One product, one panel, one record.
Garden of Life Dr. Formulated Probiotics Once Daily Men's (Shelf-Stable) — label audit
Not one of the 15 organisms on this label carries a strain designator — not on the record this page transcribes and not on the current one. The men's species list is also a strict subset of the same brand's women's list, all 15 appearing in the women's SKU, which adds a sixteenth; that diff, and the identical 625 mg combined fill published with it, were both computed from a men's label record DSLD has since flagged off-market, and the current men's record reads 583 mg. "Men have unique needs" is printed over a formula with nothing in it a woman's version does not.
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
- D₂₇ founding teardown One of the 27 products taken apart at label level. That cohort is frozen and dated, so the audit’s published percentages cannot silently move.
- 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.
- What did not survive verification
- Part of this page was refuted or could not be reproduced The number this page leads with did not survive re-checking. The "identical 625 mg combined fill" shared by the men's and women's SKUs was computed from DSLD 173775, a 2018 men's label record DSLD flags as off-market. The current on-market men's record, DSLD 275467, reads 218 mg of blend plus 365 mg of fibre — 583 mg. The men's-versus-women's fill comparison on this page describes the 2018 label, not the product as sold now, and is not to be quoted as current until it has been re-run against 275467. Everything else on this page, including the zero-strain-designator finding that is its actual subject, stands.
The Label Verifiability Score for this product
25.6 out of 100
Rank 125 of the 154 products in this audit the rubric can score. This rank is shared with 5 other products — 6 products sit on 25.6 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 | 0 of 15 organism slots carry a printed strain designator. | 0 / 15 = 0.0000 | 0.0000 |
| Per-organism amount printed | 0.20 | 0 of 15 organism slots have an amount of its own; the rest are inside a blend total. | 0 / 15 = 0.0000 | 0.0000 |
| What the CFU count is measured against | 0.22 | Potency basis "through-expiry": CFU figure printed yes, single basis stated yes, basis reaches expiry yes — 3 of 3. | 3 / 3 = 1.0000 | 0.2200 |
| Printed designators that lead to a human trial | 0.20 | 0 of 15 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. | 0 / 15 = 0.0000 | 0.0000 |
| 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 |
0.2200 — the last column added up — divided by 0.86, the weight this record could answer, is 0.2558. Multiplied by 100 and rounded to one decimal, that is the 25.6 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 | 50 billion CFU (35 billion Lacto, 15 billion Bifido) |
| What that count is measured against | Through expiry |
| Strain designators | None — species only |
| Organism slots transcribed here | 15 — the full panel |
| Marketed as | Marketed to men |
Total Lacto Cultures (35 billion CFU) · Total Bifido Cultures (15 billion CFU) · Total Probiotic Cultures 50 billion CFU (At expiration date under recommended storage conditions.)
The panel’s own words on potency, verbatim.
The panel guarantees the count through the expiration or best-by date. This is the only basis that is falsifiable by a reader holding the bottle.
The panel names species only, with no strain designator anywhere. A species name is not a claim: the trials in this field are of strains, and a species can contain thousands.
| Organism as printed | Designator as printed | Quantity as printed | What the designator resolves to | The query we ran |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lactobacillus acidophilus | — none printed | — not stated separately | No designator printed | — |
| Lactobacillus casei | — none printed | — not stated separately | No designator printed | — |
| Lactobacillus gasseri | — none printed | — not stated separately | No designator printed | — |
| Lactobacillus plantarum (correct name: Lactiplantibacillus plantarum) | — none printed | — not stated separately | No designator printed | — |
| Lactobacillus paracasei (correct name: Lacticaseibacillus paracasei) | — none printed | — not stated separately | No designator printed | — |
| Lactobacillus brevis (correct name: Levilactobacillus brevis) | — none printed | — not stated separately | No designator printed | — |
| Lactobacillus bulgaricus (correct name: Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus) | — none printed | — not stated separately | No designator printed | — |
| Lactobacillus rhamnosus (correct name: Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus) | — none printed | — not stated separately | No designator printed | — |
| Lactobacillus salivarius (correct name: Ligilactobacillus salivarius) | — none printed | — not stated separately | No designator printed | — |
| Lactobacillus fermentum (correct name: Limosilactobacillus fermentum) | — none printed | — not stated separately | No designator printed | — |
| Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis | — none printed | — not stated separately | No designator printed | — |
| Bifidobacterium bifidum | — none printed | — not stated separately | No designator printed | — |
| Bifidobacterium breve | — none printed | — not stated separately | No designator printed | — |
| Bifidobacterium infantis (correct name: Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis) | — none printed | — not stated separately | No designator printed | — |
| Bifidobacterium longum | — none printed | — not stated separately | No designator printed | — |
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.
- NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database record — DSLD 173775 (opens in a new tab) captured UPC 6 58010 11829 3, matching the live page's "Item 658010118293". Entered 2018-05-24 and flagged off-market by DSLD; the UPC still matches the SKU on sale.
- NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database record — DSLD 83155 (opens in a new tab) captured Women's comparator, on-market.
- Internet Archive capture — 20260420213209 (opens in a new tab) captured Brand page capture carrying the $36.79 price, the $1.23/serving figure and every marketing quote used here. gardenoflife.com returns HTTP 403 to automated requests.
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, 0 organism slots carry 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
$1.23 a day at the dose the label itself instructs.
- Price
- $36.79 USD
- What that buys
- 30-capsule bottle (30 servings, 1 capsule per serving)
- Price checked
- — the source we read it from (opens in a new tab)
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Non-GMO Project Verified | Register unreachable | 30 July 2026 |
| NSF Certified Gluten-Free | Register unreachable | 30 July 2026 |
| Green-e renewable energy | Not checked | not checked |
Non-GMO Project Verified
The certifier’s register could not be queried at all. That is a finding about the verification infrastructure, not about the brand.
The seal is on the label — DSLD 173775 records "Non GMO Project Verified" under Seals/Symbols, so that the label bears the mark is a fact. Whether the certification is current is not: the Non-GMO Project product finder returned 404 to every automated route tried, so the register was never actually queried.
NSF Certified Gluten-Free
The certifier’s register could not be queried at all. That is a finding about the verification infrastructure, not about the brand.
nsf.org returns HTTP 403 to automated requests, so this could not be checked at the issuer. Note the scope even if it is current: it certifies the absence of gluten. It says nothing about CFU count, strain identity, potency at expiry or contaminants, and it is not NSF's contents certification or Certified for Sport.
Green-e renewable energy
We have not queried this register for this product. It does not mean the product holds nothing.
A corporate energy-purchasing claim, not a product-quality claim. Listed here only because it appears among the marks a shopper sees.
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.
Compared against Dr. Formulated Probiotics Once Daily Women's. Diffed .
What the two panels differ by
- The men's SKU lists 15 organisms; the women's lists 16. The men's 15 species are a strict subset of the women's 16 — the only additional organism in the women's product is Lactobacillus reuteri. DSLD 173775 versus DSLD 83155
- Probiotic blend 218 mg (men's) versus 248 mg (women's); prebiotic fibre 407 mg versus 377 mg. DSLD 173775 versus DSLD 83155
- The Lacto-to-Bifido CFU split is re-proportioned: 35 billion / 15 billion in the men's, 40 billion / 10 billion in the women's. DSLD 173775 versus DSLD 83155
What is identical across the pair
- Total 50 billion CFU at expiry in both.
- Combined blend-plus-fibre fill weight is identical at 625 mg in both, which is why the two read as one capsule architecture with a re-proportioned blend rather than two separately engineered formulas.
- 30 capsules, one daily, in both.
Every finding on this page, with the record behind it
Finding 1 species-counted-as-strains
The label and the marketing both say "15 probiotic strains". These are 15 species. No ATCC, DSM, CNCM, NCIMB or proprietary strain code appears anywhere on the panel, so not one of the 15 can be matched to a published trial — not because the trials do not exist, but because the label does not say which organism it contains.
The record: DSLD 173775 — open it (opens in a new tab)
Finding 2 brand-names-strains-on-a-sibling-sku
Garden of Life discloses a real strain designator elsewhere in this same product line: Dr. Formulated Once Daily Ultra lists "Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM". Same brand, same line, same panel format. The capability and the labelling convention exist inside the company and are not applied to the men's SKU.
The record: DSLD 275474 — open it (opens in a new tab)
Finding 3 clinical-substantiation-at-genus-level
The page claims 50 billion CFU of "15 diverse probiotic strains including Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria — highly studied strains shown to support colon and digestive health". The organisms are identified to genus in that sentence and to species on the panel. Whatever studies are alluded to were run on named strains this label does not name.
The record: Wayback 20260420213209 — open it (opens in a new tab)
Finding 4 number-one-selling-claim-on-2021-data
The "#1 selling probiotic" claim is footnoted, verbatim: "Based on U.S. Supplement Market, 52 Weeks Ending 7-11-21, Combined Sales: SPINS Natural Channel, iRi US MULO Channel, Amazon.com, Whole Foods Market, The Vitamin Shoppe." That measurement period ended in July 2021 and is still presented in the present tense. The footnote was confirmed still live and still present-tense in July 2026.
The record: Wayback 20260420213209 — open it (opens in a new tab)
Finding 5 mens-formula-is-a-subset-of-womens
"We've got a specialized formula just for you since men have unique needs" sits over a formula whose 15 species are all present in the women's SKU, at an identical 625 mg combined fill. There is no prostate ingredient, no androgen-related ingredient, no urinary ingredient and no male-specific organism.
The record: DSLD 173775 versus DSLD 83155 — open it (opens in a new tab)
Finding 6 reuteri-is-in-the-womens-product
The one species in this product family with any testosterone literature at all — Lactobacillus reuteri — is in the women's product and absent from the men's.
The record: PMID 24392159
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.
- Non-GMO Project Verified status
- The seal is on the label — DSLD 173775 records "Non GMO Project Verified" under Seals/Symbols, so that the label bears the mark is a fact. Whether the certification is current is not: the Non-GMO Project product finder returned 404 to every automated route tried, so the register was never actually queried.
- NSF Certified Gluten-Free status
- nsf.org returns HTTP 403 to automated requests, so this could not be checked at the issuer. Note the scope even if it is current: it certifies the absence of gluten. It says nothing about CFU count, strain identity, potency at expiry or contaminants, and it is not NSF's contents certification or Certified for Sport.
- Green-e renewable energy status
- A corporate energy-purchasing claim, not a product-quality claim. Listed here only because it appears among the marks a shopper sees.
- Whether the Non-GMO Project and NSF gluten-free certifications are current
- Both issuers' registers refused automated queries — Non-GMO Project 404 on every product-finder path tried, nsf.org 403. The label bears both seals; that is as far as checking goes. Unverified is not the same as false.
- Per-organism CFU for any of the 15 species
- Not disclosed. The panel gives Lacto and Bifido subtotals and nothing finer, so any one of the 15 organisms could be present at a token dose.
- A price read from a live retailer listing
- The price here comes from the brand's own archived product page, so it is as old as that capture and may not be what the product sells for today.
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.
Fifteen organisms are named on this panel and not one of them carries a strain designator. No ATCC, DSM, CNCM or NCIMB deposit code, no proprietary code, nothing — so no claim on this label can be matched to a published trial. That is what this page is for, and it is the one finding here that the re-check of 2026-07-31 left completely alone: DSLD 275467, the current on-market men’s record entered 2022-10-24, still lists 15 organisms and still codes none of them.
The number this page originally led with did not come through as well, so the caveat travels with it from here on.
Garden of Life’s Dr. Formulated men’s and women’s Once Daily probiotics were both 625 mg of combined probiotic blend and prebiotic fibre — the men’s 218 mg of blend and 407 mg of fibre, the women’s 248 mg and 377 mg. That equivalence was computed from DSLD 173775, a 2018 men’s label record DSLD flags as off-market, and it is not true of the men’s bottle sold today: the current men’s record, DSLD 275467, reads 218 mg of blend plus 365 mg of fibre, which is 583 mg, not 625 mg. The blend held its weight; the fibre lost 42 mg. So the 625 mg equivalence is a fact about the 2018 men’s label set against the women’s record, and nothing wider — the men’s-versus-women’s fill comparison has to be re-run against 275467 before any version of it is quoted as current.
Read the two ingredient lists side by side — the same superseded men’s record against the women’s, so the same caveat governs every sentence in this paragraph — and the men’s is a strict subset: every one of its 15 species is in the women’s product, which adds a sixteenth, Lactobacillus reuteri. On that record there is no prostate ingredient, no androgen-related ingredient, no urinary ingredient and no male-specific organism, which runs the wrong way for the marketing sentence printed above it: “we’ve got a specialized formula just for you since men have unique needs.” The current record still lists 15 organisms; whether they are the same 15 species this paragraph diffed has not been re-checked, so read the subset finding as dated rather than current.
Two things this page will not claim. It will not say the certifications are fake: both issuers’ registers refused to answer, and unverified is not false. And it will not say “no strain here has an RCT” — it says no strain is disclosed, so no claim on this label can be matched to a trial. Those are different sentences and only the second one is true.
What the product does better than most of the 27: the CFU count is guaranteed at expiration date, printed on the panel, with Lacto and Bifido subtotals rather than one opaque figure; the per-serving price is arithmetically correct; and the claims stay inside structure/function grammar with the FDA disclaimer attached. Nine of the 27 products in this cohort guarantee potency through expiry. This is one of them.