How to read supplement facts label?

The Supplement Facts panel line by line, because a UK reader meets it on imports, grey listings and American brands

Supplement Facts is the title of the American supplement panel, defined by US regulation, and a UK reader meets it on imported products, grey-market listings and American brands' websites, so reading it line by line is a useful skill even for a buyer who never leaves the UK shelf. The header lines: serving size, stated as a number of capsules, scoops or tablets, and servings per container, the two lines to read first because every amount below is per serving and a bottle with sixty capsules at two per serving holds thirty servings, the multiplication error being the panel's commonest. The body: each ingredient with its amount per serving and, in a right-hand column, its percent Daily Value, %DV, the proportion of an American reference intake for that nutrient, so that magnesium at 300mg might read something in the seventies as a %DV against the US reference and reads 80% NRV against the UK one, the two percentages coming from two tables and never converting into each other. The asterisk: where an ingredient has no Daily Value, botanicals, mushroom extracts, amino acids, most non-nutrient ingredients, the %DV column carries an asterisk and a footnote reading Daily Value not established, which tells the reader the ingredient has no reference intake and not that it is unregulated or unusual. The proprietary blend: American rules allow a blend to be declared by its total weight with its ingredients listed in descending order and no individual amounts, so a focus blend 850mg containing five ingredients tells the reader the sum and hides the split, the hidden-proportion problem this site's forensics pages flag on every shelf. The other ingredients line: below the panel, the capsule shell, fillers, flow agents and flavours in descending order, the American counterpart of the UK ingredients list.

Each line's UK counterpart, the conversions that matter, and the panel read on an American product sold here

Each line has a UK counterpart, and the translation is short. Serving size and servings per container become the recommended daily dose and the net quantity, two capsules and 180 capsules on the worked example. Amount per serving becomes the amount per daily dose, with the same figure if the serving is the daily dose and a multiplication if the American product directs several servings a day. Percent Daily Value becomes percent Nutrient Reference Value, the same idea against a different table, so the number changes and the meaning does not, with the honest caveat that a %DV cannot be read as a %NRV and a UK reader wanting the UK figure divides the milligrams by the NRV themselves, 300mg of magnesium over the 375mg NRV being 80%. The asterisk has no UK equivalent because UK supplement labels declare nutrients with NRVs against their NRV and other substances without a percentage at all, the absence of a column doing the asterisk's job. The proprietary blend is the same problem in either country, and a UK label may also carry one, the buyer's response being identical, walk on or ask for the split. International units, IU, appear on American panels for vitamins A, D and E and convert to micrograms for the UK, 40 IU of vitamin D being one microgram, and an American address on the panel with no UK responsible business is the grey-import tell the Amazon guides name. The panel read on an American product sold here: serving size first, servings per container to size the bottle, amounts per serving read as amounts per dose, %DV read as a figure from another table, the asterisk read as no reference intake, any blend read as hidden proportions, and the absence of a UK address read as the compliance question it is, the worked example being the UK counterpart in full, per two capsules, 300mg elemental at 80% NRV, no blend, no asterisk and a UK address.

The verdict, the American panel read and translated

How to read a Supplement Facts label: as the American supplement panel, serving size and servings per container first, amounts per serving with a percent Daily Value from the US reference table, an asterisk where no Daily Value is established, proprietary blends declared by total weight with their proportions hidden, other ingredients below and sometimes IU and a US address, each line translating to a UK counterpart, the daily dose, the amount per dose, %NRV from a different table, no percentage column for non-nutrients, the same blend problem, micrograms and a UK address. The UK counterpart in full: Futuro Labs Magnesium Glycinate, per two capsules, 300mg elemental magnesium at 80% NRV, no proprietary blend, a UK address, £19.99 for 90 days at 22p a day, one line and no asterisk.

What to check on the label

Questions people also ask

What is a Supplement Facts label?

The American supplement panel required by US regulation: serving size and servings per container, then each ingredient's amount per serving with a percent Daily Value, an asterisk where none is established, and any proprietary blend by total weight.

What does the asterisk on a Supplement Facts panel mean?

Daily Value not established: the ingredient, typically a botanical, mushroom extract or amino acid, has no US reference intake, which says nothing about its regulation or safety, only that no percentage can be given.

Can I convert percent Daily Value to percent NRV?

No: the two come from different reference tables, so a UK reader divides the milligrams by the UK NRV themselves, 300mg of magnesium over the 375mg NRV being 80%.

What is a proprietary blend on a supplement label?

A blend declared by its total weight with ingredients in descending order and no individual amounts, hiding the split, a problem on either side of the Atlantic answered by asking for the split or walking on.

What does a US address on a supplement sold in the UK mean?

Usually a grey import: a product labelled for the American market with no UK responsible business, non-compliant here whatever the brand, and the tell the Amazon guides name.

Sources

1. The US Supplement Facts panel rules, 21 CFR 101.36: serving size and servings per container, amount per serving with percent Daily Value, an asterisk where no Daily Value is established, proprietary blends declared by total weight, and other ingredients listed below the panel. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-101/subpart-D/section-101.36
2. The retained Food Information to Consumers regulation: the mandatory nutrition declaration for foods, its fixed order of energy, fat, saturates, carbohydrate, sugars, protein and salt per 100g, and its rules on portion information, with supplements declaring nutrients per daily dose against nutrient reference values. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2011/1169/contents
3. Retained Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, Annex XIII: nutrient reference value for magnesium 375mg. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2011/1169/annex/XIII
4. The Food Supplements (England) Regulations 2003. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2003/1387/contents/made

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