One of the most common ways a label overstates a dose isn't dishonest — it's just chemistry that's easy to miss.
The bonded-form problem
Many ingredients are sold bonded to another molecule to improve taste, solubility or shelf life. Citrulline malate is L-citrulline bonded to malic acid. Depending on the ratio (commonly 2:1), only about 50–65% of that weight is actually citrulline.
So "6 g citrulline malate" delivers roughly 3.9 g of citrulline — below the ~6 g used in blood-flow and endurance studies. The label number is real; it's just measuring the blend, not the active.
It's not just citrulline
- Magnesium glycinate / citrate: read the elemental magnesium, often a small fraction of the compound weight.
- Fish oil: the number that matters is combined EPA + DHA, not total oil — a "1,000 mg" softgel often has far less.
- Extracts (10:1, 200:1, etc.): the ratio and the standardized marker matter more than the raw milligrams.
The takeaway
When you compare a product to a studied dose, compare the active content, not the headline number. It's why our grades credit citrulline malate by its citrulline yield, magnesium by its elemental weight, and omega-3 by its EPA+DHA — so a bonded form can't quietly earn full marks.
Educational only — not medical advice.