a free, honest label reader
Read your sleep label the honest way.
The Honest Label Check compares the doses on a sleep supplement label against the doses researchers have studied. Add each active and its labeled dose, and it shows whether the amount lands in line with the studied doses, below them, above them, or hidden in a proprietary blend where the amount cannot be known. It reads ingredients, not brands.
Check my label ↓Reads ingredients, not brands.
Nothing you type is sent to Dōpo.
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Build your label. Read it the honest way.
Add each active from the label and type the dose per serving. If it is buried in a proprietary blend, mark it as one. You will see how each amount lines up with the range researchers have actually studied.
Common on sleep labels
why this is here
A dose you cannot read is a dose you cannot trust.
Sleep labels are easy to misread on purpose. A proprietary blend hides the individual amounts inside one combined weight. A trace of an ingredient can put its name on the front without matching the amount that was studied. And melatonin can appear at 5 or 10 mg, above the 0.5 to 6 mg the CADTH review studied.
This tool does one small, honest thing: it lines up the dose on the label with the doses researchers have actually studied, ingredient by ingredient, and names what it cannot know. The studied protocols below come from clinical reviews and published trials, linked on every row.
This page is educational and is not medical care. Studied ranges are not a promise that any dose works, and this tool does not diagnose anything or tell you to start or stop a supplement. If sleep problems persist or affect your days, talk with a qualified healthcare professional.
reading a sleep label, answered
The questions the label should answer for you.
Is 10 mg of melatonin too much?
A CADTH review found the sleep trials it covered used doses from about 0.5 to 6 mg in adults with insomnia. A label reading 10 mg is above that studied range. Whether that is too much for you is a question for a doctor or pharmacist, who can weigh your own situation. This tool reports where a dose sits relative to what was studied; it does not tell you what to take.
What is a proprietary blend on a supplement label?
A proprietary blend lists several ingredients together under one combined weight, so the label never tells you how much of each one you are actually getting. Because the individual amounts are hidden, there is no way to check any single ingredient against the doses researchers have studied.
What does it mean when an ingredient is below the studied protocol?
It means the labeled amount is smaller than the doses used in the studies. A very small amount can be enough to name an ingredient on the front of the label without matching what was studied. This tool flags those amounts so you can see them.
How much magnesium is studied for sleep?
The main insomnia trial used 414 mg of magnesium oxide twice a day, which is 500 mg of elemental magnesium in total, for eight weeks in adults aged 60 to 75. The Supplement Facts panel lists elemental magnesium, so that is the number to enter; other copy on the tub may quote the larger compound weight. The NIH notes citrate is absorbed more completely than oxide, and sets the upper limit for supplemental magnesium at 350 mg of elemental magnesium a day. Because the studied dose sits above that limit, this tool shows magnesium's studied protocol rather than grading your number.
Does the Honest Label Check diagnose anything or replace a doctor?
No. It compares label doses against studied ranges so you can read a label with more context. It is educational, it does not diagnose anything, and it never tells you to start or stop a supplement. Talk with a qualified healthcare professional about what you take.
Does the tool detect specific brands?
No. It reads ingredients, not brands. You enter the actives and their doses, and it reads only what you enter. There is no brand database and nothing you type is sent to Dōpo.