Who we are, and how we work.
Why this exists
Supplement marketing promises a lot. The research usually promises much less. Proven Stack reads the studies so you can see, claim by claim, what a supplement does and doesn’t do for people who train.
How the research is done
- Sources first. For each supplement we gather position stands (such as the International Society of Sports Nutrition and the IOC), the largest and most recent meta-analyses of randomized trials, and key trials. Human studies only.
- AI-assisted, then checked. AI research assistants help find and summarise papers. Every paper is opened at the source, and every PubMed ID on the site is cross-checked against PubMed automatically before publishing; a mismatch blocks the update.
- Numbers as published. Effect sizes, doses and sample sizes are quoted as the papers report them, never rounded into something they don’t say. Where a figure comes from a full text rather than an abstract, we note it.
- One standard. Each claim is graded on the same published standard: how we grade.
Who reviews it
We are adding a named, qualified reviewer (a sports dietitian or exercise scientist) who will sign off every verdict. Until then, pages show exactly which papers each verdict rests on, so you can check it yourself.
How we make money
Some product links on supplement pages may earn us a commission. That never changes a grade: grades are decided from the research before any product is chosen, product picks are chosen for form, dose and third-party testing, and supplements we rate as not backed get no product links at all.
Updates and corrections
Every page shows when it was last reviewed. Entries are re-checked at least every 12 months, and sooner when a major new review is published. If a newer study changes a verdict, we update the grade and the date.