Ingredients
Maxorin ingredients: two checkable, six in a blend
Two ingredients on this label can be checked. Six cannot, because they sit inside a proprietary blend with no amounts on it. Below is every one of the eight, with the amount where there is one and the ceiling where there is not.
A Maxorin capsule declares 601 mg. Vitamin B3 (as niacin) 20 mg and zinc (as zinc oxide) 11 mg are itemised with percentages that are both correct. The remaining 570 mg — about 95% of the capsule by weight — is a Proprietary Blend naming six ingredients and no amounts. The FDA requires blend ingredients in descending order of weight, which forces a ceiling on each: 570, 285, 190, 142.5, 114 and 95 mg.
Vitamin B3 (as Niacin)
form not stated on the label · 20 mg · 125% of the Daily Value · FDA Daily Value 16 mg. NIH Tolerable Upper Intake Level 35 mg for adults.
The arithmetic here is right, which is worth saying because it often is not. The FDA’s current Daily Value for niacin is 16 mg, and 20 divided by 16 is 125% exactly. The amount also sits below the Tolerable Upper Intake Level, which the NIH gives as 35 mg for adults from supplements. What the row does not say is which niacin. “Vitamin B3 (as Niacin)” covers two compounds that behave differently in a person: nicotinic acid, which causes flushing, and niacinamide, which does not. The NIH is specific about where that starts: “Thirty to 50 mg or more nicotinic acid typically causes flushing; the skin on the patient’s face, arms, and chest turns a reddish color because of vasodilation of small subcutaneous blood vessels.” At 20 mg this capsule is below that threshold, so flushing is unlikely either way. The point is narrower: the threshold is 30 mg, the dose is 20 mg, and a buyer who takes this alongside anything else containing niacin has no way to know which form they are adding to which.
“Thirty to 50 mg or more nicotinic acid typically causes flushing; the skin on the patient's face, arms, and chest turns a reddish color because of vasodilation of small subcutaneous blood vessels.”
NIH Office of Dietary Supplements — Niacin — Health Professional Fact Sheet
Cautions and interactions
The NIH notes the flush can be accompanied by “burning, tingling, and itching sensations” and sometimes by headache, rash, dizziness or a fall in blood pressure. None of that is expected at 20 mg.
Zinc (as Zinc Oxide)
zinc oxide · 11 mg · 100% of the Daily Value · FDA Daily Value 11 mg. NIH Tolerable Upper Intake Level 40 mg for adults.
Correct again: the FDA’s Daily Value for zinc is 11 mg, so 11 mg is 100% of it, and the Tolerable Upper Intake Level of 40 mg is a long way above. Two rows, two accurate percentages. That is better than most panels this desk has read. The form is stated, which is good practice, and the form is the interesting part. The NIH compares them directly: “Absorption of zinc from supplements that contain zinc citrate or zinc gluconate is similar, at approximately 61% in young adults; the absorption from supplements that contain zinc oxide is 50%.” So the label’s 100% of the Daily Value is 100% of the zinc in the capsule, of which roughly half is absorbed. That is not a trick — a Daily Value percentage always describes content rather than uptake, and every zinc supplement is quoted the same way. It is simply the difference between the two numbers a buyer might have in mind, and zinc oxide is the form on the least favourable side of it.
“Absorption of zinc from supplements that contain zinc citrate or zinc gluconate is similar, at approximately 61% in young adults; the absorption from supplements that contain zinc oxide is 50%.”
NIH Office of Dietary Supplements — Zinc — Health Professional Fact Sheet
Cautions and interactions
The NIH records that doses of 50 mg or more, used for weeks, “can interfere with copper absorption (which can cause low copper status), reduce immune function, and lower HDL cholesterol levels”. At 11 mg this product is nowhere near that, but it is worth knowing if you take another zinc supplement as well.
L-Citrulline
an amino acid — first in the blend · at most 570 mg · No monograph found at NIH ODS or NCCIH under this name.
Listed first, so by the FDA’s descending-order requirement it is the heaviest of the six and cannot exceed the blend total of 570 mg. That is the only quantitative statement this label supports about it. This desk found no monograph for L-citrulline at the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements or at NCCIH, so there is no published dose to hold the ceiling against and no outcome to report. Absence of a monograph is absence of information rather than evidence in either direction.
Cautions and interactions
Unknown. With no amount published and no monograph found, no interaction or safety statement can be made about this ingredient specifically. The label’s general caution applies.
L-Carnitine
an amino-acid derivative — second in the blend · at most 285 mg · Studied at 1 to 4 grams for athletic performance. The ceiling here is 285 mg.
Second in the list, so it cannot exceed 285 mg. The NIH’s position on carnitine is the bluntest sentence in any of the sources this site cites: healthy people do not need it, because the liver and kidneys make enough. Where it has been studied for exercise the doses run to 1 to 4 grams a day, and the NIH’s summary of that work is that “the evidence on supplemental carnitine’s effectiveness for performance enhancement is mixed, and additional investigations are needed”. So the ceiling here is at most a quarter of the lowest studied amount, of a substance the body already supplies.
“Healthy children and adults do not need to consume carnitine from food or supplements because the liver and kidneys synthesize sufficient amounts to meet daily needs.”
NIH Office of Dietary Supplements — Carnitine — Health Professional Fact Sheet
Cautions and interactions
The NIH records that doses of around 3 grams a day “can cause nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, diarrhea, and a fishy body odor”. Nothing near that amount is possible here.
Pine Bark Extract
Pinus pinaster — bark, third in the blend · at most 190 mg · No monograph found at NIH ODS or NCCIH under this name.
Third in the list, so it cannot exceed 190 mg. The label names both the species and the plant part, which is more than most products in this category manage and genuinely useful. What it does not name is a standardisation — the compound the research measures and the proportion of the extract that is it — so even a published amount could not be converted into a research figure. This desk found no monograph for pine bark extract at the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements or at NCCIH under this name.
Cautions and interactions
Unknown. No amount is published, no standardisation is printed and no monograph was found, so nothing specific can be said. The label’s general caution about medications and medical conditions applies.
Maca Root Extract
Lepidium meyenii — root, fourth in the blend · at most 142.5 mg · No monograph found at NIH ODS or NCCIH under this name.
Fourth in the list, so it cannot exceed 142.5 mg — a quarter of the blend at the absolute most, and in practice less, since the three above it must each weigh at least as much. Species and plant part are printed. No standardisation is. This desk found no monograph for maca at the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements or at NCCIH, so there is nothing citable to report about what it does or does not do.
Cautions and interactions
Unknown, for the same reasons. Nothing published here supports a statement about interactions, pregnancy or any medical condition.
Grape Skin Extract
Vitis vinifera — skin, fifth in the blend · at most 114 mg · NCCIH publishes on grape SEED extract. No monograph found for the skin.
Fifth in the list, so it cannot exceed 114 mg. The label is precise about the plant part and the precision matters: it says skin, and the monograph a reader is most likely to find is NCCIH’s page on grape seed extract. Those are different parts of the plant with different chemistry, and research on one does not transfer to the other. This is a case where a careful label makes it harder rather than easier to find something to cite — and that is the label’s virtue, not its fault. This desk found no monograph for grape skin extract.
“Grape seed extract is generally well tolerated when taken orally or used topically.”
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health — Grape Seed Extract
Cautions and interactions
NCCIH’s advice on the seed extract is to talk with a health care provider before using it alongside any medicine, and that little is known about use in pregnancy or breastfeeding. That advice is quoted here for what it is: guidance about a different part of the plant.
Saffron Stigma Extract
Crocus sativus — stigmas, last in the blend · at most 95 mg · No monograph found at NIH ODS or NCCIH under this name.
Listed last, so it is the smallest of the six and cannot exceed 95 mg — and being last, it is the one most likely to be far below its ceiling. Species and plant part are printed, which for saffron is meaningful, since the stigmas are the part of the crocus that carries the value. No standardisation is printed and this desk found no monograph for saffron at the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements or at NCCIH, so there is nothing citable to set the ceiling against.
Cautions and interactions
Unknown. Nothing published here supports a statement about interactions or about use in any particular group.
How the ceilings are derived
Six of the eight entries above carry a ceiling rather than an amount. None of those ceilings is printed on the bottle, and every one of them is forced by it.
The rule that does the work is the FDA’s own, and it is worth reading in full because it is also the rule that allows the blend in the first place:
“You must identify proprietary blends by use of the term “Proprietary Blend” or an appropriately descriptive term or fanciful name. On the same line, you must list the total weight of all “other dietary ingredients” contained in the blend. Indented underneath the name of the blend, you must list the “other dietary ingredients” in the blend, either in a column or linear fashion, in descending order of predominance by weight.”
U.S. Food and Drug Administration — Dietary Supplement Labeling Guide: Chapter IV. Nutrition Labeling
A ceiling is not an amount
Every figure in that table is an upper limit. The true amounts are at or below their ceilings and could be very far below: a blend can be one ingredient at 565 mg and five at a milligram each, and this label would look exactly the same. The ceilings are useful because they can only be beaten downwards — when a ceiling is already below a studied dose, as L-carnitine’s is, the conclusion holds whatever the real figure turns out to be.
What this label does well
It would be easy to read the rest of this site as a verdict on the whole label. It is not, and the parts that are done properly are worth listing in one place.
Done well
- Both Daily Value percentages are arithmetically correct — 20 mg against a 16 mg DV is 125%, and 11 mg against an 11 mg DV is 100%.
- The chemical form is given for both nutrients: as Niacin and as Zinc Oxide.
- All four botanicals carry their Latin binomial and their plant part — bark, root, skin, stigmas.
- The Other Ingredients line is complete and names four excipients.
- The caution block names under-18s, pregnancy, nursing, medication and medical conditions.
Not done
- No amount for any of the six blend ingredients — 95% of the capsule by weight.
- No standardisation for any of the four botanicals.
- Which niacin: nicotinic acid and niacinamide are both “niacin” and behave differently.
- A street address for the distributor. The label gives a city, a state and a zip.
- A country of manufacture, on a product whose seal says foreign and domestic.
The first column is longer than it is on most products this desk covers. The second column is where 95% of the formula by weight lives, which is why the label-transparency score on this site is a 2 rather than a 4.
What is not published
- The amount of every one of the six blend ingredients — 95% of the formula by weight.
- A standardisation for any of the four botanicals in the blend.
- Which form of niacin the 20 mg is: nicotinic acid or niacinamide.
- A street address for the distributor. The label gives a city, a state and a zip.
- A country of manufacture. The seal says foreign and domestic; the label says nothing.
- A certifying body for the GMP mark, and a registration number for the FDA-registered-facility mark.
- A single-bottle pack. The smallest sold is two.
- A best-before date. None is legible on the images supplied.
- A Certificate of Analysis document. We have the reference MAX-7896-26-MA but not the file.
- The name of any testing laboratory.
- Any monograph for L-citrulline, pine bark, maca or saffron at the bodies this desk reads.
- Any monograph for grape skin extract. The one that exists is about the seed.
- Any customer rating that could be verified. The same review block shipped with another product.
The first line is the one everything else follows from. A Certificate of Analysis would resolve it, because a certificate reports quantities ingredient by ingredient — which is why asking for one is the most useful request a buyer of this product can make.
References
Seven sources, all opened and read. Every quotation on this page is copied from the page linked here.
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration (2026). Dietary Supplement Labeling Guide: Chapter IV. Nutrition Labeling.
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration (2026). Daily Value on the Nutrition and Supplement Facts Labels.
- NIH Office of Dietary Supplements (2026). Niacin — Health Professional Fact Sheet.
- NIH Office of Dietary Supplements (2026). Zinc — Health Professional Fact Sheet.
- NIH Office of Dietary Supplements (2026). Carnitine — Health Professional Fact Sheet.
- National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (2026). Grape Seed Extract.
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration (2026). Questions and Answers on Dietary Supplements.
Read the blend row first, then decide
Thirty capsules, one a day. Two named nutrients with percentages that both check out, and then 570 of the 601 milligrams in the capsule inside a proprietary blend with no amounts on it. The live price and the 60-day return terms are both on the seller’s checkout screen.
60-day window · Questions first? Call +1 (323) 348-1373