Research review priorities
Supplement research priorities
These are research priorities, not recommendations. We selected decisions where public interest, plausible benefit, evidence maturity, and safety stakes make a careful synthesis especially useful.
- priority dossiers
- 148
- claim-level questions
- 444
- study extraction underway
- 148
01 / PRIORITY
How priorities were selected
Priority reflects relevance to healthy aging, frequency of real-world use, maturity of human evidence, the cost of a wrong decision, and the need to separate a valid narrow use from broader marketing claims. It does not rank efficacy or imply that everyone should take the product.
02 / EXTRACTION
What happens next
For every question, we screen the PubMed candidate set, connect multiple publications from the same trial, extract population, dose, comparator, duration, outcomes, harms, and funding, then synthesize supportive, mixed, negative, and safety findings together.
Only screened studies enter audited study and participant totals. Search-result counts and the papers listed here as questions never become evidence by themselves.Vitamin D
- Review stage
- Extracting studies
- audited research papers
- 5
Why this is a research priority
Commonly used, clinically important in deficiency, and frequently overextended into fracture, cancer, cardiovascular, and longevity claims.
Questions being reviewed
- Who benefits from correcting vitamin D deficiency, and which bone outcomes improve?
- Does routine supplementation prevent fractures or falls in vitamin-D-replete adults?
- Does supplementation prevent cancer, cardiovascular disease, or premature death?
Omega-3 fatty acids
- Review stage
- Extracting studies
- audited research papers
- 4
Why this is a research priority
Food, ordinary fish-oil supplements, and prescription EPA are often treated as interchangeable despite different populations, doses, and outcomes.
Questions being reviewed
- How much do EPA/DHA products lower triglycerides, and at what doses?
- Which formulations and patient groups show fewer cardiovascular events?
- Do ordinary supplements improve cognition, healthy aging, or survival in generally healthy adults?
Creatine monohydrate
- Review stage
- Extracting studies
- audited research papers
- 3
Why this is a research priority
Strong performance evidence, growing older-adult and cognition interest, and widespread confusion about dosing and kidney safety.
Questions being reviewed
- How much does creatine improve strength, power, and training adaptation?
- Does creatine plus resistance training preserve muscle and function in older adults?
- Which cognitive outcomes are supported, at what dose, and with what kidney-safety evidence?
Magnesium
- Review stage
- Extracting studies
- audited research papers
- 5
Why this is a research priority
Essential in deficiency, sold in many forms, and promoted for sleep, stress, cramps, migraine, and metabolic health with uneven evidence.
Questions being reviewed
- Which forms and doses effectively correct deficiency or provide a laxative effect?
- What evidence supports magnesium for sleep, migraine, or muscle cramps?
- How do kidney function, diarrhea, formulation, and medicine timing change safety?
Protein powder
- Review stage
- Extracting studies
- audited research papers
- 4
Why this is a research priority
Directly relevant to muscle preservation, frailty, resistance training, and weight loss, but total diet and training modify the effect.
Questions being reviewed
- Does supplemental protein improve muscle mass, strength, or physical function in older adults?
- When does protein add benefit beyond an adequate diet during resistance training?
- What are the effects on satiety and weight loss, and how does kidney disease change safety?
03 / SOURCES
Research standards
The review begins with federal evidence summaries and PubMed records, then moves to trial-level extraction. Product claims or another publisher’s evidence grade are not copied into the ledger.