Without artificial colours

Colour is decoration, not part of the dose

Artificial colours are synthetic dyes added so a tablet, powder or gummy looks a certain way. They add nothing to the nutrient you are paying for. On a UK label you spot them as the word "colour" plus a name or an E number, such as E102 tartrazine or E129 allura red. Six of those dyes must carry the wording "may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children" on food and drink sold here. This collection sits next to our other dietary preference filters, so you can combine it with vegan or organic.

Some formats are easier to keep colour-free than others

Plain capsules and single-ingredient powders almost never need a dye. Gummies, chewable tablets and flavoured drink powders are the hard cases, because buyers expect them to look and taste like sweets. Where colour is present in the products here, it comes from food: beetroot, paprika or carrot extract, spirulina, curcumin. Two honest points about that. Natural colours fade with light and time, and the shade can differ slightly between batches. Many shoppers want the same for taste, which is why we keep a separate list of products without added flavourings.

So a pale tablet, a speckled powder or a capsule that is off-white rather than bright white is normal here. That variation is the reason some manufacturers reach for a dye in the first place: a uniform colour looks tidier on the shelf. We think a batch that looks like its ingredients is easier to trust than one that has been evened out.

Reading the label takes about ten seconds. Check these four things:

• Colour or an E number anywhere in the ingredients.
• Titanium dioxide (E171), used to make capsules and tablets bright white.
• Glazing agents and coatings on very shiny tablets.
• Long lists on gummies, where colour, flavour and sweetener usually travel together.

How we choose what appears here

We select on three things: the form of the ingredient, the dose and whether the combination makes sense. Colour-free is a filter, never a reason on its own. A magnesium in a plain capsule earns its place because of its form and its amount, and because no dye is covering a thin formula. We are brand-neutral and buy directly from the brands, with no intermediaries, so what you receive is authentic. Every product passes our compliance team before it goes live, we test products ourselves, and independent labs spot-check batches. You can read how we select brands.

Who this collection suits

It suits parents buying for children, people who react badly to additives, and anyone who prefers an ingredient list short enough to read in the shop. It is also a sensible starting point if you are rebuilding a daily routine and want fewer unknowns in it. If you are also avoiding added preservatives, you can stack both filters.

One realistic expectation: colour-free tells you what a product leaves out, not what it does. The dose, the form and taking it daily decide the outcome. With most vitamins and minerals, give it two to three weeks of consistent use before you judge whether it fits you.