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.Diosmin with hesperidin
- Review stage
- Extracting studies
- audited research papers
- 1
Why this is a research priority
A characterized micronized fraction improves venous symptoms, but product equivalence and prevention of serious complications remain unproven.
Questions being reviewed
- Does a characterized diosmin-hesperidin fraction improve chronic venous symptoms and quality of life?
- Does it prevent ulceration, thrombosis, or progression beyond symptom relief?
- What bleeding, anticoagulant, gastrointestinal, kidney, surgery, pregnancy, and product-equivalence limits apply?
American ginseng
- Review stage
- Extracting studies
- audited research papers
- 1
Why this is a research priority
A tiny crossover trial suggests glycemic effects, but independent replication, long-term outcomes, and product standardization are absent.
Questions being reviewed
- Does standardized American ginseng reproducibly improve HbA1c as add-on diabetes care?
- Do glucose, blood-pressure, or lipid changes reduce diabetes complications?
- What hypoglycemia, warfarin, insomnia, blood-pressure, immune, pregnancy, and product-identity limits apply?
Maca
- Review stage
- Extracting studies
- audited research papers
- 1
Why this is a research priority
Sexual-function evidence is limited to four small heterogeneous trials and does not establish hormone, fertility, or performance claims.
Questions being reviewed
- Does a standardized maca preparation improve validated sexual-function outcomes in a defined population?
- Does maca improve hormones, fertility, menopause, or exercise outcomes in adequate trials?
- What thyroid, hormone-sensitive condition, fertility-treatment, pregnancy, contamination, and dose limits apply?
Chasteberry (Vitex)
- Review stage
- Extracting studies
- audited research papers
- 1
Why this is a research priority
Only two characterized extracts have usable PMS evidence; most trials cannot support product-wide or fertility conclusions.
Questions being reviewed
- Which characterized Vitex extracts improve validated premenstrual syndrome outcomes?
- Are fertility, prolactin, or menstrual-cycle claims supported by clinical outcomes?
- What pregnancy, fertility treatment, dopamine, hormonal contraception, hormone-sensitive condition, and product limits apply?
Trimethylglycine (betaine)
- Review stage
- Extracting studies
- audited research papers
- 1
Why this is a research priority
Homocysteine falls modestly, but higher doses can raise LDL and no cardiovascular-event benefit is established.
Questions being reviewed
- Does trimethylglycine lowering of homocysteine improve clinical cardiovascular outcomes?
- Does betaine improve strength, power, or body composition in adequately controlled trials?
- What LDL, gastrointestinal, body-odor, kidney, liver, medicine, pregnancy, and dose limits apply?
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.