Common Industry Pitfall: Labelling Only Total Oil Weight While Concealing True Active DHA/ARA Content

Within the supply chains for DHA-ARA nutritional supplements and infant formula products, a pervasive and misleading hidden industry pitfall persists. Numerous products prominently advertise total oil weight per capsule, per serving or per bottle, yet downplay, conceal or omit the true active contents of DHA and ARA. This numerical wordplay misleads ordinary consumers into believing they have purchased high-nutrient, cost-effective products with optimal ratios. It also ensnares purchasers and distributors lacking robust professional quality-control systems, resulting in strong sales volumes paired with extremely low repurchase rates and frequent consumer complaints.

Both general consumers and novice buyers commonly fall for the same misconception: assuming the net oil weight of a capsule equals the active DHA or ARA content. Real-world industry practice tells a different story. DHA algal oil and fermented ARA oil are concentrated functional raw materials. Most finished commercial products are blended with carrier / diluent oils such as sunflower oil, corn oil and medium-chain triglycerides (MCT). Total oil weight represents the combined mass of functional raw materials plus diluent oils. Only pure DHA and ARA deliver the intended brain-supporting, vision-enhancing and development-promoting benefits. Labelling total oil weight without disclosing active substance levels constitutes one of the industry's most prevalent and sophisticated marketing shell-game tactics.

A practical example illustrates this core pitfall. A widely-available DHA capsule boldly states "500 mg DHA-containing oil per capsule" on its front-of-pack. This eye-catching figure convinces parents and initial-stage procurement teams that it is a high-strength premium product. However, the fine-print nutrition facts panel on the reverse reveals the true pure active DHA content amounts to merely 100 mg per capsule. The remaining 400 mg consists of ordinary edible diluent oil, yielding an active purity of only 20 % - far below acceptable industry benchmarks.

Even more deceptive practices occur in combined DHA+ARA formulations. Some suppliers only indicate "600 mg blended oil per capsule" without breaking down individual DHA and ARA active quantities. Consumers cannot verify whether ratios comply with specifications or approximate the gold-standard human-milk profile. Certain low-grade products feature heavy dilution, low active payloads and severely imbalanced proportions: large volumes of ARA-containing diluent oil are added while actual DHA active content is negligible. This directly contravenes core national standard requirements for infant formula, which mandate sufficient ARA fortification whenever DHA is added. Not only are synergistic nutritional benefits lost, but fatty-acid metabolic imbalance may also be triggered. Multiple market sampling surveys conducted by [CCTV.com](https://CCTV.com) and other authoritative media have repeatedly documented that many top-selling live-stream-retailed nutritional products advertised as high-strength formulations show no detectable target DHA or ARA upon laboratory testing. In essence, these items are ordinary vegetable-oil preparations masquerading as nutritional supplements.

This pitfall continues to mislead the public largely due to information gaps between popular nutritional awareness and formal industry standards. Ordinary consumers do not understand that "oil net weight ≠ functional-ingredient content" and are easily swayed by large-sounding numbers. Some small-to-mid-sized brands and white-label manufacturers exploit labelling loopholes and public knowledge blind spots by emphasising inflated total-oil figures whilst hiding key active-ingredient data. Reputable major brands and compliant infant-formula goods strictly follow national standards by clearly declaring true active DHA and ARA levels per 100 g, per 100 kJ or per single unit within nutrition facts panels, avoiding vague total-oil-weight labelling.

From a nutritional-science standpoint, focusing solely on total oil and ignoring active content gives rise to two critical problems that defeat the purpose of supplementation.

First: inadequate nutrient intake resulting in ineffective supplementation. According to the Chinese Dietary Reference Intakes (2023 Edition) and expert consensus statements on DHA for pregnant, lactating women and infants, defined DHA intake thresholds apply across age groups. Where active content is extremely low, consistent daily consumption still fails to meet nutritional demands for ocular-brain development and cognitive maintenance, amounting to meaningless supplementation.

Second: excessive intake of non-functional oil, raising metabolic burden. Abundant ordinary vegetable and diluent oils present in low-purity products confer no nutritional value. Long-term ingestion crowds out dietary oil allowances, causes excess dietary omega-6 relative to omega-3 fatty acids, disturbs fatty-acid homeostasis, and elevates potential risks of metabolic and inflammatory dysregulation - defeating the original goal of nutritional supplementation.

For general consumers, straightforward practical rules help avoid numerical marketing trickery.

Core formula: Active Purity = Pure DHA / ARA Content ÷ Total Oil Weight per Unit.

The generally accepted minimum industry safety benchmark is ≥ 35 % purity; premium-grade products achieve 70 % or higher. Products below 30 % purity are heavily diluted and not recommended for purchase.

Adopt the "Three-Reject Principles":

- Reject products that only state total oil weight without specifying explicit DHA/ARA active content;

- Reject blended-formula products failing to report individual ingredient quantities and ratios;

- Reject items with ambiguous numerical claims or incomplete nutrition-facts-panel information.

When shopping, prioritise active-ingredient levels and scientifically validated ratios, not capsule size or total oil mass. Larger capsules do not equate to richer nutrition; they frequently contain greater volumes of diluent oil.

For purchasers, brand owners and channel distributors, this knowledge forms an essential foundation for quality-risk control, product iteration and end-user training, directly shaping brand reputation and repurchase performance.

1. Anchor quality-control risk assessment around measured active content, purity and ratio. Do not rely solely on factory-provided total-oil parameters. Require third-party test reports verifying actual DHA-ARA levels to block sub-standard supplies with misrepresented or concealed data.

2. Ensure regulatory-compliant communication and avoid borderline marketing practices. Never use total-oil-weight figures to mislead buyers; declare active ingredients in strict accordance with national standards so as to eliminate false-advertising liabilities.

3. Implement unified end-user science communication across sales channels. Train sales staff to distinguish total oil weight from active-ingredient content, resolve frequent consumer questions, build professional credibility and improve repurchase rates and brand reputation.

4. Prioritise high-purity compliant products formulated near the human-milk reference ratio of 1:1 ~ 1:1.7. Balance safety, efficacy and market competitiveness and steer clear of low-price-driven cut-throat competition centred on diluted goods.

In summary, the core value of DHA-ARA nutritional products lies always in genuine active-ingredient quantities and balanced ratios, not inflated total-oil-weight claims. The industry labelling trap of "emphasising total mass while downplaying active payload" is fundamentally a marketing construct built upon information asymmetry. It wastes consumer spending and exposes procurement stakeholders to brand-reputation crises. Whether for personal supplement purchasing or supply-chain sourcing, adherence to the principles of checking active content, calculating real-world purity and verifying scientific ratios helps consumers avoid marketing gimmicks and enables science-based, effective and safe nutritional supplementation.

References

[1] Chinese Nutrition Society. Chinese Dietary Reference Intakes (2023 Edition) [M]. Beijing: People's Medical Publishing House, 2023.

[2] Yang Yuexin. Chinese Encyclopedia of Nutrition Science (2nd Edition) [M]. Beijing: People's Medical Publishing House, 2019.

[3] Expert Group on DHA Supplementation for Chinese Pregnant, Lactating Women and Infants. Expert consensus on DHA supplementation for Chinese pregnant, lactating women and infants [J]. Chinese Journal of Reproductive Health, 2015, 26(2):101-105.

[4] GB 10765-2021, National Food Safety Standard: Infant Formula [S]. Beijing: National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China, 2021.

[5] Yu Chenghua. Detection and quality-risk analysis of polyunsaturated fatty acids in foods [J]. Journal of Food Safety & Quality, 2025.

[6] Hadley K B, Ryan A S, Forsyth S, et al. The essentiality of arachidonic acid in infant development [J]. Nutrients, 2016, 8(4):216.

[7] [CCTV.com](https://CCTV.com). Quality investigation on "high-purity fish-oil" best-sellers in live-stream sales: multiple products show no detectable functional active ingredients [EB/OL]. 2025.

[8] Calder P C. A systematic review of the effects of increasing arachidonic acid intake on PUFA status, metabolism and health-related outcomes in humans [J]. British Journal of Nutrition, 2019, 121(10):1121-1134.