Label literacy
How to Read a Supplement Label in 90 Seconds
Seven checks, in order. You do not need a nutrition degree — you need a sequence. 🏷️
Key takeaways
- Serving size first — every other number depends on it.
- Capsules × servings tells you the real dose when a website disagrees.
- Scan for caffeine under plant names.
- With a blend, the refund window is your only real protection.
Checks 1–3: size, disclosure, order
1. Serving size and servings per container ⏱️
Start here, because every other number depends on it. One capsule or two? A 60-capsule bottle is a month at two a day and two months at one a day, and the real cost per month changes accordingly.
Useful cross-check: multiply capsules per bottle by the servings badge. If the bottle says 60 capsules and 30 servings, the serving is two capsules — whatever a website told you. This exact discrepancy exists on pages describing Lymph Savior.
2. Is each amount disclosed? 🔍
Look for a proprietary blend: one total covering several ingredients with no individual figures. If you find one, you cannot evaluate the formula on paper. Note that vitamins and minerals must be declared individually by law, which is why a label can show one mineral amount and nothing else.
3. Read the order of the list 📋
Ingredients appear in descending order of weight. The first two or three names carry most of the mass. If what you are buying the product for sits ninth of eleven, you are mostly buying the first two.
Checks 4–5: potency and comparison
4. Look for standardisation 🧪
“Standardised to 20% aescin” is a different claim from a bare plant name. It names the active compound and guarantees a percentage. Check the plant part too — seed, leaf and root are chemically different. Full explanation in what standardisation means.
5. Compare with the researched dose 📏
Look up the dose used in human research for the one or two ingredients you care about, and see whether the label is in the same range or an order of magnitude below. Shortcut: add the researched doses of the top three. If the total exceeds what the serving can physically hold, the formula is not delivering all of them. See the capsule arithmetic.
Checks 6–7: hidden extras and your protection
6. Scan for stimulants and interaction flags ☕
- Caffeine under another name — yerba mate, guarana, green tea extract, kola nut, coffee bean extract.
- Herbs that affect clotting — horse chestnut, red clover, ginger, ginkgo, garlic. Critical if you take an anticoagulant.
- Grapefruit in any form — it inhibits CYP3A4 and affects many common medicines.
Also read the “other ingredients” line for allergens and gelatin.
7. Check the guarantee and the seller 🔁
With a blend, the refund window is the only real protection you have. Note its length, whether it runs from purchase or delivery, whether opened bottles qualify, whether an RMA number is required, and who pays return postage. Screenshot the terms on the day you buy.
Five red flags that end the conversation 🚩
- “FDA approved.” No dietary supplement is.
- Disease claims — treats, cures, reverses.
- Any suggestion you could reduce medication. Close the tab.
- Fake scarcity — timers that reset, stock counters.
- No physical address or contact route.
Run these seven checks on the next bottle you pick up, including the product this site covers. On check two it scores badly — and saying so is the point of the exercise. ✅