What a 195 mg Proprietary Blend Really Means on a Supplement Label

What “proprietary blend” means

Most ingredients on a Supplement Facts panel get a line and an amount of their own. A proprietary blend works differently: it gives one name and one total weight, then names what is inside without the amount of each.

Blends are allowed in the US, and makers often defend them as a way to guard a recipe. For the buyer they cause a real difficulty, though: there is no way to set the dose of any one ingredient against the dose used in research.

The MemoFlow blend, read line by line

On the MemoFlow label the serving size is 2 ml (two droppers), with 30 servings to a bottle. Beneath that sits a single line, “Proprietary Blend 195mg”, marked with two asterisks that mean no Daily Value has been set.

Next come six herbal extracts: grape seed (standardized to over 95% proanthocyanidins), horse chestnut (over 20% aescin), motherwort, hawthorn berry, gotu kola and butcher’s broom.

The math: what 195 mg could mean

At 195 mg the blend weighs under a quarter of a gram, so an even split would give each herb roughly 33 mg. That figure only illustrates the math, because the actual split has not been published.

US label rules list a blend by weight, heaviest first, which makes grape seed the biggest share and butcher’s broom the smallest. Past that order, everything is guesswork.

Why the amount matters

Herbal studies normally test one particular extract at one particular daily dose. When a product holds far less, there is no reason to expect the result the study saw.

NCCIH, for instance, describes studies of horse chestnut seed extract for leg-vein symptoms (NCCIH fact sheet: Horse Chestnut) and of grape seed extract for blood pressure (NCCIH fact sheet: Grape Seed Extract). Without the MemoFlow amounts, no comparison is possible.

Standardized vs. not standardized

Two of the six herbs carry a standard: grape seed at over 95% proanthocyanidins and horse chestnut at over 20% aescin. That says something about their quality and strength per milligram.

The remaining four herbs name no standard. That is common, but it allows their strength to differ from one batch to the next.

Is a small blend pointless?

Not always. A few compounds act at low doses, and some people just enjoy a mild daily habit. Still, a small blend with hidden amounts calls for modest expectations and for judging it by your own notes.

What the herbs are used for matters too. Five of the six are best known for circulation or the heart, and the one sold for the mind, gotu kola, has limited evidence for cognition (MSK About Herbs: Gotu Kola).

What to ask the seller

1. How many milligrams of each herb are in 2 ml?
2. Is gotu kola standardized to any compound?
3. Do you have a certificate of analysis for the lot I received?
4. Who manufactures it, and where?
5. Exactly how many days does the money-back window last?

A good seller answers these without fuss. Keep a note of the replies and check them against your bottle.

See the full MemoFlow label and packs.

See today’s price

How to compare with other products

To compare brain supplements, put the ingredient you care about and its daily amount side by side. A label that lists every amount makes that possible; a blend does not.

When two products cost about the same and only one lists every amount, the open label gives you more to go on for the same money.

Why makers use blends

Some of the reasons are fair and some are merely convenient. A maker may say the blend protects a recipe that took effort to develop, or that the exact ratio shifts with each batch of raw herbs. Another may simply prefer not to show small single amounts next to a competitor’s label.

For the buyer the reason counts for less than the outcome, which is that the dose stays out of sight. That is why pharmacists, doctors and independent reviewers generally prefer labels that print every amount.

Liquid blends: extra things to know

Liquid supplements add one more wrinkle. The 195 mg is carried in 2 ml of liquid that is mostly water and glycerin, plus preservatives and stevia, which is normal for dropper products and makes them easy to take.

Liquids do rely on careful measuring, though. Two full droppers make 2 ml, and a few drops come to far less. One MemoFlow listing image says “2 drops” while the label says 2 ml, so following the image would give you a small fraction of the labeled serving. Go by the label.

• Shake the bottle before every dose, as the label instructs.
• Fill the dropper fully, twice.
• Use within 60 days of opening.
• Store at room temperature.

Judging any blend quickly

1. Find the total

   The number next to the blend name.

2. Count the ingredients

   Dividing the total by the number of ingredients gives a rough average.

3. Check the order

   The ingredient named first is the biggest share.

4. Compare with research

   When studies gave hundreds of milligrams of a single herb, a small blend cannot come close.

What a transparent label would look like

A fully open version of this label would give every herb its own amount, something like “Grape seed extract 80 mg, horse chestnut extract 50 mg” and so on up to 195 mg, and it would state a standard for all six herbs.

Those figures only show the format; they are not the real MemoFlow split. If the seller ever publishes the actual amounts, this page will be updated with them.

The bottom line

A 195 mg proprietary blend tells you the total weight and the order of six herbs, and leaves out how much of each you take. That is legal and common, and it is the main reason this desk keeps its expectations for MemoFlow modest.

Read the panel, ask for the amounts, and judge any supplement over a few weeks by simple notes of your own.

Sources used for this article

1. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Horse Chestnut: Usefulness and Safety. NCCIH, updated April 2025. Checked September 22, 2026.
2. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Grape Seed Extract: Usefulness and Safety. NCCIH, updated February 2025. Checked September 22, 2026.
3. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Gotu Kola (About Herbs). MSK integrative medicine database. Checked September 22, 2026.