What Does A 10:1 Extract Mean On A Label?
A 10:1 extract means ten kilograms of raw material went in and one kilogram of extract came out. It is a manufacturing yield, not a measurement of strength, and on its own it tells you nothing about how much of any named compound ended up in the product.
The category reads it the other way round. "10:1" gets presented as a ten times multiplier, and a 500 mg capsule becomes "equivalent to 5,000 mg". The ratio it borrows that authority from is defined in medicines regulation, where it comes with conditions that almost no food label meets.
Where the ratio comes from
The definition lives in the European Medicines Agency guideline on declaration of herbal substances and herbal preparations, EMA/HMPC/CHMP/CVMP/287539/2005 Rev.1, adopted by the Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products in March 2010. It defines the drug extract ratio as "the ratio between the quantity of herbal substance used in the manufacture" of a herbal preparation and "the quantity of herbal preparation obtained".
Two refinements in that document do most of the work. The guideline separates the genuine, or native, drug extract ratio from the headline figure, defining the genuine preparation as "the preparation without excipients". And it notes that the genuine preparation "may contain variable amounts of (extraction) solvent".
So one batch can honestly carry two different ratios, depending on whether carriers are counted, and residual solvent sits inside the figure too. That is why the guideline asks for the genuine ratio, and why its worked examples are ranges rather than round numbers: "(3 - 6 : 1)", "DER genuine: 5 - 8 : 1", "DER genuine: 35 - 67 : 1".
Ranges are the tell. Plant and fungal material varies by harvest, so a real yield moves between batches. A ratio that is exactly 10:1 on every batch for years is a rounded description, not a measurement.
Why a ratio is not a potency
An extraction concentrates some things and discards others. Which ones depends on the solvent, the temperature and the time, which is why the guideline treats extraction solvent as part of the description of a preparation. Two 10:1 extracts of one species, made with water and with ethanol, are not the same material, and neither ratio reveals the difference.
Work the arithmetic through and the problem is obvious. A 500 mg dose of a 10:1 extract is the yield from 5,000 mg of raw material. It is not the contents of 5,000 mg of raw material, because the 4,500 mg that left was not neutral filler. Some of what you care about went with it, some was concentrated, and the ratio cannot say which.
What could be printed instead
A constituent figure with a stated method answers the question a ratio dodges. For fungal material that usually means beta-glucan. McCleary and Draga, in the Journal of AOAC International in 2016, set out the method: total glucan by acid hydrolysis, alpha-glucan measured separately, and beta-glucan obtained by subtracting one from the other, since alpha-glucan is starch and glycogen.
Their results also show why the method has to be named. Sulphuric acid hydrolysis performed best, trifluoroacetic acid was much less effective, and fully enzymatic approaches generally returned much lower values. A percentage without a method behind it is not comparable with anyone else's.
What GB labelling actually requires
For food supplements sold in England, regulation 6 of the Food Supplements (England) Regulations 2003 sets the particulars: the name or nature of the substance, the portion recommended for daily consumption, a warning not to exceed that dose, a statement that supplements do not replace a varied diet, and a storage statement. It must also give "the amount of any vitamin or mineral or other substance with a nutritional or physiological effect".
Regulation 6(3) says that amount must be in numerical form and must be "the amount per portion of the product as recommended for daily consumption", as an average based on the manufacturer's analysis. Notice what is absent: nothing requires an extract ratio. A DER on a food label is voluntary copy, and the per-portion number is the part actually specified, as set out in our guide to reading a supplement label.
Reading a ratio on a pack
| What it says | What you can conclude |
|---|---|
| "10:1 extract" | A yield, with no stated part, solvent or batch range |
| "500 mg 10:1 extract" | A per-portion weight you can compare, plus a yield |
| "Equivalent to 5,000 mg" | Arithmetic on the yield, not on any constituent |
| "Standardised to X% beta-glucan, method stated" | A measured figure you can compare |
| "Proprietary blend 1,200 mg" | No per-ingredient quantity at all |
What Chaski states, and what it does not
The Lion's Mane in Chaski Cacao is a fruiting body extract, and the Cordyceps is Cordyceps sinensis, which is mycelium. We do not print a beta-glucan percentage for either, because we have not measured one, and by the standard set out above an unmeasured percentage would be worth nothing anyway.
There is one 10:1 figure in our own formulation, and it is a useful example of the difference between a stated and an unstated ratio. The Ginkgo Biloba component is being replaced by 200 mg of Tremella fuciformis, a 10:1 fruiting body extract, per daily dose, and tubes are currently in that transition. Part named, weight named, per daily dose, ratio stated. That is the minimum a ratio needs around it to mean anything, and most packs give one element of the four. How Ginkgo extracts are usually quantified is covered in our page on Ginkgo dosage.
The tube is 600 g of 77% dark buttons made with single-origin Peruvian and Ecuadorian cacao and coconut sugar, four buttons a day on the pack, no emulsifiers, seed oils, palm oil or added cane sugar. Every batch is tested for lead, cadmium and pesticides. The Cordyceps species question is covered in sinensis against militaris, and the rest is on the Chaski guides page.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 10:1 mean on a supplement label?
It means ten units of raw material were used to produce one unit of extract. The European Medicines Agency guideline that defines the drug extract ratio describes it as the ratio between the quantity of herbal substance used in manufacture and the quantity of preparation obtained. It is a yield figure, not a measurement of how much of any compound is present, and it says nothing about which part of the plant or fungus was used, or what solvent was used.
Is a 10:1 extract ten times stronger than the raw powder?
Not in any sense a label can support. An extraction concentrates some constituents and discards others, and which ones depends on the solvent, temperature and time. A 500 mg dose of a 10:1 extract is the yield from 5,000 mg of raw material, but it does not contain what 5,000 mg of raw material contained, because the material removed was not neutral filler. Only a measured constituent figure, with the measurement method stated, can answer a strength question.
Why do real extract ratios appear as ranges?
Because plant and fungal material varies between harvests, so yield varies between batches. The European Medicines Agency guideline on declaration of herbal preparations writes its own worked examples as ranges, such as 3 to 6 to 1, 5 to 8 to 1, and 35 to 67 to 1. The same guideline distinguishes the genuine or native ratio, calculated on the preparation without excipients, from a figure that includes carriers. A ratio that is identical on every batch for years is a rounded description rather than a measurement.
Does UK law require an extract ratio on the label?
No. Regulation 6 of the Food Supplements (England) Regulations 2003 requires the name or nature of the substance, the recommended daily portion, a warning not to exceed it, a statement that supplements do not replace a varied diet, a storage statement, and the amount of any substance with a nutritional or physiological effect in numerical form per recommended daily portion, as an average based on the manufacturer's analysis. An extract ratio is not on that list, so a DER on a food label is voluntary copy.
Does Chaski use a 10:1 extract?
The Ginkgo Biloba component is being replaced by 200 mg of Tremella fuciformis, a 10:1 fruiting body extract, per daily dose, and tubes are currently in that transition. The Lion's Mane in the tube is a fruiting body extract and the Cordyceps is Cordyceps sinensis, which is mycelium. We do not publish a beta-glucan percentage for any of them, because none has been measured. The tube is 600 g of 77% dark buttons, with a daily dose of four buttons on the pack.
Sources
- European Medicines Agency, EMA/HMPC/CHMP/CVMP/287539/2005 Rev.1, 2010
- McCleary BV, Draga A, Journal of AOAC International, 2016
- The Food Supplements (England) Regulations 2003, regulation 6, legislation.gov.uk, 2003
See what is stated on the tube
Chaski Cacao — 600 g tube, 77% dark, four buttons a day on the pack