Original data · free to cite with attribution
Supplement Ingredient Overlap Index 2026
Supplements sold on their own official website are marketed as one-of-a-kind discoveries. We read the ingredient panels of 92 of them, normalised every substance name, and counted how often the same substance turns up in a competitor's bottle. Across 89 products in the 18 categories where there is at least one rival to compare against, 44.7% of ingredient slots are filled by a substance another product in the same category also lists.
By the editorial team of The Health News (editorial@thenewshealth.com). Last updated 2026-10-08. Cite as: The Health News, Supplement Ingredient Overlap Index 2026.
What this page is not. It counts what ingredient panels say. It does not measure dose adequacy, purity, bioavailability or effect, and nothing here means an ingredient does or does not work. A substance appearing in many products tells you about supplement marketing, not about your health. See our medical disclaimer — this is not medical advice, and supplement decisions belong with your clinician.
Key findings
44.7%
of ingredient slots are a substance a same-category rival also lists
18 of 92
products list green tea — the single most-reused substance, across 5 categories
219 of 371
distinct substances appear in exactly one product — the long tail that makes formulas look unique
- The median formula names 8 substances. Across all 92 labels there are 725 ingredient slots but only 371 distinct substances, so the catalogue is far smaller than the product count suggests.
- Overlap is wildly uneven by category. Among the categories holding at least 4 products, hearing formulas are the most repetitive (68.3% of slots shared with a rival, 6 products), while skin is the most fragmented (0%, 4 products). A high rate is not a quality signal in either direction — it mostly reflects how settled a category's ingredient fashion is.
- Ginkgo Biloba is the widest traveller: it appears in 9 products spread over 6 of the 21 categories we track. In total 37 substances show up in three or more unrelated categories, which is the clearest sign that formulas are assembled from a shared ingredient shelf rather than built per condition.
- Only 5 of 92 labels contain a line we could not resolve to a named substance at all (5 lines). Naming ingredients is now the norm in this market; what is usually missing is the amount of each one, which this index does not measure.
Overlap by category
| Category | Products | Ingredient slots | Distinct substances | Median per formula | Shared slots | Most-listed substances |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight loss | 18 | 135 | 81 | 8 | 56.3% | green tea (12), berberine (7), chromium (6) |
| Prostate | 9 | 78 | 58 | 8 | 42.3% | saw palmetto (5), neem (3), pomegranate (3) |
| Oral health | 8 | 64 | 41 | 8 | 60.9% | xylitol (4), bifidobacterium lactis (3), cranberry (3) |
| Brain | 7 | 54 | 39 | 8 | 42.6% | bacopa monnieri (5), lion's mane (5), ginkgo biloba (3) |
| Hearing | 6 | 60 | 38 | 7.5 | 68.3% | maca (4), gaba (3), ashwagandha (2) |
| Blood sugar | 4 | 35 | 26 | 9 | 40% | chromium (4), gymnema sylvestre (4), african mango (2) |
| Gut | 4 | 35 | 28 | 9.5 | 40% | aloe vera (2), apple pectin (2), bentonite clay (2) |
| Joint | 4 | 27 | 26 | 6.5 | 7.4% | pine bark (2), bacopa monnieri (1), bioperine (1) |
| Male vitality | 4 | 27 | 25 | 7 | 11.1% | l-citrulline (3), ashwagandha (1), beet (1) |
| Nail | 4 | 24 | 20 | 6 | 33.3% | clove bud (2), lavender (2), lemongrass (2) |
| Skin | 4 | 28 | 28 | 7.5 | 0% | alpha gpc (1), angelica gigas (1), avian eggshell membrane collagen (1) |
| Balance | 3 | 31 | 20 | 10 | 67.7% | zinc (3), alpha-lipoic acid (2), banaba (2) |
| Sleep | 3 | 22 | 21 | 8 | 9.1% | l-theanine (2), 5 htp (1), chamomile (1) |
| Vision | 3 | 19 | 17 | 5 | 21.1% | bilberry (2), saffron (2), alpha gpc (1) |
| Bladder | 2 | 18 | 9 | 9 | 100% | bearberry (2), berberine (2), cranberry (2) |
| Menopause | 2 | 16 | 16 | 8 | 0% | black cohosh (1), chaga mushroom (1), chasteberry (1) |
| Nerve | 2 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 100% | california poppy (2), corydalis lutea (2), marshmallow (2) |
| Respiratory | 2 | 15 | 13 | 7.5 | 26.7% | mullein (2), peppermint (2), coltsfoot (1) |
| Circulation | 1 | 6 | 6 | 6 | — | asparagus racemosus (1), beet (1), black cumin (1) |
| Digestive | 1 | 11 | 11 | 11 | — | cistanche (1), cnidium monnieri (1), dodder (1) |
| Heart | 1 | 10 | 10 | 10 | — | grape seed (1), hesperidin (1), l-arginine (1) |
“Shared slots” is the share of a category's ingredient slots whose substance is also listed by at least one other product in that same category. Categories with a single reviewed product have no rival to compare against and show “—”. The number in brackets is how many products in the category list that substance.
The 72 substances that appear in three or more products
| Substance | Products | Categories | Appears in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green Tea | 18 | 5 | Balance, Blood sugar, Hearing, Prostate, Weight loss |
| Berberine | 13 | 5 | Balance, Bladder, Brain, Oral health, Weight loss |
| Chromium | 13 | 4 | Balance, Blood sugar, Oral health, Weight loss |
| Panax Ginseng | 10 | 4 | Balance, Blood sugar, Prostate, Weight loss |
| Ginkgo Biloba | 9 | 6 | Brain, Hearing, Joint, Male vitality, Prostate, Vision |
| Inulin | 8 | 5 | Brain, Gut, Oral health, Skin, Weight loss |
| Lion'S Mane | 8 | 4 | Brain, Joint, Menopause, Skin |
| Ginger | 7 | 5 | Gut, Hearing, Joint, Skin, Weight loss |
| Milk Thistle | 7 | 4 | Balance, Gut, Prostate, Weight loss |
| Alpha-Lipoic Acid | 7 | 3 | Balance, Blood sugar, Weight loss |
| Bacopa Monnieri | 7 | 3 | Brain, Hearing, Joint |
| Grape Seed | 6 | 5 | Blood sugar, Hearing, Heart, Male vitality, Prostate |
| Ashwagandha | 6 | 4 | Hearing, Male vitality, Prostate, Weight loss |
| Zinc | 6 | 4 | Balance, Hearing, Prostate, Sleep |
| Maca | 6 | 3 | Blood sugar, Hearing, Prostate |
| Shilajit | 6 | 3 | Brain, Oral health, Prostate |
| Gymnema Sylvestre | 6 | 2 | Blood sugar, Hearing |
| L-Arginine | 5 | 5 | Hearing, Heart, Male vitality, Sleep, Weight loss |
| Vitamin D3 | 5 | 5 | Balance, Male vitality, Prostate, Respiratory, Weight loss |
| Alpha Gpc | 5 | 4 | Brain, Hearing, Skin, Vision |
| Vitamin B6 | 5 | 4 | Balance, Sleep, Vision, Weight loss |
| L-Citrulline | 5 | 3 | Circulation, Heart, Male vitality |
| Neem | 5 | 3 | Brain, Joint, Prostate |
| Cranberry | 5 | 2 | Bladder, Oral health |
| L-Theanine | 5 | 2 | Sleep, Weight loss |
| Resveratrol | 5 | 2 | Balance, Weight loss |
| Xylitol | 5 | 2 | Brain, Oral health |
| Saw Palmetto | 5 | 1 | Prostate |
| Magnesium | 4 | 4 | Heart, Male vitality, Prostate, Sleep |
| Niacin | 4 | 4 | Male vitality, Prostate, Vision, Weight loss |
| Banaba | 4 | 3 | Balance, Blood sugar, Weight loss |
| Cinnamon | 4 | 3 | Blood sugar, Brain, Weight loss |
| Huperzine A | 4 | 3 | Brain, Hearing, Vision |
| Pine Bark | 4 | 3 | Brain, Joint, Male vitality |
| Rhodiola Rosea | 4 | 3 | Brain, Menopause, Weight loss |
| Saffron | 4 | 3 | Brain, Vision, Weight loss |
| Spirulina | 4 | 3 | Brain, Joint, Weight loss |
| Bifidobacterium Lactis | 4 | 2 | Brain, Oral health |
| Gaba | 4 | 2 | Hearing, Sleep |
| Lactobacillus Paracasei | 4 | 2 | Brain, Oral health |
| Lactobacillus Reuteri | 4 | 2 | Brain, Oral health |
| Muira Puama | 4 | 2 | Hearing, Prostate |
| Chlorogenic Acid | 4 | 1 | Weight loss |
| L-Carnitine | 4 | 1 | Weight loss |
| Coleus Forskohlii | 3 | 3 | Blood sugar, Hearing, Vision |
| Fenugreek | 3 | 3 | Gut, Prostate, Skin |
| Hibiscus Sabdariffa | 3 | 3 | Circulation, Joint, Weight loss |
| Luteolin | 3 | 3 | Joint, Nail, Weight loss |
| Schisandra | 3 | 3 | Brain, Digestive, Menopause |
| Serratiopeptidase | 3 | 3 | Nail, Respiratory, Sleep |
| African Mango | 3 | 2 | Blood sugar, Hearing |
| Aloe Vera | 3 | 2 | Gut, Nail |
| Black Cohosh | 3 | 2 | Menopause, Weight loss |
| Calcium | 3 | 2 | Balance, Oral health |
| Catuaba | 3 | 2 | Hearing, Prostate |
| Cayenne | 3 | 2 | Balance, Prostate |
| Clove Bud | 3 | 2 | Nail, Oral health |
| Damiana | 3 | 2 | Hearing, Prostate |
| Dong Quai | 3 | 2 | Hearing, Male vitality |
| Griffonia Simplicifolia | 3 | 2 | Sleep, Weight loss |
| Iodine | 3 | 2 | Oral health, Prostate |
| Kelp | 3 | 2 | Prostate, Weight loss |
| L-Tyrosine | 3 | 2 | Hearing, Vision |
| Mucuna Pruriens | 3 | 2 | Hearing, Skin |
| Nettle | 3 | 2 | Prostate, Weight loss |
| Peppermint | 3 | 2 | Oral health, Respiratory |
| Phosphatidylserine | 3 | 2 | Brain, Hearing |
| Sarsaparilla | 3 | 2 | Hearing, Skin |
| Vitamin B12 | 3 | 2 | Skin, Weight loss |
| Pomegranate | 3 | 1 | Prostate |
| Pygeum | 3 | 1 | Prostate |
| Tricalcium Phosphate | 3 | 1 | Oral health |
Substances listed by one or two products are in the CSV and JSON downloads. Counting a substance here says nothing about how much of it a product contains.
Methodology
- Scope. Every dietary supplement with a full review on The Health News that publishes an ingredient panel on its official website: 92 products in 21 health categories, as of 2026-10-08. All of them are sold direct-to-consumer from the brand's own site, not in shops. One reviewed product is excluded because it is a digital diet programme rather than a supplement with a label.
- Source. The ingredient panel recorded in our product data when the review was written, and re-checked when the review is updated. The “Last updated” date on each review shows its most recent check. We transcribe labels; we do not assay products.
- Name normalisation. Label strings carry the dose, plant part, standardisation and sometimes a blend note in one field. We strip all of that and keep the substance, then apply a hand-checked synonym map so that different wordings for one substance collapse together — for example berberine HCl with berberine, silymarin with milk thistle, Korean and Asian ginseng with Panax ginseng, and chromium picolinate with chromium. The full map is published in the JSON download so every merge can be audited or disputed.
- What a slot is. One named substance on one product's label. A label naming the same substance twice counts once for that product. 769 label lines reduce to 725 named slots after removing 5 lines that name no substance (an undisclosed blend) and 39 lines that name several substances at once in a single field.
- Shared-slot rate. For a category, the share of its ingredient slots whose substance is also listed by at least one other product in the same category. The overall 44.7% is the slot-weighted figure across the 18 categories that hold more than one product.
Limitations
- Names, not amounts. The index deliberately ignores dose. Two products listing the same substance may contain very different quantities, and many of these labels do not state a per-ingredient amount at all. Nothing here can tell you whether a product contains a meaningful amount of anything.
- Names, not chemistry. Matching is on substance names. The same name can hide different extracts, salts, strains or standardisations, and our synonym map makes judgement calls (merging salt forms, splitting probiotic strains). Reasonable people would draw a few of those lines elsewhere.
- It is our catalogue, not the market. These are the supplements we chose to review — heavily weighted toward heavily advertised direct-to-consumer offers, with 18 of 92 in weight loss alone. It is not a random sample of the US supplement market, and small categories (two or three products) produce unstable percentages.
- Labels change. Brands reformulate without renaming the product. Figures are a snapshot of what each official site showed at our last check, not a permanent fact about the product.
- Overlap is not a verdict. A repetitive category is not a worse category, and a unique formula is not a better one. Novelty and quality are different things, and this page measures neither.
Download and licence
The data is free to reuse, including commercially, under CC BY 4.0. Attribute it to The Health News and link to this page.
Related original data: the Supplement Money-Back Guarantee Index, which covers guarantee length and bundle pricing for the same catalogue. We earn affiliate commissions on some product links, which does not influence the counts above; see our affiliate disclosure and editorial policy.