A 10:1 extract means ten parts of raw plant were processed down to one part of extract. So 100 mg of a 10:1 extract gets marketed as “equivalent to 1,000 mg” of the herb. The arithmetic is real. What it does not tell you is which compounds survived the extraction, or at what concentration. Two 10:1 extracts of the same plant, made different ways, can contain very different amounts of the thing you actually want. The honest number is the milligrams in the capsule plus the standardization — the percentage of the active compound, if the label gives you one. If it only gives you the equivalence, it is selling you the ratio. Anyone got one of these in the cupboard? What does the back say the actual milligram amount is?

Sodium per serving across electrolyte products ranges from under 200 mg to over 1,000 mg. That is a fivefold spread in the same aisle, in packets that look identical. Neither end is wrong. A high-sodium packet is built for someone sweating heavily for hours in heat. A low-sodium one is built for someone who wants a bit of flavor and a bit of magnesium. The problem is buying one and using it as the other. If you are not sweating through your shirt, you probably do not need the high end, and you are paying for salt. Check the sodium per serving on yours. What does it say, and what are you actually using it for?

A proprietary blend has to declare the combined weight of everything in it. It does not have to declare how much of each ingredient is in there. Ingredients should be listed in descending order by weight, which is the only clue you get. So a 2,000 mg blend with eleven ingredients could be 1,900 mg of the cheapest one and trace amounts of the ten that sold you the bottle. The famous ingredient goes on the front; the amount stays hidden. There is one legitimate reason to use a blend and a lot of illegitimate ones. You cannot tell which you are holding, and that is the point. Find a label with a proprietary blend on it. How many ingredients are sharing that one number?

Live cultures die over shelf life. A product declaring 50 billion CFU at time of manufacture is telling you what was in there when it left the factory, not what is in there now. A product declaring 10 billion guaranteed through the expiration date is making the harder promise, and the harder promise is worth more. ISAPP, the scientific association for probiotics, says potency should be listed through the expiration date for exactly this reason. Second thing while you have it in your hand. A strain needs three parts: genus, species, and the strain code — the letters and numbers on the end. Without the code you cannot tie what you bought to any trial, because two strains with the same species name can behave completely differently. Go and look at yours. Does it say at manufacture or through expiry, and does it give you the strain codes?

Pick up the tub and find the serving size, not the protein number. On a lot of products one serving is two scoops. So the “25g protein per serving” on the front is two scoops of powder. If you have been using one, you have been getting half of what you think, and the tub is lasting twice as long as the label says it should — which is the tell. This is the cheapest mistake in the category, and it is not a scam. The number is accurate. It is just not the number most people read. Go and look. How many scoops is one serving on yours, and how many do you actually use?