When people think of supplements, nutrition, and the industry as a whole typically the last thing that comes to mind is going to be "this product sucks". Why do you think that is? "All supplements on the shelves have got to be good that's why they are even being sold right?"

WRONG. 

I'm going to take you on a quick journey down the path of proprietary blends and help you better understand what they are, the morally wrong reasons why companies use them, and why you should ABSOLUTELY avoid any supplements with them AT ALL COSTS.

1. Each Ingredient Is Not Fully Disclosing The Amount Per Serving.

The supplement industry is a game of flashiness and tricks. Not just on the front label of products but also on the supplement/nutrition facts on the back. How can that be the case? Let's break down the hard facts...

When you buy a supplement with a proprietary blend or a "complex" more times than not that section of the supplement facts will list off a few different ingredients for that stated blend or complex however, will give you the ultimate serving amount of those ingredients mashed together. What does this look like on a label? Find out below...

The biggest issue with this label is not knowing how much of what ingredient you are consuming. Sure you get 4150mg of all of these ingredients combined, but how can you tell what you are getting from each ingredient?

Well, you simply can't.

2. Skimping On Expensive Ingredients and Filling Blends with Cheap Ingredients.

All the ingredients that go into a supplement are not even in terms of cost to obtain and use in a product. A great way for companies to pad their pockets is to create a proprietary blend in their formulas and jam pack it with cheap ingredients like Caffeine Anhydrous and Citrulline Malate leaving much to be desired to the consumer with ingredients like Alpha-GPC and Glycerol.

Yes, they can and will state that this Prop Blend does in fact have ALL of these ingredients in it but again, how much of each one?

Believe it or not this is 100% legal and overly abused in the supplement industry and is the primary reason why companies rise quickly but fall quicker.

3. The Amount Of 1 Ingredient Can Change At Any Time And You Would Never Know It.

Here's the most interesting part about proprietary blends that you may have not known. Since a company uses it to group multiple ingredients together as long as the total weighted amount of that specified blend doesn't change, they can change the amount of each ingredient used in the blend at any given time without notifying any of their consumers. Sounds like a pretty untrustworthy practice to buy into right?

This is much more common than one would like to imagine. I'll give you an example of how and why this can happen...

Lets make up an example product and call it...

SUPER AWESOME HULKTASTIC JUICEY GAINS (SAHJG for short)

SAHJG has a supplement facts label that states it includes a proprietary blend consisting of Creatine, Glutamine, Coffee Bean Extract, Tea Leaf Extract, Alpha-GPC, and Huperzine A with a total weight of 5g per serving.

Each ingredient costs the Company $2 per jug to have in the formula as of a month ago but today the ingredient supplier informs the supplement company that creatine will now cost $10 per jug and the price of Glutamine dropped to $1.75 per jug.

Guess what? Now the company can simply remove just about every bit of creatine (leaving a itty bitty pinch) in the formula and increase the amount of the Glutamine and so long as the total weight is still consistent with the stated 5g per serving, it is 100% legal.

-Conclusion-

Next time you shop for your supplements take a good look at the supplement facts and check them for a blend, matrix, or complex. Sometimes a product will list the dosages for each or some of the ingredient(s) but most times, they won't. It's much more effective for your goals to invest in products and companies that don't use blends or trademarked ingredients in their formulas because as fitness enthusiasts one of our main priorities is knowing and tracking what we put in our bodies. At Top Dog Nutrition™ we only sell 100% Transparent formulas with a guarantee that you will ALWAYS know what you are paying for with our supplements because what good is a company if they can't even be upfront about what they are selling you? 

-Brandon Long, Top Dog Nutrition Co-Founder

"Welcome To The World Of Better"