Health applications
“What’s the best supplement for X?” rarely has one clean answer.
Still, we do our best to give you an up-to-date, science-backed, regulatory-compliant rundown of which ingredients work best for which health indication. Please note that our articles are meant only as inspiration for new supplement development. Most study findings can’t be used in product marketing — only EFSA-approved health claims are allowed there.
“What is the best supplement for X?” is the question every founder starts with, and it rarely has a clean answer. What follows is the honest version: the best-supported intervention per area, its effect size, and the limitation that a regulator or a sceptical investor will find first.
Berberine significantly lowered triglycerides (−0.37 mmol/L), fasting plasma glucose (−0.52 mmol/L) and waist circumference (−3.27 cm) versus placebo; HDL was unchanged. Trials are mostly small and single-region.
References
200 mg/day lowered IL-6 but not CRP, and reduced respiratory-infection incidence in infants and children (OR 0.78) though not in adults. Dose heterogeneity across the 25 pooled studies is substantial.
References
Across 8 depression and 4 anxiety RCTs, saffron performed no differently from SSRIs (SMD ≈ 0.10) — non-inferiority against small, short trials, not superiority. Rhodiola SHR-5 beat placebo on burnout and attention, but eleven trials give contradictory results at high risk of bias.
References
Some probiotics improve global IBS symptoms — moderate certainty for Escherichia strains, low for Lactobacillus. Strain-level recommendations remain impossible: only 24 of 82 trials were low risk of bias.
References
Roughly 90 days of hydrolysed collagen improved skin hydration, elasticity and wrinkle depth across 19 RCTs (n=1,125). Trial populations were 95% female and studies were largely industry-sponsored.
References
Combined with resistance training, creatine added only a very small hypertrophy effect on imaging-measured muscle thickness (0.11; 95% CrI −0.02 to 0.25), slightly larger in younger adults. Strength benefits are separately better established.
References
Scope defined; evidence briefs in preparation. We publish an area only once a peer-reviewed synthesis has been appraised — we do not fill a category with mechanistic speculation.
No peer-reviewed synthesis published by us yet. Ask us to prioritise this area →
Scope defined; evidence briefs in preparation. We publish an area only once a peer-reviewed synthesis has been appraised — we do not fill a category with mechanistic speculation.
No peer-reviewed synthesis published by us yet. Ask us to prioritise this area →
Scope defined; evidence briefs in preparation. This is the area with the widest gap between marketing volume and trial evidence, so we are deliberately slow to publish here.
No peer-reviewed synthesis published by us yet. Ask us to prioritise this area →
If there’s a specific health indication we haven’t covered yet, get in touch. We’re always looking for inspiration for our articles and our own research.
