Editorial Standards
These are the rules every topic is written under — and the list we check against before any page goes live. If you spot a breach, tell us; the corrections policy is at the bottom.
The Language Rules
- 🧐 Cautious register — "associated with," "may," "appears promising," "early evidence," "human evidence remains limited." Certainty is earned, not assumed.
- 🚫 Banned hype words — these never appear: hack, miracle, reverse aging, guaranteed, gold standard, non-negotiable, single best, secret, cure. If a word promises what no evidence can deliver, it doesn't ship.
- 🧱 Tiers, always — human RCTs outrank cohorts outrank mechanisms, and the tier travels with the claim.
- 🎯 Numbers with context — every statistic carries a source on its page; absolute risk is preferred over relative framing alone.
The Source Rules
- Primary over secondary — the underlying study, not a headline about it.
- Recency over tradition — newer high-quality evidence replaces older claims.
- Conflicts on the table — industry funding and conflicts of interest get mentioned where relevant.
- No invented precision — no fabricated citations, statistics, or effect sizes. Ever.
The Balance Rules
- Risks ride with benefits — every intervention page carries potential harms, contraindications, and "who should be cautious."
- Conflicting evidence is reported — studies that disagree are summarized, not buried.
- Uncertainty is content — "what we don't know" gets its own section, not a footnote.
Corrections Policy
The site has no corporate parent and no content calendar pressure — corrections are welcome and fast. If you find a wrong number, a stale claim, or a source that doesn't say what we say it says, tell us. We'll verify against primary sources, fix the topic, and update its review date. Substantive corrections are never silent.
🛒 Conflicts of interest
This site earns commissions from some affiliate links (Amazon; iHerb via CJ Affiliate) — always disclosed on the page where they appear and in our affiliate disclosure. We accept no sponsored content and no paid placements, and no supplement, device, or program receives favorable coverage in exchange for anything: product picks are generic categories, evidence ratings are set before any commercial link is added, and commissions never influence a verdict. Editorial conclusions are not for sale.
The Rules in Action
The rules above, applied on real pages:
The Bottom Line
- Cautious language, always — and a banned-words list that's enforced automatically.
- Primary sources, current evidence — conflicts disclosed.
- Risks, contradictions, and uncertainty are content — not omissions.
- Corrections are fast and public — tell us when we're wrong.