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Deciphering OLE Supplement Labels

Posted in Spending Wisely, Supplements, and Useful Tips

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So, you’re at the local hippie store trying to find some OLE, and this looks good, right? It says 18% right there in black and white! This is what you’re going to see on the store brand OLE labels.

At first glance, you’d think you’re holding some quality OLE in your hot little hands, but look again at that label. See how it’s split into olive leaf extract, and olive leaf?
Those are 400 mg capsules, and they have 215 mg of olive leaf extract with 18% oleuropein, and 185 mg of olive leaf, which is basically useless filler.

What you’re really holding is about 9% oleuropein, total. Those 400 mg capsules have 38.7 mg of active ingredient. To contrast, Vitacost OLE, my favorite, has 90 mg of oleuropein in a 500 mg capsule, for a true 18% active ingredient.

Many health food stores carry Gaia brand in addition to a store brand, and guess what % of active ingredient that has?


No really, you’ll have to guess, because they don’t tell you.

 

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If you read the Product Description online, you’ll find:

Each serving of Gaia Herbs Olive Leaf provides a guaranteed 50 mg of active Oleuropeins to support the body’s natural defenses and neutralize free radicals.

Got that? 50 mg of oleuropein in 2 capsules. That’s a whole 6% active ingredient, and they want $15+ dollars for 60 of them.

You can get 300 Vitacost capsules for $28 and free shipping from www.vitacost.com.

In short, Vitacost really is the best deal as well as the best quality….and I wish I got a cut of all the sales they’ve made from my comments about them. LOL

Another thing that can be confusing: Nature’s Way sells both effective (but overpriced) OLE with 20% oleuropein, AND useless Olive Leaf. Don’t ever buy anything that just says “olive leaf”, no matter what brand it is. As you can see with this Nature’s Way Olive Leaf label, its levels of oleuropein are so low they just say “contains oleuropein” on the front of the bottle, but don’t list it on the back..

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See? Olive leaf. Not olive leaf extract. Buyer beware. I had a lady who accidentally took this and wondered why she didn’t feel like she was taking anything. Same with Gaia, a number of women took that and didn’t improve at all on it.
Another example, Vitacost sells an olive leaf extract in liquid form: it has 1% oleuropein. Needless to say, don’t buy it.

One more thing I was just reminded of..on the label it will tell you that 2 capsules a day is a daily dose, but what they don’t say is that recommendation is for a perfectly healthy person taking OLE for general health maintenance, like to prevent colds. When you have an active bladder infection, or any kind of infection, you have to take much more than that, so follow the basic guidelines I laid out in the posts on killing UTI’s.

Buying a quality brand with a high percentage of oleuropein is imperative.

 

18 Comments

  1. Hannah Houshangi
    Hannah Houshangi

    I’ve just ordered the Vitacost 300 pill bottle from NZ – how many should I be taking each day? I’ve just finished my course of antibiotics for m 2nd e-coli infection in 2 months and I want to stop any chance of getting another one before it gets chronic.

    November 12, 2019
    |Reply
  2. Christa
    Christa

    I have East Park Research, Inc. OLE, d-Lenolate. Are you familiar with this one? If so, would you say it’s quality? Thanks!

    March 18, 2019
    |Reply
  3. Gabby
    Gabby

    Just read your post on OLE and how it naturally lowers BP… My BP is on the low side, well it’s kinda on the borderline but towards low BP…. is it safe for me to take this?

    October 13, 2018
    |Reply
  4. Ken
    Ken

    Will Spring Valley’s OLE 150 mg standardized to contain 20% oleuropein, 30 mg work and would you take at the same recommendation?

    July 5, 2017
    |Reply
  5. Misty
    Misty

    Is this available on Vitacost? I am not finding this product.

    February 12, 2017
    |Reply
  6. Juanita
    Juanita

    What about whole leaf olive extract. From herb pharm?

    August 3, 2016
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    • Rebekah W.
      Rebekah W.

      Juanita, I have no idea how I missed this comment: I’m so sorry!

      If it doesn’t say ‘oleuropein’ on the bottle somewhere, definitely do NOT buy it! Look for that word, and see how many mg of it are in each capsule. You want that number to be as high as possible.

      August 12, 2016
      |Reply
  7. Claudia
    Claudia

    Amazon doesn’t ship Vitacost OLE to Australia either. Must be a customs priblem.

    July 18, 2016
    |Reply
    • Rebekah W.
      Rebekah W.

      Thank you for reminding me about the paucity of good OLE in Australia: I’ll add the Herbs of Gold brand into the blog post for easy reference.

      July 18, 2016
      |Reply
  8. Claudia
    Claudia

    i had a look at the Swanson and the label only says it olive leaf 400 mg no mention of oleuropain?

    July 18, 2016
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    • Rebekah W.
      Rebekah W.

      Definitely don’t get that particular one! I know Swanson does carry better OLE than that: they have one that has 15% oleuropein and one that has 20%, but the shipping is slow. One of my Australian ladies found a potent OLE sold locally there, let me look that up..
      Found it!
      https://www.herbsofgold.com.au/products/product/1668

      100 mg of oleuropein per capsule.

      July 18, 2016
      |Reply
  9. Claudia
    Claudia

    Vitacost doesn’t shop to Australia. What would be the 2nd best option?

    July 18, 2016
    |Reply
  10. Rebekah W.
    Rebekah W.

    And in case anyone is wondering, I am NOT a Vitacost affiliate (I wish I were, though!), but I do get a small commission on Amazon products. (Which I’m hoping will make this site pay for its own web hosting bills, so it’s not like having a sixth kid. LOL)

    I recommend Vitacost because it’s the best quality for the best price, but if you can’t get it where you are, Swanson is the next best. It’s hard to find good OLE brands: I’ve had a bunch of women who weren’t progressing switch to Vitacost or Swanson and get die-off right away, followed by being cured of the UTI.

    July 16, 2016
    |Reply
  11. Mandy
    Mandy

    Just want to confirm that you still recommend the Swanson OLE ?? That is what I’ve been taking and it helps

    July 16, 2016
    |Reply
    • Rebekah W.
      Rebekah W.

      Yes, but Vitacost is a MUCH better deal, if you can get it! I buy the 300 count bottles when they go on a ‘buy one, get one half off’ sale. I get 600 capsules for $42 and free shipping. You can’t beat that, and they’re excellent quality. I would check out the Vitacost website and see if they’re running that sale right now.

      July 16, 2016
      |Reply
      • Kelly
        Kelly

        I cannot find the Vitacost OLE you spoke of, the link is broken. Will you help? Thanks for the info.

        March 3, 2018
        |Reply

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