Our methodology
Open-minded about questions, disciplined about answers. This page is the standard every article, research summary, and product page on this site is held to.
Evidence labels
Labels apply to a precisely worded claim — never to an entire topic, practice, or product forever. Every badge is stored with a written rationale; no rationale, no badge.
| Label | Definition |
|---|---|
| Established | Broad, consistent support for the limited claim being made — guidelines, consensus, or multiple high-quality human studies. |
| Supported | Useful human evidence exists, but effects may be modest, context-specific, or not universal. |
| Emerging | Promising human evidence with material uncertainty or mixed findings. |
| Preliminary | A hypothesis or mechanism with little direct human outcome evidence — animal, in-vitro, or pilot work. |
| Traditional / Experiential | Longstanding practice or reported experience without enough direct evidence for a clinical claim. |
| Speculative / Not Established | The claim goes beyond the available evidence. |
Source hierarchy
- Systematic reviews, meta-analyses, clinical guidelines, and authoritative public-health sources.
- Randomized or controlled human studies.
- Prospective and other observational human studies.
- Mechanistic human work, pilot studies, and case series.
- Animal and in-vitro research.
- Expert interpretation, traditional practice, and community reports.
- Manufacturer marketing — used only as a statement of what the seller says, never as evidence.
Editorial workflow
- Idea capture — from reader questions, research feeds, and community signals (which we treat as leads, not evidence).
- Source tracing — to the original paper or document, never a reposted headline.
- Evidence extraction — design, population, sample, outcomes, limitations, and funding.
- Drafting — claim language matched to the evidence label.
- Review — a second editorial pass; qualified expert review for higher-risk claims.
- Publishing — with author, sources, badge, disclosure, and review date visible.
- Maintenance — cornerstone and commercial content rechecked at least annually.
Product curation rubric
A product appears on this site only after passing all seven questions:
- Editorial fit — does it clearly support a topic or reader job here?
- Evidence relationship — what does the evidence say for the category, and separately for this exact product?
- Safety — what risks, contraindications, or misuse patterns matter?
- Quality — are specs, materials, testing, and support transparent?
- Value — is the cost reasonable against alternatives, including doing nothing?
- Commercial integrity — would we still select it without the commission?
- Availability — can our audience actually buy it from a reliable merchant?
Every product page separately labels category-level evidence and exact-product evidence, states whether we purchased, were supplied, tested, or desk-researched the item, and dates its price snapshots.
Language guardrails
We write "may support relaxation," not "treats anxiety." We write "associated with," not "proven to extend your life." We describe tools as "designed around" a frequency, not as forcing a brain state. When tradition is the evidence, we say so — respectfully, and without using age as proof.