Editorial Policy

Sourcing standards

We prioritize authoritative guidance, systematic reviews, clinical guidelines, and human studies: NIH Office of Dietary Supplements fact sheets, NCCIH, FDA regulations and monographs, the Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR), and exact PubMed-indexed papers. PubChem may support identity or chemistry, but not a clinical benefit. Commercial sources, blogs, retailer pages, and brand marketing are not used as evidence for health claims.

A search-results page is not a citation. Reviewed guides link to the specific paper, monograph, or agency page supporting the statement. We keep the ingredient form, route, study population, dose or concentration, and duration attached to the conclusion so evidence is not generalized beyond the study.

• Every material benefit, studied-use range, safety, and regulatory statement traces to a cited source
• References identify the source type, year, and PMID, DOI, trial, or report number when available
• Systematic reviews and guidelines take priority over a single small study
• Older studies are retained only when they remain foundational or no better current evidence exists

Evidence ratings

Each potential benefit is rated for the exact ingredient form and use described, not for the ingredient name in the abstract.

Strong evidence means multiple consistent, relevant human trials and/or an authoritative systematic review or guideline. Moderate evidence means human evidence points in the same direction but has meaningful limits. Limited evidence means the signal comes from small, short, mixed, or narrowly applicable studies. Insufficient evidence means reliable human research does not currently support the claim. Mechanistic, animal, and cell research may explain plausibility, but cannot by itself raise a clinical claim above limited evidence.

Doses, concentrations, and formulations

IngredientWiki reports amounts studied in research; it does not prescribe a personal dose. Oral and topical use are assessed separately, and results for one salt, extract, delivery system, or concentration are not automatically transferred to another. Product labels and a qualified clinician or pharmacist remain the appropriate sources for individual decisions.

Review process

A source brief records the exact evidence, formulation, population, and limitations. Our publishing workflow includes AI-assisted source checks and claim-to-reference mapping, followed by automated checks for citation integrity, duplicate topics, metadata and page rendering. Qualifying guides may be published automatically under the site owner's standing authorization.

The IngredientWiki Editorial Team byline identifies editorial responsibility. It does not certify that a human checked every guide or that a physician approved it. The internal evidence-reviewed status records completion of the source-and-citation workflow, not independent medical review. We name an individual reviewer only when their participation can be verified. Review dates change after substantive source checks, and revision notes describe the work actually performed.

AI-assisted work

AI tools can assist with source discovery, reading, drafting, claim mapping and proposed evidence ratings under these sourcing rules. Automated checks cannot establish medical accuracy, and AI can misread or overgeneralize a paper. The site owner and IngredientWiki Editorial Team remain responsible for publication, corrections and the limits of this workflow. Our AI Disclosure explains the process and our AI-assisted imagery without implying an unrecorded human or clinical review.

Independence and commercial content

Ingredient guides do not rank or recommend commercial products. Product inclusion, advertising, sponsorship, or affiliate relationships do not influence evidence ratings. If commercial relationships are introduced in the future, they will be disclosed where readers encounter them.

Corrections

Medicine, cosmetic science, and regulation change. We re-review guides on a rolling basis and prioritize safety alerts, changed guidance, broken sources, and highly visited pages. Every ingredient guide includes a Report an error link. Verified corrections are recorded in the page revision history; the review date is updated only when the evidence and affected copy have been checked.