Make sense of
the small print.
What a number measures. What a study can tell you. What still needs a better answer.
How do you read a Supplement Facts panel?
Start with the serving. Then separate the amount, the reference value, and the information the panel cannot give you.
Read the label guideFollow a question.
What does an extract ratio mean?
A ratio describes the relationship between starting material and extract. It is not a multiplier for benefit.
Why do absorption pairings exist?
Getting into the body, remaining measurable, and improving an outcome are three different questions.
What does a CFU count count—and when?
Count, identity, timing, and method each tell you something different.
What does “standardized to 95%” mean?
A percentage describes composition. It needs both a named constituent and an amount to mean anything useful.
How do magnesium forms compare?
Citrate, oxide, glycinate, threonate: separate the chemistry from the claims made about it.
How do you read a Supplement Facts panel?
Start with the serving. Then separate the amount, the reference value, and the information the panel cannot give you.
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The useful answer includes its limits.
Each article starts with the short answer, then explains how the measurement or mechanism works. What is still unsettled stays in the article—not in the fine print.
Research citations link to their PubMed records. FDA, NIH and EMA guidance links to the issuing institution. Laboratory measurements, human findings and illustrative arithmetic are identified as different kinds of information.
We check bibliographic details and the abstracts or guidance passages cited here. Where we also check full-text passages or published corrections, the source note says so. These checks are not independent clinical peer review.
These articles do not recommend or evaluate a supplement product. They are a starting point for understanding the subject and reading the sources yourself.