The highest quality ingredients in a nutritional supplement could be useless if the product doesn't disintegrate properly or crumbles in the bottle. Excipients are inactive ingredients—usually odorless, tasteless, and colorless—used during the manufacture of tablets, capsules, softgels, or powders. Among other things, excipients help ensure even dispersal of ingredients, preserve product integrity/consistency, prevent crystallation of ingredients, and aid in timely or delayed dissolution.