Proprietary Blends Explained: Why Some Supplements Don't Tell You How Much Is Inside

A proprietary blend is a group of supplement ingredients listed under one total weight, without the amount of each one, and FDA labeling rules allow it. It can protect a formula, but it means you can't tell how much of any single ingredient, such as DHM, you're getting.¹ Ingredient order puts a ceiling on each amount, never a number.

What "proprietary blend" means on a label

It's a line in the Supplement Facts panel that names a group of ingredients and gives one combined weight. The blend can be called "Proprietary Blend" or any "appropriately descriptive term or fanciful name."¹

A typical entry reads like this: "Recovery Blend 2,750 mg: ingredient A, ingredient B, ingredient C." A name isn't the problem by itself. One DHM capsule we checked on October 9, 2026 groups its DHM, L-cysteine and two plant powders into a named blend but prints every amount, which is full disclosure. See how to read a supplement label for the rest of the panel.

Why it's allowed (21 CFR 101.36)

Federal labeling rules for supplements explicitly permit blends, with three conditions.¹

• The blend must be identified by a name and may be in bold.
• Its "other dietary ingredients" (those without a Daily Value, such as DHM or herbal extracts) must be listed in descending order of predominance by weight.
• The blend's total weight goes on the same line as its name.

Nutrients with a Daily Value, such as vitamin B6 or sodium, must still be declared with amounts.¹ Excipients go in the separate "Other ingredients" list.³

Why brands use them

The usual explanation is protecting a formula from copycats. A blend also lets a label name an ingredient without showing how little or how much is present.

That second effect is what matters to you: a headline ingredient can sit inside a blend at any amount the order allows. The FTC, though, expects health claims to rest on evidence that matches the product's dose and formulation.⁴

The problem: you can't compare doses

Research is done at specific doses, so a hidden dose can't be matched to any study, or to another product.

Human trials of DHM used 300 to 970 mg a day; one Hovenia trial used 2,460 mg of extract.^{5, 6} A blend that lists "Hovenia extract" without its weight can't be compared with either. The problem is common: 59% of DHM-containing hangover products in a 2021 survey didn't state their DHM dose, and no product had peer-reviewed human evidence of safety or efficacy.²

Why you usually can't estimate the amounts

Descending order gives each ingredient a ceiling, not a number. The ingredient in position n can be at most 1/n of the blend, and there's no minimum.

A standardization percentage doesn't rescue the math. "Hovenia extract (min. 35% DHM)" tells you the extract's strength, but without the extract's weight the DHM could be trivial or substantial.

Blends vs. full disclosure on real labels

On the labels and product pages we checked on October 9, 2026, for products sold around drinking, disclosure ranged from none to complete.

• A hangover drink lists a 2.75 g blend of six ingredients, second among them a Hovenia extract standardized to at least 35% DHM. Its DHM per bottle can't be calculated.
• A pre-alcohol gummy's website describes a "proprietary DHM formula" and shows no milligrams.
• An herbal capsule lists a "Proprietary Herbal Extract Blend" and contains no DHM at all, according to a retailer listing.
• A sugar-free electrolyte powder, sold as a food and not marketed for hangovers, promotes a "proprietary Amino Acid Allulose Blend" on its product page without giving the amounts.
• Several DHM capsules, including three multi-ingredient formulas, list every ingredient with an amount.

After Party by Fuller Health has no blend: it is a single-ingredient DHM supplement, 650 mg of dihydromyricetin per capsule, 3,250 mg per 5-capsule serving, with nothing else but the cellulose capsule. Its label is on the After Party facts page. Its 3,250 mg serving is higher than the doses used in published human DHM studies (up to about 970 mg a day), and safety at that dose hasn't been studied.⁵ Full disclosure tells you what's inside, not whether it works. More in why After Party is just DHM and pure DHM vs. hangover blends.

Questions to ask a brand

• How many milligrams of each blend ingredient are in one serving?
• How much of the compound itself (DHM, not "extract") is in a serving?
• What is each extract standardized to, and how is that measured?
• Can you share a lot-specific certificate of analysis that names the lab?

For products that already print everything, see our 2026 hangover-supplement label guide.

What we don't know yet

Whether any blend, disclosed or not, prevents hangovers: efficacy hasn't been demonstrated for any US hangover product.⁷ And how often blend contents match their labels; we found no published outside testing of hangover blends.

Published by Fuller Health, which makes After Party. This article is general information, not medical advice: talk to a doctor or pharmacist about your own health, medicines and drinking. Last reviewed October 9, 2026. How we research and write.