Proprietary Blends | What They Actually Show And Hide
You've seen "3.5 billion CFU" on a label and assumed that number tells you what you're getting. It tells you less than you'd think.
What a proprietary blend actually discloses
A total CFU count is real information — it tells you the overall bacterial load per serving, and it lets you compare rough scale against other products. What it doesn't tell you is the split between individual strains, when a formula lists more than one.
Why that split matters
Not all probiotic strains are equal for a given purpose. If a formula's headline benefit rests mainly on one strain (say, L. reuteri for gum bleeding), and that strain happens to make up a small fraction of the total CFU count, the practical effect could look quite different than if it made up the majority. There's no way to know from a total number alone.
Why companies do this anyway
Mostly to protect the specific ratio from being copied by competitors, which is a legitimate business reason, not automatically a red flag. It's standard across the probiotic supplement category generally, oral or otherwise.
What you can reasonably check
- Whether the label names actual species and strains, not just "probiotic blend."
- Whether the total CFU count is disclosed at all (some products skip even that).
- Whether independent third-party testing is mentioned, which at least confirms the total is accurate even if the split isn't.
Where ProDentim lands on this
It names all three strains specifically and discloses the 3.5 billion CFU total. It does not break that total down by strain. That's a middle position — more transparent than a vague "probiotic blend," less transparent than a per-strain breakdown would be. See our full ingredient page for the complete picture.
Written for general information, not medical advice. This site earns a commission on purchases through links to the official store — see our about page.
