It can be challenging to gather information on supplements and nutrition products, such as vitamins and minerals sold over the counter and not regulated by the FDA in the same way that approved drugs and medical devices are. The website Examine.com is an “independent and unbiased encyclopedia on supplementation and nutrition” that provides extensive information on each vitamin, mineral or other supplement you might need to look up. In addition to a basic summary, list of alternative names and recommended dosage, the site provides a “Human Effect Matrix” that goes over every possible effect/outcome the supplement might affect, what evidence does (or doesn’t) exist for those effects, and the strength of that evidence along with links to the individual studies. Each page also contains a Scientific Research tab that makes researching studies on the supplement far easier than a PubMed keyword search, and the citations are frequently several hundred items long. Although they are a commercial company, they are not affiliated with any supplement companies, instead gaining all income from three products: Examine.com Research Digest, Supplement-Goals Reference, and the Supplement Stack Guides. The summaries are compiled by editors, physicians, scientists and other experts.
