Plain definitions for the words that appear on supplement labels in India, and links to the longer pieces where each one matters. Written so you can check a pack in the shop.
Proprietary blend. Several ingredients listed under one combined weight, so you can see the names but not the amounts. Legal, common, and unverifiable. What it hides.
Standardisation. An extract processed and tested so a named compound makes up a stated percentage of its weight. 5% withanolides means 15 mg of withanolides in 300 mg of extract. How it works.
Extract ratio. A figure like 10:1, meaning ten kilos of plant produced one kilo of extract. It describes concentration, not potency, and is a weaker figure than a standardisation percentage. Why.
Serving size. Chosen by the brand, not set by anyone. Every other number on the pack is calculated from it, which makes it the easiest one to move. How it gets used.
Certificate of Analysis. The laboratory report for a specific batch, naming the tests, the method, the result and the specification. How to ask for one.
FSSAI licence. A 14 digit number identifying a registered food business in India. It covers safety and process, not whether a formula works. How to verify it.
GMP. Good Manufacturing Practice. A separate certification from the licence, covering how a facility actually runs: cleaning, batch records, equipment.
Clinically studied ingredient. Research exists on an ingredient in the product. It is not a statement about the product, the dose, or the form used. The gap.
Wheatgrass juice powder. Grass pressed for juice, pulp discarded, juice dried. More plant per kilo than leaf powder, and more expensive. Compared with leaf powder.
Broken-cell chlorella. Freshwater algae whose cellulose wall has been mechanically cracked, because human digestion cannot break cellulose down. Why the wall matters.
Spirulina. A cyanobacterium with a soft wall that needs no cracking. Different organism from chlorella, frequently listed beside it.
Amla. Indian gooseberry. A dense whole-food vitamin C source, usually standardised to tannins rather than to vitamin C because tannins are stable and measurable. Why.
Ashwagandha root extract. Standardised to withanolides. Research largely used root rather than leaf, so a label saying only ashwagandha extract is not telling you which.
PHGG. Partially hydrolysed guar gum. A soluble prebiotic fibre from the guar bean that ferments more gradually than inulin. Compared with inulin.
Inulin. A soluble fibre usually extracted from chicory root. Cheaper than PHGG and ferments faster, which is why it is the more common source of first-week bloating.
Moringa 10:1 extract. Roughly ten kilos of leaf reduced to one kilo of powder. Used for mineral density in a limited scoop.
L-theanine, citicoline, bacopa. Ingredients in caffeine-free focus blends. What each one is.
Flow agent. Silicon dioxide and similar, present under one percent so powder moves consistently through filling machinery. Functional, not filler. The difference.
Filler. Maltodextrin, rice flour, microcrystalline cellulose. Occupies volume. Sometimes necessary for a measurable scoop, sometimes cheaper than what it displaces.
Anti-caking agent. Keeps powder scoopable in humidity. More relevant in India than in the markets most supplement writing comes from. Storage.
Every ingredient in both blends is printed by name, in descending order, with the standardisation figure for every extract that has one. The full list is public before you buy, and the label decoder is the seven checks worth running on any pack, ours included.
