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Our standard
How we grade evidence, how pages get written, what we refuse to do, and who pays us. Published so you can hold us to it.
Evidence grades
Every ingredient page carries a grade. The grade describes the strength of the evidence, not how good the ingredient is — a grade A ingredient can still be wrong for you, and a grade C one can still be worth trying.
| Grade | Means | Typical example |
|---|---|---|
| A | Controlled human trials, consistent direction of effect | Copper peptides for collagen |
| B | One good human trial, or several small or uncontrolled ones | Argireline for wrinkle depth |
| C | Plausible mechanism, human outcome data thin or absent | Thymosin alpha-1 outside its approved indications |
| D | Animal or laboratory work only — and usually marketed anyway | BPC-157, TB-500 |
How pages are written
Each page starts from primary literature, not vendor copy or secondary blogs. We record what the study population was, what was actually measured, and how big the effect was. Where a widely repeated claim traces back to a single animal study, we say so — in our experience that is usually the most useful sentence on the page.
Every page opens with a plain-English summary before any technical detail, because a page only a specialist can read isn't explaining anything. The detail then follows underneath, unabridged.
Pages are dated and versioned. When the evidence or the legal position changes, the page changes and the change is logged.
What we won't do
- Sell unapproved drugs behind a "research use only" label. The FDA's position is that the disclaimer doesn't shield anyone, because intended use is inferred from the whole marketing context.
- Sell reconstitution supplies. Bacteriostatic water and syringes sold next to a "research chemical" are cited as evidence of supplying an injectable drug for human use.
- Publish dosing protocols for anything prescription-only. That's a prescriber's job.
- Take money for placement in the Library. Not now, not at any size.
- Use before-and-after photographs as evidence. They're testimony, not data.
How we make money
Right now, we don't. Nothing on this site is for sale and no commercial arrangement exists with any brand mentioned.
The intention is to earn a retail margin or commission on products listed in the Register. When that starts, three things will be true: it will be disclosed on every page where it applies; the Library will stay entirely free of it; and the assessment criteria will not change to suit it.
We'd rather you were suspicious of this than trusting. Check whether the Register ever lists a brand we earn nothing from — if it never does, we've drifted.
Corrections
If something here is wrong, tell us and we'll fix it and log the correction publicly on the page, with the date and what changed. A record you can't correct isn't a record, and a correction nobody can see isn't a correction.