Editorial standards

NTH Health publishes information about single-ingredient supplements: what a compound actually is, what an Australian label is telling you, and what has been shown in people rather than suggested in theory.

This page sets out how that content is produced, so you can judge it rather than trust it.

What we publish

Guides to individual nutrients and the compounds they are sold as. Explainers on supplement terminology and the way Australian labels and regulation work. Reviews of individual studies, written to show what was measured and in whom.

We add nutrients slowly, because doing this properly takes time. Magnesium is where we have started.

We do not publish advice. Nothing here tells you what to take, and nothing here is a substitute for a conversation with your doctor or pharmacist.

Where our evidence comes from

In order of preference:

Australian government health sources, including healthdirect, the Therapeutic Goods Administration and the National Health and Medical Research Council.

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses published in peer-reviewed journals.

Randomised controlled trials in people, read in full rather than from an abstract or a press release.

Every guide lists its sources at the foot of the page with a direct link, so you can check any claim against the original rather than taking our summary of it.

Four rules we hold ourselves to

We identify the exact evidence. A nutrient is not the same thing as the compound it is sold as, and research on one is not research on the other. Most magnesium studies do not use magnesium glycinate, and some do not record which form was used at all. Where evidence is about a nutrient broadly rather than a specific form, we say so.

We prioritise what has been shown in people. Laboratory work and proposed mechanisms explain how something might work. They do not establish that it does. We keep the two apart and say which one we are describing.

We show the context of a study. How many participants, for how long, measured how, funded by whom, and what the researchers themselves said about the strength of their finding. A result reported as modest is described here as modest.

We review and correct. Every guide carries its sources and the date it was last reviewed. When evidence or Australian guidance changes, the guide changes. When we get something wrong, we fix it and say we have. Our corrections policy explains how to tell us.

What we will not do

We do not publish content about anxiety, depression or other mental health conditions. Under Australian therapeutic goods advertising law these are not subjects a supplement business may address, and we consider that the correct outcome rather than an obstacle.

We do not publish "best supplement" roundups or product rankings. They serve the publisher rather than the reader and they are not compatible with the standards above.

We do not display "medically reviewed by" badges. Our content is not currently reviewed by an independent clinician. If that changes we will name the reviewer and the date, and we will not claim it before then.

We do not imply that any listed medicine has been individually assessed for efficacy by the TGA. Listed medicines are not evaluated that way, and describing them as though they were would be misleading.

Who writes this

Guy Stockwell, the founder of NTH Health. He is not a doctor, dietitian or pharmacist, and the site does not present him as one. The author page sets out what that means for how the content is written.

NTH Health is a commercial supplement business, and our commercial disclosure page sets out what that means for what you read here.