Transparency
With any supplement, three questions matter: how concentrated the extract is, what dose was tested, and who measured the batch. The answers are in two places: the certificate of analysis and the label. Below you’ll find both, read line by line.
All three answers fit on a single page.
It’s called a certificate of analysis, and the laboratory issues one for every single batch. Below is a sample, for a turmeric extract capsule, with our notes in the margin.
- Batch no.
- left blank in the sample1
- Date of analysis
- left blank in the sample
- Product
- Turmeric, standardized extract
- Form
- Vegetable capsules, 500 mg extract
- Laboratory
- Independent, ISO/IEC 17025 accredited
Extract
Per capsule
Contaminants4
The certificate stays with the lab. The label comes to you.
On any supplement, four lines tell you almost everything that matters. Below is a sample label. Let’s read it together, from top to bottom.
First the serving, then the numbers.
The amounts in the table are given per recommended daily dose, and a dose can mean one, two, or more capsules. In the European Union, the amount of each active ingredient must be stated in figures, per daily dose. That is the amount you compare with the doses used in studies, not the amount in a single capsule.
On the label“Content per daily dose (2 capsules)”
A percentage, not just a name.
“Standardized to 95%” means that every batch has the same proportion of active compound, and that it is measured. A ground rhizome powder cannot promise a percentage: in the dried plant, curcuminoids make up only a few percent and vary from one harvest to the next.
On the label“standardized to 95% curcuminoids”
What comes with it matters just as much.
On its own, curcumin is very poorly absorbed. Look on the label for what helps it get where it needs to go: piperine from black pepper, phospholipids, or a liposomal form. Without them, the number in the table tells you how much you swallow, not how much your body uses.
On the label“black pepper extract, standardized to 95% piperine”
The rest of the list, in order.
Ingredients are listed in descending order of quantity, and additives are preceded by their function: anti-caking agent, bulking agent, coloring. The capsule and the anti-caking agent serve technical purposes and appear almost everywhere. Colorings and flavorings do nothing for the body; they are there only for appearance.
On the label“Ingredients: turmeric extract, vegetable capsule…”