Guide — Reading an Amount
Two products can name the same ingredient, print numbers ten times apart, and contain the same amount. Or print the same number and differ tenfold. Without the basis, the figures are not high or low — they are unreadable.
The Units Box
British charts once gave soundings in fathoms, later editions in metres, and some American ones in feet. A figure of six therefore stands for thirty-six feet, or six, or something between — and the small panel declaring which is the least decorative and most consequential thing printed on the sheet.
Supplement panels have the same problem three times over. A figure can be milligrams of the compound, milligrams of an extract of unstated concentration, or an amount described as equivalent to some quantity of dried plant. All three are written the same way. All three are technically accurate. Only one of them tells you how much of anything you are getting, and it is usually not the one printed.
What makes this worth a guide rather than a footnote is that it defeats comparison entirely. Two products can name the same ingredient, print numbers that differ by a factor of ten, and contain comparable amounts — or print identical numbers and differ by a factor of ten. Without the basis, the figures are not high or low. They are unreadable. This guide covers the three forms, how to convert between them where conversion is possible, and how to recognise the cases where it is not.
All lawful, all common, and only one of them directly comparable.
A higher ratio sounds stronger and can mean less of what matters, depending on what the extraction process actually captured. The guide covers what a ratio does and does not fix, and why two 10:1 extracts of the same plant need not be comparable.
What to look for: a standardised percentage alongside the ratio. Where a label states the proportion of a named marker compound, you have something to compare. Where it gives only a ratio, you have a manufacturing statistic.
This is where genuine arithmetic errors happen, including errors that matter because the nutrients involved have upper limits. The guide covers which nutrients use which units, why labelling moved between them, and where the conversion factors are published.
What to look for: both figures, which better labels now give. Where only one appears, the conversion is a lookup rather than a guess — and it is not a conversion to perform casually on anything with an upper limit.
The equivalence is arithmetically real and rests on the extract ratio, which means it inherits every limitation of the ratio. The guide shows how to work back from an equivalence claim to the figure that was actually in the capsule.
What to look for: the underlying extract weight, which is usually present in smaller type. If the large number and the small number describe the same capsule, only the small one is a measurement of what you swallow.
Contents
Digital Guide · PDF Format
The three bases, the conversions that are possible, and how to recognise the figures that cannot be compared at all.
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Read it at your own pace. If what arrives does not match what this page sets out, the full amount is returned within 14 days of purchase, by email, with no reason requested.
Notice: This is not a medical portal and provides no diagnostic or treatment service. What is sold here is education about how quantities are expressed on labels. It names no brand and endorses no product. No amount discussed anywhere in it is a recommended intake, and the arithmetic is for comparing figures rather than for setting a dose. Several nutrients involved have upper limits where units genuinely matter — that conversion belongs to a pharmacist. If you have symptoms, pain, or any concern, book an appointment.
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