How We Review Products
Every review on this site follows the same process, in the same order. This page sets it out so you can judge our conclusions rather than take them on trust.
A great many supplement reviews reason like this: this ingredient has research behind it, therefore this product works. That step does not follow. Research is done on specific compounds at specific doses, and a finished product either delivers something comparable or it doesn't. So we appraise the ingredients and the product as two separate questions, and we tell you which one a given piece of evidence actually speaks to.
The Method, Step by Step
- Product identification. We confirm what the product actually is — format, seller, where it is sold, and whether the entity behind it is a registered company we can name.
- Ingredient list. We read the published label, including whether individual doses are disclosed or grouped inside a proprietary blend.
- Evidence appraisal, ingredient by ingredient. For each meaningful compound we look for human research, and we grade it: reasonable evidence, mixed evidence, or evidence that applies only to a specific subgroup.
- Dose comparison. Where research used a specific dose, we note it — and we note when a product's format or blend makes that comparison impossible to make cleanly.
- Delivery method. Capsule, liquid, patch. Format changes absorption, adherence and side effects, and it is often the difference between a product someone finishes and one they abandon in week two.
- Manufacturer claims. We read the sales page and compare its headline promises against the research from step 3.
- Independent user feedback. We collect reports from sources the manufacturer does not control, and we look for patterns rather than quoting outliers.
- Pricing structure. How bundles are priced, where the per-unit cost actually lands, and what changes with a promotion.
- Subscription and billing terms. We read section by section for recurring billing, auto-delivery language and anything that would surprise a buyer at checkout.
- Refund and return policy. We read the published terms rather than the headline on the banner, and we report the difference when there is one.
- Affiliate relationship. Disclosed on every page that carries a commercial link, before the link.
- Verdict. Who the product suits, who should speak to a clinician first, and what a fair trial of it looks like.
What We Publish About Terms and Guarantees
Refund windows, return conditions and billing terms get reported exactly as the seller publishes them, including when the fine print is narrower than the banner. This is not editorial theatre — it is the part of a review that has actual consequences for your money, and it is the one section we will never soften.
Where a policy is workable but conditional, we say so and explain how to keep the right intact rather than simply flagging it as a problem.
What We Do Not Do
- We do not claim to have tested products we have not tested. If you do not see a first-person testing account on this site, it is because we did not run one — not because we forgot to mention it.
- We do not have a medical team, and we do not present ourselves as one. We read published research and report what it says; we are not clinicians and this site is not medical advice.
- We do not accept payment from manufacturers to publish a review or to reach a particular conclusion.
- We do not call a product a scam without setting out what we verified and what we could not.
- We do not publish a page unless it answers a real question with something more than what the manufacturer already says.
How We Are Funded
Some links on this site are affiliate links. If you buy through one, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. That commission does not change our verdict, and we disclose it on every page where a commercial link appears — before the link, not in the footer.
The full arrangement, including the editorial rules that keep the two separate, is set out in our affiliate disclosure.
When We Update
Product pages carry a last-reviewed date. Prices, promotions, refund windows and ingredient labels change more often than most sites acknowledge, so commercial pages are re-checked on a rolling basis and the date is updated when they are. Where a term has changed since we first published, we correct the page rather than leaving the old figure in place.
If you find something on this site that is out of date or wrong, that is worth telling us — corrections are the cheapest way for a publication like this one to stay useful.