About The Ingredient Brief

We read supplement labels and the research behind them, and report what they do and do not say.

Why this exists

The supplement aisle is not mostly full of lies. It is mostly full of statements that are technically true and practically unfalsifiable. A label names an ingredient with real research behind it — but not the dose, so you cannot tell whether the research applies. A page cites a genuine clinical trial — of an isolated compound, not of the product in the bottle. Nothing there is illegal. All of it leaves you unable to check.

We think the useful thing to publish is not another verdict. It is the ability to reach your own. So most of what we write is method: how to read a panel, how to test a claim, how to compare two products that were designed not to be comparable.

What we do not do

• We are not a review site. We do not publish star ratings, rankings, or “best of” lists, and we do not present ourselves as an independent verdict on products we are paid to advertise.
• We do not claim to have tested what we have not tested. If we did not run it, use it, or measure it, we say so.
• We do not give medical advice. We are not clinicians. See our Medical Disclaimer.
• We do not fabricate people. No invented experts, no stock-photo doctors, no testimonials we did not receive.

How we are funded

By advertising, and we would rather tell you than have you work it out. Some pages on this site are paid placements carrying affiliate links: if you buy through one, we earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Those pages are labelled ADVERTORIAL — PAID ADVERTISEMENT at the very top, above the headline, and they live in the Sponsored section.

Our editorial articles carry no affiliate links and no commercial calls to action. That is deliberate and it is the majority of the site. The full arrangement is set out in our Advertising & Affiliate Disclosure.

Corrections

If we get something wrong, we want to know, and we will fix it and say that we fixed it. Contact us.