One product, one panel, one record.
Equate (Walmart) Probiotic Supplement Digestive System Support, Delayed Release Capsules, 50 Count — label audit
Culturelle uses 40 mg of material to deliver 10 billion CFU of LGG alone. This product's entire blend is 39 mg and has to cover two organisms. It says "Compare to Culturelle®" on the front of the box, and the one number that would settle the comparison — how much of the 10 billion is LGG — is the number the proprietary blend removes.
This page is an audit of a label. It records what this product’s panel discloses, what of that could be checked against a primary record, and what could not. The score below ranks this product on that disclosure and on nothing else.
The record this page rests on
- NIH label record
- Label read on
- The most recent dated artefact behind this page. Labels change; this is how old our reading of it is.
- Cohort
- Addendum — outside the founding denominators Torn down 2026-07-31, after the founding cohort of 27 was frozen. It sits outside every D27 denominator the site publishes.
- How deep this went
- Full forensic teardown Panel transcribed, every strain designator queried, every certification chased to its issuer’s own register, and the literature behind each marketing claim opened and read.
The Label Verifiability Score for this product
34.1 out of 100
Rank 113 of the 154 products in this audit the rubric can score. This rank is shared with 1 other product — 2 products sit on 34.1 and are tied. They hold the position jointly; no tiebreaker is applied, because every tiebreaker available here would be a number the rubric deliberately refused to weigh, smuggled back in to make a list look tidier.
The score measures one thing: how much of what you are buying this company tells you, and how much of that survives being checked against a source that is not the company. It does not measure whether the product works — this site holds no efficacy data of its own, and 0 of 294 organism slots in the founding cohort carry a strain with a human randomised trial for any male-specific outcome, so nobody in this category has evidence that would support a ranking by effect.
Computed over 86% of the rubric by weight — the share of the five questions below this record could answer. The remaining question is unanswered, and unanswered is not nought: it leaves the divisor rather than dragging the score down. That share travels with the number and is never dropped — this score over 86% of the weight and the same score over all of it are different claims.
| Component | Weight | What was counted, and where | Fraction | Weight × fraction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strain identity printed on the panel | 0.24 | 1 of 2 organism slots carry a printed strain designator. | 1 / 2 = 0.5000 | 0.1200 |
| Per-organism amount printed | 0.20 | 0 of 2 organism slots have an amount of its own; the rest are inside a blend total. | 0 / 2 = 0.0000 | 0.0000 |
| What the CFU count is measured against | 0.22 | Potency basis "none-stated": CFU figure printed yes, single basis stated no, basis reaches expiry no — 1 of 3. | 1 / 3 = 0.3333 | 0.073333 |
| Printed designators that lead to a human trial | 0.20 | 1 of 2 checked organism slots resolve to at least one human randomised trial under the designator exactly as printed. This counts whether the identity leads to a trial, never what the trial found. | 1 / 2 = 0.5000 | 0.1000 |
| Certification confirmed at the issuer’s own register | 0.14 | Every certification on this record is brand-asserted with the register unreachable, or not yet queried. An unreachable register is a fact about the verification infrastructure, not about this brand, so it may not move its position. | Not answered | — excluded from the divisor, not counted as nought |
0.293333 — the last column added up — divided by 0.86, the weight this record could answer, is 0.3411. Multiplied by 100 and rounded to one decimal, that is the 34.1 above.
See this product’s row in the full ranking, alongside the other 153 scored products, or read what each of the five components asks and how to check it .
What this label discloses
Everything in this table is what the product itself states — on the printed panel, on the brand’s own page, or in the label record the manufacturer filed. Nothing in it is checked yet; checking is the next section.
| Disclosure | As recorded |
|---|---|
| CFU as printed | 10 Billion Live Cells** (Proprietary Probiotic Blend Providing 39 mg) |
| What that count is measured against | No basis stated |
| Strain designators | Some organisms coded |
| Organism slots transcribed here | 2 — the full panel |
| Marketed as | Unisex |
There is nothing to quote, and that is the finding. The `**` marker appears three times on this product — on the front panel ("10 BILLION Live Cells** per capsule"), on the back panel ("contains 10 Billion Live Cells** of…"), and in the Supplement Facts itself. Its definition appears in none of the eight images Walmart publishes: front silo, lifestyle shot, Culturelle-comparison badge, capsule-versus- quarter size shot, Supplement Facts, Suggested Use box, back panel, Walmart satisfaction badge. All eight were read. The footnote is orphaned in every one of them. For the record and not as a substitute: the predecessor record DSLD 178595, a different UPC, defines the same marker as "Contains a minimum of 10 billion live bacteria when manufactured and until the 'Best If Used By' date." That is a through-expiry guarantee and the current SKU very likely carries the same wording on a panel Walmart did not photograph — but it is not verifiable for UPC 681131405768, so the basis here is recorded as unstated and the predecessor's wording is noted, not borrowed.
The panel’s own words on potency, verbatim.
A CFU number appears with no temporal basis of any kind. A count with no basis is not a quantity; there is no date at which it is claimed to be true.
Some organisms carry a printed strain designator and some are named by species only.
| Organism as printed | Designator as printed | Quantity as printed | What the designator resolves to | The query we ran |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lactobacillus rhamnosus (correct name: Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus) | GG | — not stated separately | Human RCT | "Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG"[tiab] AND randomized controlled trial[pt] → 170; "ATCC 53103"[tiab] → 170; "Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG"[tiab] OR "L. rhamnosus GG"[tiab] OR "ATCC 53103"[tiab] → 1751; "Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus GG"[tiab] → 276; "Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG"[tiab] AND humans[mh] AND randomized controlled trial[pt] AND (diarrhea OR diarrhoea) → 25; "Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG" AND antibiotic-associated diarrhea AND meta-analysis[pt] → 6 |
| Lactobacillus acidophilus | — none printed | — not stated separately | No designator printed | "Lactobacillus acidophilus"[tiab] AND randomized controlled trial[pt] → 407 |
What of that is verifiable
A disclosure is verifiable when a reader can open a record that neither we nor the brand controls and see the same thing. Below is every dated artefact this page rests on. What is absent from this list is not verified, however reasonable it sounds.
- Photograph of the printed panel — walmart-975271198-supplement-facts-3000pxhttps://www.walmart.com/ip/Equate-Probiotic-Supplement-Digestive-System-Support-Delayed-Release-Capsules-50-Count/975271198 — Address given, not linked: this site does not link out to the products it audits. captured Read directly at 3000 px from Walmart's CDN and transcribed verbatim: "Serving Size 1 Capsule · Servings Per Container 50; Proprietary Probiotic Blend Providing 39 mg (10 Billion Live Cells**); Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG; Lactobacillus acidophilus; ‡Daily Value not established. OTHER INGREDIENTS: CELLULOSE, INULIN/FOS, CAPSULE (HYPROMELLOSE, GELLAN GUM, TITANIUM DIOXIDE), MAGNESIUM STEARATE (VEGETABLE SOURCE), SILICON DIOXIDE." All eight published images were read individually; the `**` definition is in none of them.
- Dated capture of the brand’s own page — walmart-975271198-2026-07-31https://www.walmart.com/ip/Equate-Probiotic-Supplement-Digestive-System-Support-Delayed-Release-Capsules-50-Count/975271198 — Address given, not linked: this site does not link out to the products it audits. captured Fetched with redirects followed and a desktop user agent. Walmart's structured data independently reports activeIngredientName "Proprietary Probiotic Blend" and an other-ingredients string identical to the panel, so panel and structured data agree — the failure mode on the sibling 60-billion SKU does not occur here. Source of the price ($15.28, unitPrice null), the full retail title carrying "Compare to Culturelle® Digestive Health Probiotic", and the "Unisex" positioning in both the longDescription bullet list and the short description.
- NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database record — DSLD 178595 (opens in a new tab) captured Predecessor only, and used only as such. Same retailer, same count, same 10-billion claim, same Culturelle positioning, same two organisms — but UPC 6 81131 13029 5 against the live 6 81131 40576 8, and not delayed-release. It is the source of the footnote definition quoted as context in the CFU-basis field, which is noted and never borrowed as this product's own wording, and of the "Made in the USA Factory certified" seal entry recorded under certifications as context rather than as a claim verified on the current carton.
- NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database record — DSLD 250859 (opens in a new tab) captured The reference product this box names: Culturelle Digestive Daily Probiotic, 30 ct, UPC 0 49100 40012 9. Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG at 40 mg, noted as 10 billion CFU on its own line item; Inulin (chicory root extract) 200 mg as a declared Supplement Facts line; CFU basis "Guaranteed potency through date on box when stored as directed"; LGG® trademark present. Every line of the comparison on this page is taken from this record against the current Equate panel.
How many of its strains have a human trial for what it is sold for
Across the frozen founding cohort, 0 of 294 organism slots (0.0%) carry an organism with a human randomised controlled trial for any male-specific outcome. Not for this product — for all 27 of the founding teardowns, taken together. That is the number to hold against any men’s probiotic, including this one.
Two further founding-cohort figures for context: only 43 of 294 organism slots carry a strain with any human RCT at all under the exact code printed on the label, and only 2 of 27 products have a published human trial of the finished formula — the thing actually in the bottle. All three figures divide by the frozen cohort of 27 teardowns and 294 organism slots, never by every teardown on this site.
For this product specifically, 1 organism slot carries a strain with a human RCT under the exact designator printed on the label.
A word on what a designator has to clear before it counts here. The organism must be named with the exact strain code that appears in the trial, the trial must be in humans, and the code must return that trial when a reader searches it. A species name does not qualify: the trials in this field are of strains, and a species contains thousands of them.
What it costs per day
$0.31 a day at the dose the label itself instructs.
- Price
- $15.28 USD
- What that buys
- 50 delayed-release capsules, 1 capsule daily, 50 servings ($15.28 ÷ 50 = $0.3056). The front panel frames this as a "7 WEEK SUPPLY", which is 49 days for 50 capsules. Walmart publishes no unit price for this item (unitPrice is null).
- Price checked
- — the source we read it fromhttps://www.walmart.com/ip/Equate-Probiotic-Supplement-Digestive-System-Support-Delayed-Release-Capsules-50-Count/975271198 — Address given, not linked: this site does not link out to the products it audits.
What certification it holds, checked at the issuer’s own register
A badge on a bottle is a claim like any other. Every row below was checked — or not checked — at the certifier’s own public register, never at the badge. Across the frozen founding cohort, 2 of 27 products hold a certification we could confirm at the issuer — a founding-cohort figure, not a count over every teardown on this site.
| Programme | Status at the issuer | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| Any third-party certification | Not checked | 31 July 2026 |
Any third-party certification
We have not queried this register for this product. It does not mean the product holds nothing.
None claimed. No NSF, USP, Informed Choice or Non-GMO Project mark appears, so there is no issuer register to query. One adjacent item, recorded as context rather than as this SKU's certification: the predecessor record DSLD 178595 carries a Seals/Symbols entry reading "Made in the USA Factory certified" — a phrase with no issuing body, no register and no defined scope. If it survives onto the current carton it is marketing language, not a certification, and there is nobody to check with. The formulation claim "This product is dairy, soy and gluten-free" is brand-asserted.
How it differs from the same brand’s women’s version
Across the fourteen same-brand men’s-versus-women’s label diffs run inside the frozen founding cohort, zero men’s or default formulas contain a probiotic strain, identified by designator, that was selected on male-specific evidence. In eight of the fourteen the sex-specific differentiator is a botanical or a mineral, and in five of the fourteen the women’s SKU is better-specified, cheaper, or both — “better-specified” meaning the panel that discloses more, never the panel with more in it. The rule behind each of those counts, and all fourteen pairs classified against it , are published in full. Diffs run on teardowns added since sit outside this fourteen, and outside the sentence above.
Every finding on this page, with the record behind it
Finding 1 the-proprietary-blend-hides-the-one-dose-the-whole-pitch-depends-on
Proprietary Probiotic Blend Providing 39 mg (10 Billion Live Cells**), across Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG and Lactobacillus acidophilus, with the split disclosed nowhere. For a product whose entire pitch is "compare to Culturelle", the LGG dose is the only number that matters, and it is the number the blend removes. It is necessarily below 10 billion by an unknown amount.
The record: Supplement Facts panel read at 3000 px from Walmart's CDN for item 975271198, 2026-07-31; Walmart structured data independently reports activeIngredientName "Proprietary Probiotic Blend" — open ithttps://www.walmart.com/ip/Equate-Probiotic-Supplement-Digestive-System-Support-Delayed-Release-Capsules-50-Count/975271198 — Address given, not linked: this site does not link out to the products it audits.
Finding 2 compare-to-culturelle-invites-an-equivalence-the-panel-does-not-deliver
The reference product, Culturelle Digestive Daily Probiotic (DSLD 250859), uses 40 mg of material to deliver 10 billion CFU of LGG on its own line item, plus 200 mg of inulin declared in the Supplement Facts. This product's entire blend is 39 mg and covers two organisms, and demotes "INULIN/FOS" to other ingredients where no quantity is required and none is given. Mass does not convert to CFU at a fixed rate across strains, so this is not a calculation — it is a strong, disclosed-on-label indication that the LGG dose here is below the 10 billion the Culturelle evidence base rests on. The buyer is invited to infer equivalence and given no way to check it.
The record: Current panel at 3000 px for item 975271198 against DSLD 250859 (Culturelle Digestive Daily Probiotic, UPC 0 49100 40012 9), both read 2026-07-31 — open it (opens in a new tab)
Finding 3 the-cfu-basis-is-unstated-across-all-eight-published-images
The `**` marker appears three times on the pack and its definition appears in none of the eight images Walmart publishes for this SKU. A shopper online has no way to learn whether the 10 billion is guaranteed at manufacture, through expiry, or at all.
The record: All eight Walmart image assets for item 975271198 read individually, 2026-07-31; no DSLD record exists for UPC 681131405768
Finding 4 one-of-the-most-studied-probiotic-strains-attached-to-a-list-of-two
Back panel, verbatim: "Equate™ Digestive Health† Probiotic contains 10 Billion Live Cells** of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG and Lactobacillus acidophilus, one of the most studied probiotic strains." The singular phrase is appended to a list of two organisms. The reputation belongs to LGG and only to LGG; the acidophilus here has no designator at all, so nothing can be studied about it in the sense implied. The reference product states its version with an anchor — Culturelle's label reads "Most clinically researched strain in the world" followed by "Based on the number of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG studies as of January 2019." This one has no such qualifier.
The record: Back panel image for item 975271198, transcribed 2026-07-31, against DSLD 250859 label statements
Finding 5 half-the-blend-is-species-only
L. acidophilus is printed with no designator, so 1 of 2 organisms in this capsule is untraceable to any trial. 407 randomised trials exist on designated acidophilus strains and not one is attributable to an unnamed one.
The record: "Lactobacillus acidophilus"[tiab] AND randomized controlled trial[pt] → 407, run 2026-07-31, against the current panel
Finding 6 the-lgg-deposit-number-is-never-printed
The label says "GG" and never says ATCC 53103, and does not carry the LGG® trademark owned by Chr. Hansen A/S — which the reference product's own label does carry. Whether this is authentic Chr. Hansen LGG is unverified.
The record: Current panel for item 975271198 against DSLD 250859, which records the LGG® trademark on the Culturelle label, both 2026-07-31
Finding 7 the-prebiotic-is-demoted-out-of-the-supplement-facts
Culturelle declares 200 mg of inulin as a Supplement Facts line item. This product lists "INULIN/FOS" in OTHER INGREDIENTS, where no quantity is required and none is given. A second dilution against the same reference, in the same direction, on the same box.
The record: Current panel and other-ingredients string for item 975271198 against DSLD 250859, both 2026-07-31
Finding 8 titanium-dioxide-in-the-capsule-shell
The capsule is hypromellose, gellan gum and titanium dioxide. E171 has been banned as a food additive in the EU since 2022 and remains permitted in US supplements. Recorded as a fact about the formulation, not as a safety claim.
The record: Other ingredients string, current panel at 3000 px and Walmart structured data, which agree, 2026-07-31
Finding 9 no-government-label-record-for-the-upc-on-sale
UPC 681131405768 has no DSLD record, double-queried in both formats. The only nearby record, 178595, is a predecessor with a different UPC and no delayed-release construction. This label has never been transcribed into the federal database, which removes the one independent check a reader could run.
The record: DSLD q=681131405768 and the spaced-digit variant, both 0 relevant hits, 2026-07-31; DSLD 178595 carries UPC 6 81131 13029 5 — open it (opens in a new tab)
What we could not verify
Every gap below is published rather than deleted. Most are derived automatically from the empty fields in this page’s own record, so a gap cannot be hidden by leaving a box blank.
- Any third-party certification status
- None claimed. No NSF, USP, Informed Choice or Non-GMO Project mark appears, so there is no issuer register to query. One adjacent item, recorded as context rather than as this SKU's certification: the predecessor record DSLD 178595 carries a Seals/Symbols entry reading "Made in the USA Factory certified" — a phrase with no issuing body, no register and no defined scope. If it survives onto the current carton it is marketing language, not a certification, and there is nobody to check with. The formulation claim "This product is dairy, soy and gluten-free" is brand-asserted.
- A men’s-versus-women’s label diff
- The same brand’s women’s SKU has not been compared against this panel.
- What the CFU footnote marker means on this product
- The `**` appears three times across the front panel, the back panel and the Supplement Facts, and its definition appears in none of the eight images Walmart publishes. All eight were read. There is no government label record for this UPC to fall back on.
- How the 10 billion splits between L. rhamnosus GG and L. acidophilus
- It is a proprietary blend. One figure, 39 mg and 10 Billion Live Cells, covers both organisms and the split is disclosed nowhere. This is the number the "Compare to Culturelle" claim turns on, and it is the number the blend removes.
- Whether the "GG" here is authentic Chr. Hansen LGG
- The deposit number ATCC 53103 is not printed and the LGG® trademark is not used. Culturelle's own label carries the trademark (DSLD 250859); this one does not. Recorded as unverified, not as refuted.
- Which L. acidophilus strain this contains
- The panel names the species and nothing else. 407 randomised trials exist across designated acidophilus strains and none of them is attributable to an unnamed one.
- Any government label record for this UPC
- None exists. UPC 681131405768 was double-queried against NIH DSLD in two formats: q=<digits> returned 0 hits, and the spaced format DSLD stores returned PrimaForce Caffeine + Theanine — a numeric token collision, not a match. DSLD 178595 is a near-match and not a match: same retailer, same count, same 10-billion claim, same Culturelle positioning, same two organisms, but a different UPC (681131130295) and not delayed-release. Everything taken from 178595 on this page is labelled as predecessor and is never presented as the current label.
- Whether $15.28 is this item's own price
- Walmart publishes no unit price for this item, so the figure has no per-count cross-check. This same teardown records $15.28 for a second, different Equate item as well — the Women's Care Daily Probiotic, item 820617264. The coincidence was not resolved in this pass and the price is published as read.
- The 16-strain list on the Equate women's SKU
- Its panel was not retrieved at readable resolution this pass, so no women's-side compositional claim is made on this page.
How to check every line of this page yourself
Nothing on this page requires trusting us. Every claim above resolves to a record you can open:
- Open the NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database record linked at the top of this page. It is the label the manufacturer filed, not our transcription of it.
- Compare the CFU line and the suggested-use line against the disclosure table above. If they disagree with us, we are wrong and we want to know.
- Take any strain designator from the panel and run the query printed beside it. The query is published precisely so you can get a different answer than we did.
- Divide the price by the number of days the label’s own dose instructions make the container last. That arithmetic is the whole of the cost-per-day row.
- Search the certifier’s own register for this product, not for the brand. A company can participate in a programme without this product being on its list.
Read the first row of the comparison this box invites, and the box loses it.
Culturelle Digestive Daily uses 40 mg of material to deliver 10 billion CFU of LGG alone, on its own line item, with 200 mg of chicory inulin declared beside it. This product’s entire blend is 39 mg and has to cover two organisms — LGG plus an L. acidophilus with no designator — while the inulin is demoted to other ingredients, where no quantity is required and none is given. Milligrams do not convert to CFU at a fixed rate across strains, so nothing here is calculated. But the front of the box says “Compare to Culturelle® Digestive Health Probiotic”, and on the one axis that comparison is actually about — how much LGG you get — the label is built so that the buyer cannot find out.
The credit first, because it is real. “GG” is a genuine strain designator with one of the largest trial files in the category: 170 randomised controlled trials under the name, 1,751 records across name variants, six meta-analyses for antibiotic-associated diarrhoea. That is the outcome type the label actually claims. And the claim language is well behaved — “may help restore digestive balance”, “may help support healthy digestive and immune systems”, hedged throughout, FDA disclaimer present, no disease claim. This is better claim discipline than most of the direct-to-consumer brands in this project manage.
Then the sentence on the back panel. Verbatim: “contains 10 Billion Live Cells* of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG and Lactobacillus acidophilus, one of the most studied probiotic strains.”* Singular phrase, list of two. The reputation belongs to LGG and only to LGG; the acidophilus has no designator, so nothing can be studied about it in the sense implied. Whether by grammar or by design, an unnamed organism rides on LGG’s evidence base. The reference product does the same thing with an anchor attached — “Based on the number of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG studies as of January 2019.” This one has no anchor.
And the asterisks lead nowhere. The ** marker appears three times — front panel, back panel,
Supplement Facts. Its definition appears in none of the eight images Walmart publishes. All eight were
read: front silo, lifestyle shot, comparison badge, capsule-size shot, panel, suggested use, back panel,
satisfaction badge. There is no DSLD record for this UPC to fall back on. The predecessor record defines
the same marker as a minimum through the best-if-used-by date, and that is very likely what the current
carton says on a face Walmart did not photograph — but it is a different UPC and a different construction,
so it is noted here and not borrowed.
What is left is genuinely cheap and genuinely useful: $0.31 a day, the lowest in its batch, with a real strain in it. The honest summary is that you are buying an unknown fraction of a well-evidenced strain, at a third of the price of the product that tells you exactly how much of it you get.