What Is Proprietary Blend?

'Proprietary blend' is something which is found on the nutritional labels of supplementary food. Proprietary blend simply means that the diet supplement has various 'health boosting' ingredients but there are no mention about the 'quantities' in which these are present.

The reason for a 'proprietary blend' to be put on a supplementary food is to keep the amount and ratio of each ingredient in the formula as a 'trade secret' to prevent copying of the formula by other competitors. The proprietary blend can also be shrewdly used by the product manufacturer in an attempt to hide the fact that the bottle of the supplement contains a scant quantity of the ingredients mentioned. Thus the usage of 'proprietary blend' is like a double-edged knife; there is a legitimate purpose as well as a purpose to dupe consumers.