Label math
What Does a 100:1 Extract Mean on a Supplement Label?
A 100:1 extract means about 100 parts of raw plant were used to make 1 part of extract. On the HoneyBoost label, tongkat ali root extract 100:1 is 25 mg per gummy, and the 2,500 mg root equivalent is the plant used to make it, not what you swallow. The six non-zinc lines add up to 75 mg of a 4,200 mg gummy.
- Tongkat ali25 mg, 100:1
- Root equivalent2,500 mg
- Six lines total75 mg
Written by the HoneyBoost label deskUpdated
The ratio
What does a 100:1 extract mean?
A 100:1 extract means a maker started with about 100 parts of raw plant to end up with 1 part of concentrated extract. The ratio describes how the extract was made. It does not describe how much you take.
Think of reducing a pot of tea. Boil down a large pot until a spoonful is left, and that spoonful holds what the big pot held. The 100:1 on a label is the size of that pot compared with the spoon.
Two things follow. A higher first number means more concentration. And the ratio is a statement of the process. Different makers can use different parts of the plant, different solvents and different yields, so two 100:1 extracts are not always the same thing.
Read the milligrams of extract first. They are the amount in the gummy. The root equivalent is the starting material.
On the HoneyBoost label
What does the root equivalent on a label mean?
The root equivalent is the weight of raw plant used to make the extract in one serving. For HoneyBoost, the tongkat ali line reads 25 mg of 100:1 extract, “equivalent to 2,500 mg” of root.
That 2,500 mg is not in the gummy. A whole gummy weighs 4,200 mg, so 2,500 mg of anything would be more than half of it. What you chew is 25 mg of extract. The same logic holds for the other plant lines.
| Label line | Ratio | Extract in the gummy | Plant used to make it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tongkat ali root extract | 100:1 | 25 mg | 2,500 mg root |
| Maca root extract | 10:1 | 10 mg | 100 mg root |
| Horny goat weed extract | 8:1 | 10 mg | 80 mg plant |
| Damiana leaf extract | 5:1 | 10 mg | 50 mg leaf |
The arithmetic is simple: extract mg times the first number. Tongkat ali is 25 times 100. Maca is 10 times 10. The numbers match what the label prints, so the printed equivalents are internally consistent. We found no lab report that confirms them.
Try it
How much of the gummy is extract?
Very little. The six non-zinc lines add up to 75 mg, which is about 1.8% of the 4,200 mg gummy. Zinc adds 2.5 mg more.
The rest is mostly sugar. Three grams of the 4.2 g gummy is sugar, about 71% by weight, plus corn syrup, pectin and the other ingredients on the list. Use the reader to compare the extract with the plant it came from and with the whole gummy.
Label Drip Reader
- Tongkat ali100:125 mg2,500 mg
- Maca10:110 mg100 mg
- Horny goat weed8:110 mg80 mg
- Damiana5:110 mg50 mg
- Mucuna98% L-DOPA10 mg9.8 mg
- L-argininepure10 mgno plant
- Zincmineral2.5 mgno plant
Bars show the milligrams printed for one gummy. Mucuna is 10 mg of extract; 9.8 mg of it is L-DOPA.
Bars show the plant each extract was made from, on a log scale (each step is ten times more). The root is not in the gummy; the extract is. Mucuna shows its 9.8 mg of L-DOPA.
The gummy by weight (4,200 mg)
- Sugars about 3,000 mg (71%)
- Zinc, extracts and amino acid 77.5 mg (1.8%)
- Water, pectin and the rest, about 1,122 mg
Rounded: the label prints sugars in whole grams, so the 71% is approximate.
A different kind of number
What does standardized to 98% L-DOPA mean?
Standardized to 98% L-DOPA means 98% of the mucuna extract is the compound L-DOPA. In a 10 mg line, that is 9.8 mg.
This is not an extract ratio. It describes purity, not the amount of plant used. Mucuna seeds naturally hold L-dopa, the compound behind levodopa medicine (MedlinePlus, Levodopa and carbidopa). A trial in infertile men used 5 g of seed powder a day for three months (Shukla 2010, Mucuna and semen quality (5 g a day)). The label's 9.8 mg is a small fraction of the L-DOPA in a dose like that.
L-arginine and zinc carry no ratio. They are single substances, printed as 10 mg and 2.5 mg.
If you take levodopa or an MAO inhibitor, ask your doctor or pharmacist before any product with mucuna. Keep taking prescribed medicine, and never stop it for a supplement.
HoneyBoost: 2, 3 or 6 bottles30 gummies a bottle · 30 days at 1 a day · 60-day money-back guarantee
See packsCompare with studies
Is a higher extract ratio the same as a higher dose?
No. A concentrated extract can still be a small dose. What matters for comparison is the amount taken and the type of extract the study used.
Tongkat ali shows why. One study gave 200 mg a day of a standardized water-soluble extract to 76 men for a month (Tambi 2012, Tongkat Ali 200 mg and late-onset hypogonadism). The HoneyBoost gummy holds 25 mg of a 100:1 extract, at least 8 times less. LiverTox also notes that tongkat ali products are not standardized from brand to brand (LiverTox, Tongkat Ali).
Maca makes the same point. Trials used 1,500 or 3,000 mg a day of gelatinized maca (Gonzales 2002, Maca, desire and testosterone). The label's root equivalent is 100 mg, at least 15 times less. The full comparison is on the label vs studies page.
- Ratios tell you how concentrated an extract is.
- Milligrams tell you how much you take.
- Study results belong to the extract and dose the study used.
On any label
How do you read an extract ratio on any supplement?
Look for three things in order: the milligrams of extract, the ratio, and whether the plant part is named. Then do one multiplication.
Find the extract mg
This is the number that sits in one serving.
Multiply by the ratio
Extract mg times the first number gives the plant used to make it.
Compare with the serving weight
HoneyBoost lists a 4.2 g serving, so you can see how much room the extract takes up.
Look for a proprietary blend
A blend hides single amounts. HoneyBoost has none: every amount is printed.
That last point is a fair strength of the label. The weak point is the size of the amounts, covered on the ingredients page. Nothing on a ratio line shows that the product works.
FAQ
HoneyBoost questions people ask
What does 10:1 mean on a supplement label?
A 10:1 extract means about 10 parts of raw plant were used to make 1 part of extract. On the HoneyBoost label, maca root extract 10:1 is 10 mg per gummy, made from the equivalent of 100 mg of root.
Is the root equivalent the amount in the gummy?
No. The root equivalent is the raw plant used to make the extract. In HoneyBoost, tongkat ali is 25 mg of extract per gummy. The 2,500 mg is the root it was made from.
Is a 100:1 extract stronger than a 10:1 extract?
A 100:1 extract is more concentrated per milligram. That does not make a gummy stronger overall, because the milligrams matter too. HoneyBoost has 25 mg of the 100:1 tongkat ali and 10 mg of the 10:1 maca.
Does a higher extract ratio mean better results?
No source we found links a higher ratio to better results. Studies report the extract type, the dose and the group of people. No study has tested the HoneyBoost gummy.
What does 8:1 mean for horny goat weed?
An 8:1 extract means about 8 parts of plant went into 1 part of extract. HoneyBoost lists 10 mg of horny goat weed extract 8:1, equal to 80 mg of plant.
Where do I find the extract amount on the HoneyBoost label?
Look at the Supplement Facts column, under the sugar rows. Each plant line prints its ratio and mg, and four print a plant equivalent. The supplement facts page types out every word.
Who wrote this
Written and reviewed by
Pages built from the label, the brand panels and linked NIH, FDA, CDC, FTC and peer-reviewed sources.
Last updated . Read our editorial standards and how we check reviews. This website is the information site for a USA Authorized HoneyBoost Retailer. It is not the manufacturer or the distributor named on the label. We earn money when you buy through our order links.
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