The Shell Game that is the “Proprietary Blend”

Recently I wrote an article entitled “Terms, Terms, Terms, An
Inside look to buying supplements”. The article covered many of
the misleading marketing terms buyers have to deal with in an
attempt to make informed decisions on the supplements they spend
their hard earned money on. Some of the more potentially
misleading commonly used marketing terms I covered were:

“Clinically proven” “Patented” “Doctor recommended” “All
natural” “Scientifically formulated” “Research proven” “Used for
thousands of years”

In a nut shell, I went onto cover each of these common marketing
terms that are used to sell supplements to unwitting consumers
and explained each in detail as to what I view as their common
misuse within the market place.

However, one term I didn’t cover, was “proprietary blend” which
in many cases is the most potentially misleading term of them
all, though not a term always seen in ads per se, but the side
of the bottle.

Thus, why I felt it was a separate topic to be covered at a
later date as it does not fit under the classic definition of a
commonly used marketing term found in ads. I also decided to
cover this term in a separate article as it requires much more
space dedicated to it then the other terms needed for reasons
that will be apparent shortly.

Proprietary blends are not inherently a negative for the
consumer, though they are inherently confusing for the buyer in
most cases.

A supplement that lists a “proprietary blend” on the bottle can
be there for one of two reasons:

(a) to prevent the competition from knowing exactly what ratios
and amounts of each ingredient present in the formula to prevent
the competition from copying their formula exactly (commonly
referred to as a “knock off”) or

(b) to hide the fact the formula contains very little of the
active ingredients listed on the bottle in an attempt to fool
consumers.

Sadly, the latter use is far more common then the former. They
see a long list of seemingly impressive ingredients listed in
the “proprietary blend” none of which are there is amounts that
will have any effects. This is commonly referred to as “label
decoration” by industry insiders. The former use of the term is
a legitimate way for a company of a quality formula from having
the competition copy or “knock off” their formula and the latter
use of the term is to scam people.

So how does the consumer tell the difference?

They can’t, or at least they can’t without some research and
knowledge, which the scam artists know few people have the time
and energy to dedicate to finding the answers. Although there
are a few tips the consumer can use to decide if a product with
a “proprietary blend” is worth trying, no one, not even me, can
figure out exactly how much of each ingredient is in the blend
or in what ratio of each is contained within the formula, hence
why the honest and not-so-honest companies employ “proprietary
blends” so often.

Thus, we have something of a conundrum here and conflict between
a company making a quality formula attempting to protect that
formula from other companies vs. the company simply looking to
baffle buyers with BS.

There are at least some basic tips or food for thought here
regarding this problem. A formula that contains say 10
ingredients in a “proprietary blend” is by no means defacto
superior then one with three ingredients in it. It’s the dose
that matters. Clearly, it’s better to have higher amounts of
ingredients that will have some effects vs. a long list of
ingredients in doses too low to have any effects.

Some times it helps to look at both what’s in the blend and how
much of the blend actually exists. As an example, if say the
blend is 300mg total and contains ten ingredients, that’s only
30mg per ingredient, assuming (and you know what they say about
assuming!) that each is found in equal amounts. Clearly, for
most compounds out there, 30mg wont do jack sh*&. On the other
hand, if say the blend is 3000mg (3 grams) and contains three or
four ingredients, there is at least a better chance that the
formula contains enough of each (and remember, we can’t tell how
much of each is in there as that information is “proprietary”)
to have some effects you are looking for such as an increase in
strength, or a decrease in bodyfat, etc.

Unfortunately, the above examples are so vague as to be close to
worthless as it’s easy enough to formulate a 3000mg blend where
all the ingredients are worthless to begin with or a 300mg blend
that contains compounds that only require small doses to have an
effect and or can be toxic at higher doses.

For example, the mineral zinc tends to be no more then 30mg in
most formulas and no more is needed or recommended. Much of this
comes down to the consumer knowing what the various ingredients
are and how they work (to decide if they are even worth using in
the first place) then deciding if said blend appears to at least
contain a dose that would have the desired effects, which just
brings us back to my prior comment: most people have neither the
time or inclination to research all that info just to decide if
they want to use a product and thus the many “proprietary
blends” on the market that are no more then a long list of
under-dosed ingredients.

Wish I could be of more help giving specific advice to readers
of this here article as to what makes a good blend and what
constitutes a poorly made blend, but the above advice is the
best I can do under the circumstances. Although a “proprietary
blend” is not by default a negative to the consumer, it is by
all means the poster child for the well-known Latin term Caveat
emptor which translates into English as “let the buyer beware”.

1. Prev:Zone Diet – A New Weight Loss System
2. Next:Walk Your Way to Weight Loss