About ProBotanics

This business started in October 2021 selling sports and bodybuilding supplements. That range is gone. In November 2023 we scrapped it and rebuilt around single botanicals — one plant per product, named by its Latin binomial, extract ratio on the label. Fewer products, fewer ingredients, a plainer story. Commercially harder. Easier to be honest about.

Why the change

Sports supplements are a crowded market built largely on marketing. Single botanicals are the opposite trade: less to say, all of it checkable.

Most of the range is one plant per product — Mullein Leaf, Soursop (Graviola), Chanca Piedra, Pygeum Africanum, Tiger Milk Mushroom, Kudzu, St John's Wort. A few traditional blends sit alongside, such as Wormwood, Black Walnut and Clove. We keep the blend count low. The more ingredients in a bottle, the less any one of them tells you.

Two formats. Capsules are tasteless and portable; drops let you measure smaller or larger amounts within the stated serving guidance, but most botanical extracts are bitter, and drops taste of what they are made from. Soursop and the Wormwood blend come both ways.

Range

Single botanicals, one plant per product, plus a small number of traditional blends

Formats

Capsules and liquid drops

Ingredients in a typical capsule

2 — the botanical extract and the shell

Capsule shells

Cellulose, suitable for vegans

Dispatch

From the UK

Contact

hello@probotanics.co.uk — a person reads it

What goes in the bottle

Most capsules contain two things: the extract and the shell. No fillers, binders, bulking agents, sweeteners or flavourings.

Common plant names are unreliable. Several unrelated plants are sold as "ginseng"; several Verbascum species are all sold as "mullein"; black walnut and walnut are different trees. The binomial — Verbascum thapsus, Pueraria lobata, Prunus africana — says which species is actually in the bottle, and tells you what to search for if you want to read the literature yourself.

Where a product uses a concentrated extract, we state the ratio. A 10:1 extract means ten kilograms of dried plant material processed down to one kilogram of powder. Worth knowing, because a large milligram figure on a front label is often the raw-herb equivalent rather than the weight of powder in the capsule. A ratio describes concentration; it is not a guarantee of any particular constituent level, and we do not present it as one.

Shells are cellulose rather than gelatine. Allergen information varies by product — check the label and the product page for the item you are buying.

Why we never say what any of it does

Health claims on UK food supplements run under retained Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006, enforced alongside the CAP and BCAP advertising codes. Only authorised claims may be used. For botanicals, a large number of claims were parked "on hold" years ago and never authorised — so for most plants there is no permitted way to describe an effect on the body. Not in general terms, not with a hedge, not dressed up as tradition. Anything presented as treating or preventing disease falls under the Human Medicines Regulations 2012, and a food supplement must not be presented that way.

Plenty of sellers work round this with implication: a suggestive product name, an image, a customer quote, "traditionally used for" bolted onto a condition.

We would rather print what is in the bottle.

Where a plant has a long documented history of use in European or traditional herbalism, we may note that as history, with no outcome attached. The botanical guides go further — botany, growing conditions, what the material actually is, how the product is made, and the safety picture, including where the evidence is thin or absent. They read as unenthusiastic in places. That is deliberate.

Safety information

Safety warnings are not claims, and we are free to be thorough about them. Please read this section.

These are food supplements, not medicines. They are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease or medical condition. A food supplement is not a substitute for a varied and balanced diet or a healthy lifestyle.

Speak to a professional first if any of these apply to you. If you are pregnant, trying to conceive, or breastfeeding; if you are taking any prescribed or over-the-counter medication; if you have a diagnosed medical condition; if you are under the care of a doctor; if you are due to have surgery; or if you are buying for a child or an older person in your care — speak to your doctor or pharmacist before starting any supplement. Your pharmacist can check for interactions with what you already take, and that check is free.

Botanicals can interact with medicines. Plant extracts are not inert because they are plants. Some botanicals interact with anticoagulants, antidepressants, hormonal contraceptives, immunosuppressants, sedatives, blood-pressure and blood-sugar medication, and with the liver enzymes that metabolise many common drugs. St John's Wort in particular has well-documented and clinically significant interactions with a wide range of prescription medicines. Interactions are product-specific, so read the guide and the label for the item you are considering, and raise it with your prescriber.

Follow the stated serving. Do not exceed the recommended daily amount on the label. More is not better, and with concentrated extracts the margin between a normal serving and an excessive one is narrower than with the raw plant.

Stop and seek advice if you react badly. Discontinue use and speak to a doctor or pharmacist if you experience any unexpected reaction. Any plant material can cause an allergic reaction in a susceptible person, and cross-reactivity within a plant family is possible — if you have a known allergy to a botanical family, check the binomial before you buy. Suspected side effects of a supplement can be reported to the appropriate UK authority.

Storage. Keep bottles closed, store in a cool dry place away from direct sunlight, and keep them out of the sight and reach of children. Do not use after the best-before date on the pack.

Everything we sell is a food supplement, not a medicine. Our products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any medical condition, and are not a substitute for a varied and balanced diet or a healthy lifestyle. If you are pregnant, breastfeeding, taking any medication or under medical care, speak to your doctor or pharmacist before use.