Mastic gum: reading price per day

Mastic gum cost per serving, done properly

Our zinc carnosine and mastic gum capsules run $27.99 for 120 capsules at 2 a day, which is $0.47 a serving and a 60-day supply. That figure is the only fair basis for comparing two bottles, and it's the one almost nobody prints on a shelf tag.

I learned this the expensive way. I bought a 90-count bottle for $19.99, felt clever, then read the back: 3 capsules a day. That's 30 days, or $0.67 a day. The cheaper bottle cost 40 percent more per day than the one I'd passed over.

Three numbers, in this order

Size first. Then how many servings the container holds. Then price. A 120-count bottle with a serving of 2 gives you 60 servings. The same bottle with a serving of 4 gives you 30, and the daily cost doubles while the sticker stays put.

Dose is the next check, and it's the one that gets buried. A brand can shrink the amount per serving, hold the price steady, and watch the per-capsule figure stay flat while the per-day cost climbs. Compare the milligram line on the facts panel against what you actually swallow, not against the count on the front.

Our formula pairs zinc L-carnosine with mastic gum, DGL licorice and L-glutamine. The mastic gum used in the human trials came from Chios, and the zinc carnosine half, polaprezinc, was developed in Japan as a mucosal protective agent before it ever appeared in a supplement. Those ingredients cost money. A four-active formula at $0.47 a day isn't the cheapest line on the page. It might be the cheapest one that does the job you came for.

When the big bottle is a bad deal

Larger is usually cheaper per serving, and there are 2 cases where it isn't. The first is something you haven't tried. A 180-count bottle at a lower per-serving price is money wasted if you take it for a week and stop.

The second is expiry. These capsules have a shelf life, and a 6-month supply bought in month one can lose potency before you finish it. I check the best-by date before the price now, which is a habit I wish had formed earlier.

Subscription changes the math in a different way. It lowers the per-order figure and removes the reorder decision, which is worth something if you notice an empty bottle on a Tuesday and order on a Friday. You also want to know how easily a month can be skipped. A subscription you can't pause quietly turns into a shelf of bottles.

The comparison I'd actually run

Put both bottles on the counter. Write the price, the count, the amount per serving and how many servings the container holds on a sticky note. Divide. The answer is a dollar figure per day, and it rarely matches what the shelf suggested.

One limit before you trust that number. The daily figure says nothing about quality. A $0.30 capsule and a $0.47 one might be the same product with different dosing, or two completely different formulas. Use the arithmetic to narrow the field, then read the ingredient panel to choose. It won't do that part for you.

What sits on my shelf now

One bottle, opened, with the start date written on the lid in marker. A second unopened in the cupboard, because running out mid-week is what breaks the habit. Total spend under $60 and the routine survives a bad month.

Price per bottle is a marketing number. Price per day is a budget number. Only one of them belongs in your decision.