Garlic powder on a supplement label: which row to check

Three rows on a garlic powder label carry the real information, and the biggest number on the front carries the least. Look for the standardisation figure, the amount per serving, and the bottle's day count. Garlic powder on a supplement label usually appears as aged garlic extract, standardised for S-allyl cysteine. Ours is standardised the same way and states CoQ10 60 mg per serving.

Reading garlic powder on a supplement label, line by line

The first row is the ingredient name. Dried and ground Allium sativum is not the same product as an aged, aqueous-ethanol extract, and the label should say which one you are holding. The second row is the standardisation, which for aged extract is normally S-allyl cysteine. A stated standardisation means the batch was measured against a marker, and it gives you something fixed to compare.

The third row is the per serving amount, and this is where most comparisons fall apart. One brand lists a single gummy as a serving and another lists two. Our label states two gummies a day, 90 count to a bottle, which is a 45 day supply. Read the serving count before you read the milligram figure, or you'll compare two numbers that describe different things.

Aged extract is also standardised differently from raw powder. Raw powder is measured by weight and little else, while an aged extract is measured against its marker compound, which means the batch has been checked against something fixed rather than simply weighed into a jar. It's a more useful specification. Two bottles of the same size can differ enormously because of it.

The other ingredients row

Capsule material, flow agents and sweeteners are part of what you swallow, so the row matters. Our formula is odourless with no garlic aftertaste, and it contains vitamin C, vitamin B1, ginger root and hawthorn berry alongside the extract. None of that is filler, and it is all worth reading before you assume two products with the same front-of-bottle claim are interchangeable.

If a panel lists a proprietary blend with no individual amounts, that is a partial disclosure. Ask the seller for the figures. A partial disclosure is a partial claim, and you cannot compare what you cannot see.

What I check first now

I used to read the front and stop. These days I read the standardisation row first, because it is the one that tells me whether the product has been measured at all. Weekday mornings, standing at the kitchen counter with coffee going, is when I actually do this, and it takes about a minute per bottle.

Second thing I check is the day count, because it sets the real cost. A 90 count bottle at two gummies a day is 45 days, and a 60 count bottle at three a day is 20. Per gummy pricing hides that completely, and it's the number that decides whether a subscription interval makes sense.

What the panel cannot tell you

A label does not report which batch was tested or by which laboratory. If that matters to you, the panel is the start of the conversation rather than the end of it. Ask the seller for the current certificate and read the method column.

Read the standardisation, the serving size, then the day count. Front of the bottle last, and leave it at that until something on the panel gives you a reason to look again.