What a proprietary blend is actually hiding

A proprietary blend is a list of ingredients with one number after it. Joint Complex, 1,200mg, and then eight things underneath. It is legal, it is common, and it is designed so you cannot work out what you are paying for.

The trick is order. Ingredients are listed by weight, so the first one is the bulk of that 1,200mg and the last one might be a rounding error. A blend can lead with a cheap filler, finish with the active everybody came for, and still print both names in the same size type.

The honest test is simple. Pick the ingredient the product is named after and ask what it weighs. If the answer is on the front of the tub, you can compare it with anything else on the shelf. If the answer is a blend name, you cannot, and that is the point.

There are only two reasons to use one. Either the formula is genuinely secret and worth protecting, which is rare in a category built on ingredients anyone can buy, or the amounts would not survive being read. Assume the second unless you are shown otherwise.

We print every active and its milligrams on the front. Not because it is generous, but because it is the only number that tells you whether the tub will do anything.