Most health websites cite studies they never read. You can tell, because they repeat the same three sentences everyone else repeats, usually with the same mistake copied from site to site. We run this site on a different rule: if we cite a study, we opened it.

The four evidence grades

Every health claim on this site carries one of four grades:

  • Strong human evidence. Multiple randomized controlled trials or a meta-analysis of them. Example: sea buckthorn improving blood lipids, backed by a 2022 meta-analysis of 15 trials.
  • Moderate human evidence. One or two human trials, usually small. Example: sea buckthorn oil for dry eye symptoms, one trial of 100 people.
  • Preliminary evidence. Animal or lab research only. Most of the exciting claims about sea buckthorn live here, and we say so when they do.
  • Traditional use. Centuries of use in Tibetan, Mongolian, or Chinese medicine, with no clinical trials behind it. Traditional does not mean wrong. It means unproven.

What counts as a source

We cite primary research: randomized trials, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses, linked through PubMed with a PMID or DOI. Review papers help us map a topic, but they do not carry claims on their own. Brand-funded studies get used when they are the only human data that exists, and we label them as brand-funded on the page.

We publish the results we did not want

The 2022 meta-analysis we cite constantly also found that sea buckthorn did nothing significant for blood sugar, blood pressure, or body weight. A lot of sites selling sea buckthorn quietly skip that part. You will find it in our cholesterol, weight loss, and dosage pages, because a site that hides null results is marketing, not information.

Mistakes

We will make some. When we find one, we correct the page and date the correction. If you spot one first, email hello@seabuckthornworld.com with the study or the source, and we will look.

The study card rule

No page cites a study until that study has a card. The card records the citation, the design, the sample size, the dose, the findings, and the caveats, straight from the paper itself. Cards live in our internal evidence base, and pages draw from the cards, never from another website’s summary of a summary. That one habit kills most of the errors that travel between health blogs.

How we handle brand-funded studies

Sometimes the only human data comes from the people selling the ingredient. We use it, because weak evidence beats no evidence, and we label it on the page every time. The skin research is the honest example: the best-known trial used a branded oil and had no placebo arm for the oral group, so it sits at moderate grade with its caveats printed next to the results, as the skin studies page shows in public.

Claims we refuse to make

Some claims fail our bar no matter how often the industry repeats them. Sea buckthorn does not cure or treat any disease. It is not a cancer treatment. It does not cause weight loss, lower blood sugar, or reduce blood pressure, because the meta-analysis that tested those found no effect. It is not clinically proven to boost immunity, because the one cold trial came back null. And concentrated oil supplements are not proven safe in pregnancy, because no trial has studied them there. If a page on this site ever says otherwise, it is a bug, so report it.

When evidence conflicts

Two studies disagree sometimes, and the resolution is boring: better design wins. A meta-analysis of randomized trials outranks a single small trial, and a placebo-controlled trial outranks an open-label one. The how to read studies guide teaches the same ladder. When the conflict is real and unresolved, the page says so, and the research hub keeps both sides on the shelf.

Frequently asked questions

Why do your pages sometimes contradict a product's marketing?

Because marketing cites the best-case result and stops. We cite the whole picture, including the trials that found nothing. The 2022 meta-analysis behind the cholesterol claims also found no effect on blood sugar, blood pressure, or body weight, and a label will never tell you that part. Publishing both halves is the entire point of this site.