How We Research & Review

From research to recommendation

1. ResearchWhat the scientific literature says about shilajit in general.
2. InvestigationWhat the brand states, publishes and sells.
3. VerificationChecking documents, laboratories and batches, and buying the product.
4. EvaluationApplying the same criteria to every dimension separately.
5. Listing or recommendationPublished with the evidence and the reasoning behind it.

A brand can stop at any stage. Listing doesn’t mean recommendation, and a recommendation can be withdrawn if the evidence changes.

The five strands of evidence

How research is reviewed

We look for primary studies, read the methods rather than the abstract alone, and classify each finding by study type before interpreting it. Topic-level ratings follow a six-level scale informed by the GRADE approach to rating certainty of evidence.^[1] Traditional use, laboratory work, animal studies and human trials are always labelled as such.

• Our evidence rating system
• How we grade evidence (full method)
• How we find and summarise research

How brands and products are evaluated

Brands must meet six inclusion requirements before evaluation: an identifiable product, transparent ingredients, traceable sourcing, relevant testing, UK availability and enough information to evaluate. Evaluation then follows eight stages:

1. Brand screeningAgainst the inclusion requirements.
2. Product reviewFormat, ingredients, label and listing.
3. Laboratory documentation reviewLaboratory identity, accreditation scope, batch match, tests and results.^[2]
4. Product-to-document comparisonDoes the product match its documents?
5. Consumer feedbackStructured questions on experience, not health outcomes.
6. Evidence reviewClaims compared with the research and UK rules.
7. Comparative assessmentThe same criteria applied across brands.
8. Published evaluationFindings, limitations and document sources together.

Details: how we review products, how comparisons are built and how we track prices.

Purchase and fulfilment testing

Where we can, we buy the product as an ordinary customer and record what happens. Successful fulfilment verifies that ordering and delivery worked for our test order. Authenticity is evaluated separately, through product, documentation and testing evidence.

Example from our first brand evaluation: we paid £2.99 for delivery at checkout; the order arrived by Royal Mail, and the delivery documentation showed a £7.50 shipping charge, so the brand appears to have covered roughly £4.51 of the cost on that order. We then matched the batch number on the jar (SJ2509) to the laboratory report, which is what verified identity; the delivery itself only verified fulfilment. Full details are in the Nature Elixirs evaluation.

How information is labelled

Every document and data point carries a status, so readers can see where it came from and how far it has been checked. The definitions are on our verification labels explained.

Batch COA reviewed Awaiting documents Incomplete testing Result above limit

What counts as a source

Scientific claims are supported by peer-reviewed research; regulatory statements by legislation, regulators and official guidance; laboratory standards by the standards bodies that publish them. We don’t cite supplement sellers as evidence for scientific or regulatory claims. The detail is in our sources policy.

Fair evaluation and corrections

Every brand is evaluated on the same published criteria, with the original documents linked so readers can check the reasoning. Any brand with equal or stronger evidence can earn the same recommendation. Errors are corrected and logged. See editorial independence, conflicts of interest, corrections and brand right of reply.

All method pages