Proprietary Blends Explained: The Supplement Industry’s Favourite Trick

I have strong opinions on this one. And I think once you understand what a proprietary blend actually is, you will too.

Proprietary blends are the supplement industry’s favourite trick. They let companies list impressive-sounding ingredients on the label while hiding the fact that most of them are dosed so low they can’t possibly do anything.

It’s legal. It’s common. And it’s designed to take advantage of people who don’t know what to look for.

When I created URICAH, I made the decision from day one that we’d never use a proprietary blend. Every single ingredient, every single dosage, right there on the label.

Here’s why that matters.

What Is a Proprietary Blend?

A proprietary blend is when a supplement company groups multiple ingredients together under one total weight, without telling you how much of each individual ingredient is in the product.

On the label, it looks something like this:

Proprietary Joint Support Blend: 500mg Tart cherry, celery seed, turmeric, bromelain, quercetin, boswellia, devil’s claw, ginger, milk thistle, vitamin C

You know the blend weighs 500mg total. You know which ingredients are in it.

You have absolutely no idea how much of each one you’re getting.

That’s the trick.

Why Companies Use Proprietary Blends

The supplement industry will tell you proprietary blends exist to “protect their unique formulas from competitors.” That’s the official line.

Here’s what’s actually happening in most cases.

1. It hides cheap dosages.

If a company can list tart cherry on the label without telling you it’s only 10mg (when research uses 200mg+), they get the marketing benefit without the cost of an effective dose. You see the ingredient name. You assume it’s doing something. It isn’t.

2. It allows “fairy dusting.”

This is industry jargon for including a tiny amount of an expensive ingredient just so it appears on the label. The consumer sees “turmeric” and thinks they’re getting meaningful turmeric support. They might be getting 5mg. That’s fairy dust. It’s there for the label, not for your health.

3. It cuts costs dramatically.

Effective dosages of quality ingredients cost money. If you can use 10mg instead of 200mg and the customer can’t tell the difference from the label, why would you spend more? That’s the economic incentive, and it’s powerful.

4. It makes comparison shopping almost impossible.

When two products both list the same ingredients but only one shows the dosages, most consumers default to price or star ratings. The transparent product can’t compete on price because it actually contains effective doses. The proprietary blend wins on shelf appeal while delivering less.

Let’s Do the Maths

This is where it gets properly ridiculous.

Imagine a “Uric Acid Support Blend” at 500mg total, containing 10 ingredients. If you divide 500mg evenly, that’s 50mg per ingredient.

Now consider the researched effective doses for just three key ingredients:

• Tart cherry extract: 200mg+
• Celery seed extract: 150-200mg+
• Chanca piedra: 200-250mg+

That’s 550-650mg minimum for just three ingredients at their researched doses. The entire blend is only 500mg for ten ingredients.

The maths doesn’t work. Someone is getting short-changed, and it’s you.

Worse, ingredient lists within proprietary blends are required to be listed in order of weight. So the first ingredient might be 400mg of cheap filler or a low-cost ingredient, and everything else splits the remaining 100mg between them.

Nine ingredients sharing 100mg.

That’s not a supplement. That’s a marketing document in capsule form.

How to Spot a Proprietary Blend on a Label

It’s easier than you think:

1. Look for a single weight number covering multiple ingredients. If you see “Blend: 500mg” followed by a list of ingredients without individual weights, that’s a proprietary blend.
2. Check for the words “proprietary,” “complex,” “matrix,” or “blend.” These are the common labels. Some companies get creative with names like “Synergistic Joint Formula” or “Advanced Support Complex.” Same thing.
3. Count the ingredients under that single number. The more ingredients sharing one weight, the worse it gets. Five ingredients under 500mg is already suspect. Ten ingredients under 500mg is a joke.
4. Compare against researched doses. If a blend weighs 400mg and contains an ingredient that requires 200mg on its own to be effective, something doesn’t add up.

What Transparent Labelling Looks Like

A transparent supplement label shows you exactly what you’re getting. No blends. No grouped weights. Every ingredient listed with its individual dosage.

Here’s what URICAH’s label looks like:

• Chanca Piedra 4:1 Extract: 250mg
• Celery Seed 10:1 Extract: 200mg
• Tart Cherry Fruit 4:1 Extract: 200mg
• Turmeric Rhizome 95% Extract: 25mg
• Bromelain: 25mg

And so on for all 14 ingredients.

You can look at each one, compare it to the research, and decide for yourself whether the dose is meaningful. That’s the point. You shouldn’t need to trust the company. You should be able to verify.

When I created URICAH, this was non-negotiable. I’d been on the other side of this problem, looking at supplement after supplement and having no idea what I was actually getting. It’s frustrating. And it’s entirely avoidable if the company is willing to be honest about what’s in the bottle.

“But More Ingredients Must Mean It’s Better, Right?”

No.

This is the other myth that proprietary blends exploit.

A product with 25 ingredients sounds impressive. If those 25 ingredients are packed into a single capsule of 500-600mg total, the maths is brutal. Most ingredients end up at 20-30mg each. That’s nowhere near enough for anything to work.

A product with 10-14 ingredients at properly researched doses will outperform a 25-ingredient fairy dust formula every single time.

It’s about whether each ingredient is dosed high enough to actually do something. More isn’t better. Enough is better.

Why This Matters for Your Health

This isn’t just about getting ripped off (although you are). It’s about what happens when you spend months taking a supplement that can’t work because the doses are too low.

You lose time. You lose money.

And worst of all, you lose confidence in natural approaches altogether. “I tried supplements and they didn’t work.” Did you? Or did you try a proprietary blend that was never going to work because the ingredients were dosed for the label, not for your body?

I’ve talked to hundreds of people who had this exact experience. They’d tried two or three different products, seen no results, and concluded that natural uric acid support doesn’t work.

Then they tried something with transparent, research-backed dosages and got the results they were looking for.

The supplement didn’t fail them. The labelling did.

What to Do About It

Simple rules:

1. Never buy a supplement with a proprietary blend. Full stop. If they won’t tell you what’s in it, don’t give them your money.
2. Look for individual ingredient dosages on the label. Every ingredient should have its own weight clearly listed.
3. Compare those dosages to the research. A quick search for “[ingredient name] effective dose” will tell you whether what’s in the product is meaningful.
4. Be suspicious of products with 20+ ingredients. The more ingredients, the harder it is to dose each one effectively within a reasonable capsule size.
5. Ask the company. If dosages aren’t on the label, email them and ask. If they won’t tell you, that tells you everything.

URICAH has 14 clearly labelled ingredients, each at a dosage I can defend. No proprietary blends. No fairy dusting. No hiding behind fancy blend names. 2,200+ customer reviews and a 90-day money-back guarantee to back it up.

See the full URICAH ingredient list →

Read why I created URICAH →

Learn what else to look for in a uric acid supplement →

This article is for informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Consult your healthcare provider before making changes to your health routine.