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.
16

Turmeric/curcumin

Review stage
Extracting studies
audited research papers
4

Why this is a research priority

Many positive small trials use non-equivalent enhanced-absorption formulations, making effect size and generalizability difficult to interpret.

Questions being reviewed
  1. Does curcumin reduce osteoarthritis pain or improve function versus placebo or usual care?
  2. Are changes in inflammatory or metabolic biomarkers clinically meaningful?
  3. How do formulation, piperine, liver injury, and anticoagulants change the decision?
Open evidence dossier
17

Coenzyme Q10

Review stage
Extracting studies
audited research papers
5

Why this is a research priority

Frequently promoted for statin symptoms, energy, heart failure, and aging, but indications and formulations require separation.

Questions being reviewed
  1. Does adjunctive CoQ10 improve symptoms, hospitalization, or survival in heart failure?
  2. Does CoQ10 reduce statin-associated muscle symptoms in blinded trials?
  3. Is there evidence for general energy or longevity benefits in healthy adults?
Open evidence dossier
18

Glucosamine/chondroitin

Review stage
Extracting studies
audited research papers
5

Why this is a research priority

Osteoarthritis results differ by salt, product, comparator, and geography; observational mortality findings are not treatment evidence.

Questions being reviewed
  1. Which glucosamine products improve osteoarthritis pain or function?
  2. Does long-term use slow structural joint progression?
  3. How should observational mortality associations and anticoagulant safety be interpreted?
Open evidence dossier
19

Ashwagandha

Review stage
Extracting studies
audited research papers
6

Why this is a research priority

High consumer interest and many short, product-specific trials coexist with thyroid, liver, sedation, and pregnancy concerns.

Questions being reviewed
  1. Do standardized extracts meaningfully reduce stress or anxiety symptoms?
  2. What evidence supports sleep or exercise-performance benefits?
  3. What do thyroid, liver-injury, sedation, and pregnancy signals mean for safety?
Open evidence dossier
20

Collagen peptides

Review stage
Extracting studies
audited research papers
5

Why this is a research priority

Popular across skin, joints, bone, and muscle, with small effects and product-specific evidence that need plain-language context.

Questions being reviewed
  1. Do oral collagen peptides meaningfully change skin hydration, elasticity, or wrinkles?
  2. Do collagen products reduce joint pain or improve function?
  3. Do collagen supplements add muscle or bone benefit beyond adequate protein and training?
Open evidence dossier

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.

NIH Office of Dietary Supplements ↗PubMed / NCBI ↗NCCIH ↗