How to Read an Ayurvedic Product Label Like an Expert
A patient walkthrough of every line on a typical Indian Ayurvedic supplement label — so the next time you stand in a pharmacy, you know exactly which products deserve your money.
The 60-second version
If you only have a minute in front of a pharmacy shelf, here are the eight things to check, in this order.
A label, broken down
Below is an annotated, generic label diagram. I built it to match the layout of the most common Indian ashwagandha boxes I see in stores. Numbered callouts on the SVG match the explanations below it.
The eight callouts, in detail
1. The FSSAI 14-digit licence number
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India requires a 14-digit licence number on every supplement sold legally in India.
You can verify it at fssai.gov.in → FoSCoS → Search FBO/Licence number. A real number returns the registered manufacturer's name and address. A fake or stickered number returns nothing.
2. Extract type — the line most consumers skip
"Root extract" and "whole-plant powder" sound interchangeable. They are not.
For ashwagandha, almost every successful clinical trial used root extract. Leaf extract has a different withanolide profile (higher withaferin A) and a much smaller trial base. Whole-plant powders include both, plus stem and possibly seed material — diluting the active fraction.
For other herbs the relevant part shifts. Brahmi is whole aerial parts. Triphala is three fruits. Boswellia is the resin. Always check that the part of the plant on the label matches the part used in the trials you're trusting.
3. The active compound percentage
This is the single most useful number on the label. A few common ones:
| Herb | Active marker | Common standardisations |
|---|---|---|
| Ashwagandha | Withanolides | 2.5%, 5%, 8%, 10% |
| Turmeric | Curcuminoids | 95% |
| Brahmi | Bacosides | 20%, 50% |
| Boswellia | Boswellic acids / AKBA | 30–65% boswellic acids; AKBA 10–30% |
| Shilajit | Fulvic acid | 15–20% (resin), 50%+ (powder) |
| Triphala | Tannins / gallic acid | Rarely standardised on retail labels |
A label that says "standardised extract" without giving you a number is making a claim you cannot verify. That is a flag.
4. Branded extracts — where the trials live
A branded extract is a specific, trademarked preparation made by a specific company, usually with attached clinical trial data.
The names worth recognising:
A product that uses one of these branded extracts inherits the credibility of the trials behind it. A product that uses an unspecified generic extract does not — even if the underlying herb is the same.
5. Dose per serving — calculate the daily cost
Multiply (cost per pack ÷ servings per pack) × (servings per day) to get your real daily cost. Then compare it to the trial-equivalent dose.
6. Manufacture date, expiry, and lot number
All three should be printed under the artwork — not stickered, not handwritten, not "best before view side panel" with nothing on the side panel. A missing lot number is the single biggest red flag for a grey-market import.
7. Full ingredients disclosure
A label that lists "Proprietary stress-relief blend 600 mg" without breaking down the individual herb amounts is hiding something — usually that the named hero ingredient is present in a much smaller dose than the marketing implies.
8. Manufacturer details
Real address, customer service number, registered company name. Run the company name on the Ministry of Corporate Affairs website if anything feels off.
A worked example — three labels, side by side
Let me walk through three real ashwagandha labels exactly as a careful reader should. These are products I bought in March 2026; the labels themselves are the source.
Label A — Himalaya Ashwagandha Caplet. "Withania somnifera (root extract) 250 mg." The good news: extract type is named (root). The flag: no withanolide percentage printed on the outer box. You cannot calculate the active dose. You can verify the FSSAI 14-digit number on fssai.gov.in. You cannot match this to a clinical-trial dose. Label B — Patanjali Divya Ashwagandha Capsule. "Withania somnifera 500 mg (whole plant)." The good news: extract material is named. The flag: whole-plant powder is materially different from root extract — almost no positive RCT used whole-plant preparations. No standardisation, no withanolide percentage. FSSAI verifiable. Label C — Carbamide Forte Ashwagandha KSM-66. "Ashwagandha Root Extract (KSM-66) 675 mg, standardised to 5% withanolides." The good news: branded extract named (KSM-66 has 15+ RCTs), withanolide percentage printed (5%), part of plant specified (root), dose calculable (33.75 mg withanolides per capsule). FSSAI verifiable. This is the kind of label you can compare to clinical-trial doses directly.The point isn't that Carbamide Forte is "best." The point is that the information density of label C is higher than A or B. A reader who knows what they are looking for can make a defensible choice from C. They cannot make the same defensible choice from A or B.
The ten questions you can answer from a good Ayurvedic label
I built this checklist after going through about thirty Indian retail SKUs. If a label lets you answer these ten questions without ambiguity, it is a label you can trust to inform a decision.
A label that lets you answer ten of ten is rare. A label that lets you answer six of ten is common. A label that lets you answer fewer than four of ten should make you walk away.
What FSSAI actually checks for — and what it does not
This is a clarification readers need because FSSAI registration gets used as a shorthand for "safe" when it really only certifies a much narrower set of things.
FSSAI registration confirms that the manufacturer is a registered food business operator, that they meet basic hygiene and manufacturing standards, that the product has been notified to the regulator, and that labelling complies with the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations.
FSSAI registration does not confirm clinical efficacy of the product, the accuracy of percentage claims printed on the label, the absence of heavy metals in any specific batch, the absence of contamination with other herbal materials, or the consistency of active compound content across batches.
Those are different layers of verification. FSSAI is the floor, not the ceiling. A reader who treats "FSSAI registered" as equivalent to "clinically tested and safe" is being misled by their own assumption — even if no brand explicitly claims that equivalence.
What I check on Amazon listings (different rules apply)
Amazon listings have their own additional flags. I learnt these the hard way over a year of buying.
Listing photos vs in-hand product
Listings can be edited at any time. The label that arrives can differ from what you saw on the listing. Take a photo of the listing the day you order.
"Sold by" matters
Sold and shipped by the brand directly is safest. Third-party sellers of branded supplements have higher counterfeit rates.
Reviews with no images
A 4.5-star supplement listing with thousands of one-line reviews and almost no photo reviews is a flag, especially if the reviews cluster around 4 weeks before launch dates.
The price-too-good test
If a branded-extract supplement is selling at half its usual MRP on Amazon, ask why. Genuine KSM-66 capsules don't go on a 50% sale.
Reading labels in different categories — what changes
Ashwagandha is the worked example I keep returning to because it is the most-bought single-herb supplement in India. Other categories have different label conventions worth knowing.
Compound Ayurvedic formulae (Triphala, Chyawanprash, Brahmi-Bringaraj oil). These are blends of multiple ingredients in classical proportions. The most important label question is whether the ingredient ratio matches a recognised classical formulation. Triphala should be equal parts of three fruits. Chyawanprash should be amla-base with the classical herbal-blend specified. A "Triphala plus" or "Chyawanprash special" that adds non-classical ingredients is a modernisation, not a traditional preparation — and that's fine, as long as the label is honest about it. Curcumin and turmeric extracts. The most important number is curcuminoid percentage and absorption-enhancer specification. "Turmeric 500 mg" with no curcuminoid percentage is essentially uninformative because raw turmeric is only 2-5% curcuminoids by weight. "Curcuminoids 95%" or a branded extract name (C3 Complex, Meriva, Longvida) is what you want. Shilajit. Form (resin vs powder vs capsule), fulvic acid percentage, heavy-metal CoA reference, and origin disclosure are the four critical lines. "Pure Himalayan Shilajit" without any of those four is essentially a marketing claim, not a product specification. Ghee, oils, and topical preparations. Different rules apply because the product is not primarily a supplement. The most important checks are FSSAI registration, ingredient sourcing, and any active herb specifications. Topical preparations have their own regulatory category under FSSAI. Multi-herb capsule "blends" (immunity, joint, brain). Hardest category to read because the dose of each herb is often hidden in proprietary-blend language. As a rule, if you cannot determine the milligram amount of any individual herb from the label, you cannot compare the blend to clinical-trial doses for any of its ingredients.What good vs bad labelling actually looks like — examples
I want to make this very concrete because abstract labelling principles only become useful when you can pattern-match them on real products.
Good labelling example. "Ashwagandha root extract (KSM-66) 600 mg, standardised to 5% withanolides (30 mg per capsule). Other ingredients: HPMC vegetarian capsule shell. FSSAI Lic. No. 10012021000123. Mfg date 02/2026, Exp 01/2028, Lot AS24X91. Manufactured by [Company] Pvt Ltd, [Address], India. For consumer queries: 1800-XXX-XXXX." — This label answers all ten of the questions I listed above. You can trace the active dose, verify regulatory registration, and contact the manufacturer. Mediocre labelling example. "Ashwagandha 500 mg standardised extract. FSSAI registered. Manufactured by [Company]." — This label tells you the dose but not the percentage, doesn't specify the part of plant, doesn't print the FSSAI number, and gives no manufacturer address. You can't calculate active dose. You can't verify the FSSAI claim. It's a label that asks for trust without giving you tools to extend it. Bad labelling example. "Premium Ayurvedic Wellness Tonic. Helps with stress, immunity, vitality. Made with the goodness of natural herbs. 60 capsules." — This is essentially marketing copy on a bottle. There is no extract specification, no dose, no standardisation, no regulatory information visible. I would not buy this product.You don't need to be a chemist to apply this. You just need to ask: "if a journalist looked at this label, could they fact-check the claims on it?" If yes, the labelling is doing its job. If no, you should ask why.
Common red flags you'll see on Indian retail shelves
After looking at several hundred labels over the past year, the patterns I'd flag most consistently:
"Standardised extract" with no number. The single most common labelling weakness. If "standardised" is doing rhetorical work without quantification, treat it as marketing. FSSAI number on a sticker. Stickered regulatory numbers are sometimes legitimate (re-labelling for export markets, importer additions) but they are also the easiest way to launder unregistered product into Indian retail. If everything else on the box is printed under the artwork and only the FSSAI number is stickered, ask why. "Clinically tested" without a citation. A claim that a product is "clinically tested" without a specific trial reference, journal name, or manufacturer-published study is unverifiable. Ask the brand for the citation. The good ones provide it. Best-before dates without manufacture dates. Indian regulation requires both. A box that prints only the expiry without the manufacture date is regulatory non-compliance and probably grey-market product. Marketing claims that name diseases. "Helps with diabetes," "treats arthritis," "cures hair loss" — all violate the Drugs and Magic Remedies Act for non-prescription Ayurvedic supplements. A brand that prints these claims openly is either uninformed or operating in flagrant violation, neither of which is reassuring. Hindi/English mismatches. Some products print stricter claims in Hindi than English on the same box (or vice versa), counting on the regulator reading only one. If you can read both, check whether they say the same thing.The printable pharmacy checklist
Take this with you. If a product fails more than two checks, walk away.
Frequently asked questions
What does "standardised extract" mean on an Ayurvedic label?
Standardisation means the manufacturer has measured a specific active compound in the extract and committed to a fixed percentage. Without a number printed (e.g. "5% withanolides," "95% curcuminoids"), the word "standardised" by itself is not a verifiable claim.
Is FSSAI registration enough for safety?
FSSAI registration is the legal minimum for sale. It indicates the manufacturer is registered, but it does not certify clinical efficacy, heavy-metal absence, or label accuracy. It is necessary but not sufficient.
Why do branded extracts like KSM-66 cost more?
Branded extract manufacturers fund the clinical trials that establish their efficacy and stake reputation on the standardisation percentage. The price premium reflects that infrastructure. Whether it is worth it depends on whether the trial data matters to you.
How do I check if an FSSAI number is real?
Visit fssai.gov.in, navigate to FoSCoS, and search by the 14-digit number. A real registration returns the licensed business name and address. A fake number returns no result.
What does "proprietary blend" mean and is it bad?
It means the manufacturer has disclosed the ingredients in a blend but not the individual amounts. This makes it impossible to compare the dose to clinical trials of the named ingredients. It is not always misleading, but it limits what you can verify.