40% beta-glucan or 0.016%? What one serum's label change says about ppm claims
A thread in r/KoreanBeauty that turned into a label-reading lesson. The poster noticed that IUNIK's Beta-Glucan Power Moisture Serum, in its new blue packaging, listed beta-glucan at 160,000 ppb instead of the old 400,000 ppm, with beta-glucan now at the very end of the ingredient list. Doing the maths, 400,000 ppm is 40% and 160,000 ppb is 0.016%, and they called it a huge cut that most buyers would never notice.
What the replies said
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The first wave was anger: people struck it off their wish lists, called it shrinkflation and swapped suggestions for other beta-glucan serums, with side debates about whether cheaper alternatives had a proper preservative system.
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Some who had used both versions noticed no difference in how it felt; one summed it up as a nice glycerin serum without much beta-glucan.
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Replies pointed to the brand's own social post saying the formula had not changed, only the way it was labelled. Some called that spin.
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Months later the thread turned. Several replies said it was not reformulated: the old figure counted a beta-glucan raw material that included solvent such as water, while the new one counts only the pure active. One commenter said they checked with the brand; another still felt the old number had been misleading.
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One person added that stock sold through some Asian retailers outside the US still carried the old 400,000 ppm wording.
Desk note: A headline "ppm" or "%" can describe a raw-material solution or the pure substance, and for the same formula those can differ by orders of magnitude. For reference, 1% is 10,000 ppm and 1 ppm is 1,000 ppb. When a number on the box changes dramatically, compare the full ingredient lists of both versions before assuming the formula changed, and treat front-of-pack numbers as marketing until you know what they measure.
Have you ever panicked over a "reformulation" that turned out to be a labelling change?
Original thread: r/KoreanBeauty — IUNIK Beta-Glucan serum "revised, and not in a good way"
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