Supplement Brief is an independent editorial site for high-intent supplement decisions. If you are comparing two products or reading a label before checkout, we publish the trial numbers, dose limits, and gaps the marketing copy usually skips. Guides rank ingredients by human evidence, dose realism, form, price, and stated limitations, not by paid placement.
Why Supplement Brief exists
Most supplement coverage online splits into two camps: paywalled reference databases (Examine, ConsumerLab) or affiliate listicles that rarely show proprietary-blend math, trial dose floors, or where evidence stops. We built Supplement Brief in 2026 for readers already facing a specific buying question, such as what to take alongside a GLP-1, whether a blend can fit published clinical doses, or which SSRI-related ED claims have human trials behind them. The site pairs plain-language guides with free calculators and an open dose registry so you can compare labels and trials before checkout, without a membership fee or paid ranking slots.
What we are
We write evidence-aware guides for readers comparing GLP-1 companion nutrition, label literacy, sexual-health supplements, hair loss after weight loss, and metabolic-health topics such as B12 on metformin or magnesium salt forms. Daniel Hart writes the guides. Natallia Kalistratava, MD provides scoped medical review where a guide needs clinical safety framing, interaction warnings, or alignment with cited research. She is not the chief author of the site and does not rank products.
Alongside the guides we publish free browser calculators and a clinical dose registry: trial dose floors and NIH DSLD shelf medians curated from our articles, with open JSON at /dataset/clinical-doses.json (CC BY 4.0).
Editorial standards
These are the checks we apply on every guide and tool. Full process detail lives on methodology and editorial policy.
- Clinical claims link to verifiable sources. PubMed IDs are checked before publication; we do not invent citations or stretch a single small trial into a broad consumer claim.
- Counter-evidence stays in the article body: mixed trials, failed primary endpoints, and population limits (sex, age, condition) are named where they matter, not buried in the references only.
- Label and form review, not lab assays. We compare Supplement Facts panels and salt forms against the forms and doses used in cited human trials. We do not run our own product testing; third-party certifiers (NSF, USP, Informed Sport) are noted when brands disclose them.
- Trial dose floors plus shelf context. Where we maintain a registry entry, guides compare label amounts to curated trial floors and NIH DSLD medians for that ingredient.
- Locked-preset calculators at /tools/: proprietary-blend floor checks, elemental magnesium conversion, NNT and cost-per-response math, GLP-1 protein targets, metformin MUI, and related checks tied to guide presets, not anonymous spreadsheet math.
- Scoped medical review by Natallia Kalistratava, MD where a guide needs clinical safety framing or medication context. She does not author the site and does not rank products; hub-specific review scope is on weight loss support and individual guide bylines elsewhere.
- No paid rankings or placements. Editorial conclusions are based on evidence quality, dose, form, and safety context, not commercial relationships.
- Public accountability: factual fixes go on the corrections log; dated, falsifiable trial readouts on the predictions ledger.
Data sources
Guides and tools start from primary literature and public databases. We add a curated editorial layer (dose floors, shelf context, calculators) on top. We do not scrape retailer catalogs or rank products from affiliate feeds.
- PubMed / NCBI: human RCTs, meta-analyses, and specialty-journal trials cited in guides; PMIDs verified before publication.
- Cochrane Library: systematic reviews where they exist for an ingredient or outcome.
- NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database (DSLD): label-derived shelf medians for selected ingredients in our clinical dose registry (not full product matching).
- NIH Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS): nutrient fact sheets and reference intake context where relevant.
- FDA: Supplement Facts labeling rules, drug safety communications, and prescribing context when a guide compares supplements to prescription care.
- ClinicalTrials.gov: trial IDs tracked on our predictions ledger.
- Supplement Brief clinical dose registry: curator-maintained trial dose floors, DSLD shelf stats where indexed, and open JSON under CC BY 4.0 for reuse.
- Product labels and brand-disclosed certifiers (NSF, USP, Informed Sport): read from packaging and manufacturer pages; we do not operate a certifier database or independent lab program.
What we are not
We are not a clinic, telehealth service, compounding pharmacy, or independent testing laboratory. We do not run product assays or certify bottles. We are not Examine.com or ConsumerLab. We do not maintain a paid membership lab database. Rankings are not sold. See our methodology.
Evidence tools
Supplement Brief publishes 8 free calculators at /tools/. 7 embed inside guides; the B12 screening guide runs as a standalone page. Each tool uses locked trial presets from our articles. No anonymous price ÷ % math.
- Pause before labs: Hair gummies can fake thyroid. Creatine can fake creatinine. Check before the draw.
- Proprietary blend floor check: See if cited trial floors can even fit the milligram total on the label.
- Metformin MUI calculator: Dose × years → cumulative exposure index.
- B12 screening guide: MUI, symptoms, and lab bands for metformin users.
- Absolute risk & NNT calculator: CER/EER → ARD and NNT with trial presets from our guides.
- GLP-1 protein target calculator: Body weight × 1.2–1.6 g/kg for a daily gram range.
- Magnesium elemental calculator: Convert compound mg to elemental magnesium by salt form.
- Cost-per-response calculator: Locked trial presets → $ per additional responder.
The proprietary blend floor check tests whether cited clinical dose floors can fit a label’s milligram total. The metformin MUI calculator estimates cumulative metformin exposure for B12 screening context. The NNT and cost-per-response calculators translate trial event rates into responder math for buying decisions.
Editorial clusters
High-intent buying guides are grouped into topic hubs. Each item below links to the hub index for that cluster.
- Weight loss support: GLP-1 companion nutrition (protein targets, electrolytes, creatine, fiber, muscle-loss support on semaglutide or tirzepatide) plus metabolic guides (berberine, metformin B12, magnesium). Clinically curated by Natallia Kalistratava, MD. Hub scope, review list, and what belongs in this cluster are on that page.
- Foundations: label literacy (Supplement Facts panels, proprietary blends, elemental versus compound milligrams, third-party certifiers) and the editorial checks behind every comparison.
- Sexual health: SSRI-induced ED, L-citrulline versus L-arginine, and where supplement evidence stops relative to prescription options.
- Hair growth: shedding after weight loss, Nutrafol versus minoxidil, rosemary oil claims, and biotin hype. Includes the Pause before labs lookup for supplement interference before thyroid or kidney bloodwork.
- Skin care: oral collagen peptides and related nutricosmetics with clear limits on what human trials actually measured.
- Longevity: omega-3, inflammation markers, and other longevity topics in the current library, with explicit ceilings on what the evidence supports.
How to use this site
Start with a buying guide for your situation, or open evidence tools when you need label arithmetic, trial responder math, or a dose-floor check before you buy. For reviewer scope and updates, see corrections and editorial team.