How we decide what to say.

Where material comes from

We work from primary literature and current clinical guidance first: peer-reviewed studies, systematic reviews and meta-analyses, and guidelines from bodies whose methods are published. Textbooks and reference works are used for settled anatomy and physiology. Secondary coverage — news articles, press releases, other publications — is used to find topics, never as a source for a claim.

How claims are graded

Most articles include a section called What we actually know, which sorts the claims in that piece into three groups.

• Well established — supported by consistent, replicated evidence, or by mechanism so basic it is not seriously in dispute. If this turns out to be wrong, a lot of other things are wrong too.
• Reasonably supported — real evidence pointing one way, with limitations we will name: small trials, short follow-up, surrogate outcomes, narrow populations.
• Less settled — plausible, interesting, and not yet demonstrated. We say so rather than rounding it up.

Occasionally a fourth appears: not supported, for claims common enough that leaving them unaddressed would be a disservice.

The distinction we care most about

A great deal of confusion comes from treating a mechanism as if it were an outcome. That a compound does something in a dish, or that a physiological pathway exists, is not evidence that intervening on it helps a person. We try to keep those steps visibly separate, and to say plainly when the chain breaks between them.

Sources on the page

Articles list their sources at the end, with links to a DOI or publisher page wherever one exists. We cite what we used. If a claim in an article has no corresponding source and is not obviously general knowledge, that is a defect and we would like to hear about it.

Review and updating

Each article carries a last reviewed date. Reviewing means someone checked whether the evidence base or the guidance has moved, not merely that the page still loads. Where an update changes the substance of a piece, the published date stays and an updated date appears alongside it.

Corrections

Corrections that change meaning are made promptly and noted on the article. Typographical fixes are made silently. We do not delete pieces to hide mistakes; if something is wrong enough to withdraw, the page stays with an explanation. Write tocorrections@footnotehealth.com.

Independence

We do not accept payment to cover a topic, to reach a conclusion, or to mention a product. No sponsor, advertiser, or affiliate partner sees an article before publication or has any say in what it concludes. Where any commercial relationship exists at all, it is disclosed — see ouraffiliate disclosure.

Use of AI tools

We use software, including AI tools, for research assistance, drafting support, and editing — the same way we use a search engine or a spelling checker. No article is published without a human researching the claims, reading the sources cited, and taking responsibility for what it says. AI output is never a source.

What this is not

None of the above makes an article medical advice, and none of it substitutes for a clinician who knows your history. See themedical disclaimer.