The Shell Game That Is The Proprietary Blend Nutritional Supplement

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Article Title: The Shell Game That Is The " Proprietary Blend "

Nutritional Supplement

Author: Will Brink

Word Count: 1083

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Recently I wrote an article entitled " Terms, Terms, Terms, An

Inside look to buying supplements " which can be found on the

Gurus and Guests section of my private forum. 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 "

Readers interested in understanding why the above terms can be

so misleading, can read my write-up on each of those terms.

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 at 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

( to hide the fact that 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 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 in 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.

Sometimes 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 nor 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 the 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

than 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 " .

About The Author: More from sports nutrition expert and

industry author Will Brink: Online Articles:

http://www.brinkzone.com/onlinearticles.html Muscle Building

Guide: http://www.musclebuildingguide.com/ Diet Supplements

Review: http://www.dietsupplementsreview.com/

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For more free-reprint articles by Will Brink please visit:

http://www.isnare.com/?s=author & a=Will+Brink