Guide
The difference between an active and an inactive ingredient
One list is regulated to the milligram. The other is where nearly everything you can actually taste comes from.
Last reviewed September 2026
The active ingredient
The active ingredient is the substance the product's claim rests on. FDA holds it as structured data: a substance name and a strength, per unit. That is why this site can put 52 ingredients in a table and compare strengths across 1,260 products, and it is the only part of a lozenge that can be compared that precisely.
Most products here have exactly one. 67 have more than one, and the largest number on a single listing is 12, which will be a homeopathic preparation listing each botanical separately.
The inactive ingredients
Everything else. The sugar or the sugar alcohol, the flavour, the colour, the gum base, the anti-caking agent, the wax that stops the lozenges sticking together. "Inactive" is a statement about the product's claim rather than about the substance: it means the ingredient is not what the label is promising, not that it does nothing.
FDA does not publish inactive ingredients as structured data the way it does active ones. They arrive as one line of text on the label, in the order the manufacturer chose. 1,178 of the 1,260 products here carry such a line, and the counts below come from reading it.
What is actually in there
| Inactive ingredient | Products listing it | Share |
|---|---|---|
| acesulfame potassium | 522 | 44% |
| sucralose | 469 | 40% |
| mannitol | 406 | 34% |
| sodium carbonate | 383 | 33% |
| sodium bicarbonate | 321 | 27% |
| flavors | 302 | 26% |
| gum base | 295 | 25% |
| talc | 293 | 25% |
| magnesium stearate | 292 | 25% |
| carnauba wax | 287 | 24% |
| xanthan gum | 280 | 24% |
| sodium alginate | 270 | 23% |
| eucalyptus oil | 270 | 23% |
| corn syrup | 245 | 21% |
| potassium bicarbonate | 242 | 21% |
| titanium dioxide | 222 | 19% |
| sorbitol | 205 | 17% |
| xylitol | 199 | 17% |
| sucrose | 198 | 17% |
| sodium carbonate anhydrous | 187 | 16% |
Counted from the inactive ingredient statement on 1,178 FDA labels, retrieved 4 September 2026, split on the label's own punctuation. Because it is free text rather than structured data, a substance written two ways counts as two entries. Treat these as approximate.
Note what is near the top. Gum base and the sweeteners are there because most of these products are, physically, confectionery with a drug in them. That is not a criticism. A lozenge has to be pleasant enough to keep in your mouth for several minutes, and that is a formulation requirement as real as the dose.
When an inactive ingredient matters
It matters when you react to one, when you are avoiding something, or when the quantity is large enough to count. In a hard-candy lozenge the sweetener is most of the mass, which is why the sugar question has its own guide.
The inactive ingredient statement is printed on every over-the-counter package. If you are avoiding something, that line is the one to read, and it is the line most people never look at.
Lozenges.com is a reference publication built from FDA product listings and drug labels. It is not medical advice, diagnosis or treatment, it does not recommend any product for any condition, and it is not a substitute for a pharmacist or a doctor.