea and coffee by the size of the cup.

7. Watch out for proprietary blends

A proprietary blend is when a manufacturer lists several ingredients together under one combined name, rather than showing the individual amount of each ingredient.

For example, you might see six different herbs listed with a total combined amount of 500 mg. But how much of each herb is actually in there? You have no way of knowing.

This can make it difficult to compare products or work out whether you're getting a meaningful amount of a particular ingredient. If you're choosing a supplement because it contains a specific herb you're interested in, a proprietary blend makes it impossible to know exactly how much you're getting.

8. Do not panic about every 'other' ingredient

Excipients (also called fillers) help products move through manufacturing machinery, hold their shape and remain stable. You may have seen ingredients such as microcrystalline cellulose, silicon dioxide, magnesium stearate, glycerol and maltodextrin listed on capsule or tablet labels.

Seeing these names doesn't mean you're looking at a poor-quality product. Without some of these ingredients, certain supplements simply wouldn't be possible to manufacture. What really matters is if they create an issue for you.

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