Every "trick" and remedy going viral online makes a claim. Our job is to tell you, plainly, how much of that claim is backed by research — and how much isn't yet. Here's exactly how we do it.
Every investigation on this site rates the ingredients or mechanisms behind a claim on the same four-tier scale, so you can compare across articles at a glance instead of taking our word for it in prose.
No meaningful traditional use or research record we could find. Often a term or mechanism invented for marketing.
Documented historical or folk use, often across multiple cultures — but little or no controlled modern testing.
Lab, animal, or small-scale human studies exist and show a plausible effect, but larger human trials are still missing.
Supported by multiple controlled human trials, typically with a defined effective dose and delivery method.
A single article can rate different ingredients — or different forms of the same ingredient — at different tiers. Oral and topical doses of the same compound are never scored as equivalent evidence.
Whether it's a video, an ad, or a viral post, we document exactly what's said — including the specific mechanism, study, or story used to justify it.
You get a fair, complete summary of the claim first. We don't evaluate a strawman version of it.
Peer-reviewed studies, clinical trials, and established toxicology and pharmacology references — not other blog posts.
An ingredient can have real evidence behind it even when the specific story built around it doesn't. We score both.
Some investigations link to the product discussed, and we may earn a commission if you choose to purchase through that link, at no extra cost to you. That relationship never changes an Evidence Meter rating — the rating reflects the underlying research, not the product, and is written before any purchase decision is made. If a claim doesn't hold up, we say so, regardless of whether we have a financial relationship with the product being discussed.
This isn't medical advice, and it isn't a substitute for talking to a doctor about a specific health condition or medication. We rate the state of the public research — we don't diagnose, and we don't tell you what to do with your own health decisions.