What a blend tells you, and what it doesn't
Shoppers usually meet the term on the back of a capsule bottle or a pre-workout tub. Here is what you can and can't learn from that line on the panel.
| You can see | You can't see |
|---|---|
| The total weight of the blend per serving | How much of each ingredient is in it |
| Every dietary ingredient in the blend | Whether the last ingredient is a large or a tiny share |
| Their order: the heaviest comes first | The exact recipe the brand uses |
| The amount and % Daily Value of any vitamin or mineral |
The order is the one real clue. In a 450 mg blend of four ingredients, the first one weighs at least as much as each of the others, so it makes up at least a quarter of the total. The last one could be almost nothing.
The dagger or asterisk after the blend weight leads to "Daily Value not established" at the bottom of the panel. It means FDA has no daily reference amount for those ingredients. It says nothing about safety or quality.
How to list a proprietary blend: the rules
- Name it "Proprietary Blend", or a descriptive or fanciful name such as "Energy Blend" or "Calm Blend". Bold type is allowed
- Put it with the other dietary ingredients that have no Daily Value, below the heavy bar
- Give the total weight of the blend's other dietary ingredients on the same line, in the amount column
- Place a symbol under % Daily Value, or right after the weight, that leads to "Daily Value not established"
- Indent the blend's ingredients under its name, in a column or on one line, heaviest first
- Pull out every vitamin, mineral or other nutrient that has a Daily Value, and give it its own line with amount and % Daily Value
Everything else about listing dietary ingredients still applies inside the blend. Each ingredient goes by its common or usual name, and a botanical names the part of the plant, like "ginger root" rather than "ginger".
Example: a capsule with a calm blend
Take a two-capsule serving with vitamin B6, magnesium and a 450 mg blend of four ingredients. We entered it in our Supplement Facts mode. This is the panel it printed:
| Supplement Facts | Amount Per Serving | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|
| Serving Size 2 Capsules · Servings Per Container 30 | ||
| Vitamin B6 (as pyridoxine HCl) | 2 mg | 118% |
| Magnesium (as magnesium glycinate) | 100 mg | 24% |
| Calm Blend | 450 mg | † |
| Ashwagandha root extract, L-theanine, chamomile flower extract, lemon balm leaf extract | ||
| † Daily Value not established. |
Other ingredients: Hypromellose (capsule), rice flour, magnesium stearate.
- Vitamin B6 and magnesium sit above the blend with their own amounts. They are not part of the 450 mg
- The 450 mg is the four blend ingredients together, nothing else
- Ashwagandha root extract is the heaviest of the four, lemon balm leaf extract the lightest
- The capsule shell and fillers are not dietary ingredients, so they go in Other ingredients below the panel
What a blend can't keep off the label
- Any ingredient in the blend: each one is named, only its weight stays private
- Vitamins and minerals: their amounts and % Daily Values are always shown
- Major food allergens: a blend with whey in it still has to declare milk
- The source of a nutrient, when it isn't named in the panel: it goes in the ingredient list below
Blend or full amounts: which to choose
A blend is always optional. You can list every dietary ingredient on its own line with its own weight instead. The rules allow both, so this is a business choice.
| List as a blend when | List each ingredient when |
|---|---|
| Your exact recipe is what sets you apart and you don't want it copied from the label | A dose is your selling point, like 600 mg of ashwagandha per serving |
| The ingredients only make sense together, like a flavor or herb mix | Your buyers compare products by milligrams |
| You make several versions with the same mix | You want to show you have nothing to hide |
You can mix both on one panel: a hero ingredient on its own line with its full weight, and a smaller supporting blend below it.
Making a proprietary blend in our label maker
- Switch the tool to "Dietary supplement"
- Step 2: add vitamins and minerals with their amounts and sources
- Step 3: add an ingredient with the blend name and the blend's total weight
- Fill in "Proprietary blend? List its ingredients, heaviest first" with the ingredients, separated by commas
- Step 5: type the capsule and fillers as Other ingredients
The tool sets the blend name in bold with its weight and the dagger, indents the ingredient list under it, and adds the "Daily Value not established" footnote. It doesn't check the order for you: you know your formula, so you type the heaviest first.
Supplement Facts Label Maker →