Where Facts Come From

Readers sometimes ask how we decide what to write in a guide. It is a fair question, especially on a site about health and food where we are not trained professionals. Below you will find the material we rely on, what we keep at arm’s length, and the habits that keep our articles cautious.

Sources we start with

• Public health and food-safety bodies. National health services and food-safety agencies publish clear, regularly reviewed guidance on topics such as storing leftovers, physical activity and oral hygiene.
• Professional associations. Dental, medical and nutrition organisations often produce patient leaflets written in plain language. They are a good check on whether our explanation matches what professionals tell the public.
• Manufacturer instructions. For appliances, dental products and anything that comes with a leaflet, the maker's own instructions take priority over general tips.
• Established cookbooks and kitchen experience. For recipes and techniques, we rely on well-tested methods and on cooking things ourselves, more than once.

Sources we read sceptically

• Sales pages and product marketing, which tend to promise more than they can show.
• Single news stories about a new finding, which often oversimplify early research.
• Forums and social media posts, which can be useful for spotting questions people have but not for answering them.
• Anything that claims a single food, drink or supplement fixes a health problem.

No made-up numbers

You will notice our articles rarely contain percentages, nutrient amounts or claims such as "research shows". That is deliberate. Figures are easy to misquote and quickly go out of date, and they can make a general article sound more certain than it should. Where a precise amount matters, such as a medicine dose, the right person to give it is a professional who knows you.

How we word things

When guidance is widely agreed, we say so plainly. When it varies between countries, experts or individuals, we use words like "often", "many people" and "it is worth asking". Those small qualifiers are not hedging for the sake of it; they reflect the honest state of everyday health advice.

Another reader before you

Before an article goes live, someone other than the writer reads it with two questions in mind: can a reader follow every step, and does any sentence claim more than it should? If either answer is uncertain, the piece goes back for another draft.

Older articles

Some posts on GSTC Blog are several years old and were written in a different style. We are gradually revisiting them. Until we reach a particular piece, please read it with the same care you would give any older web page and check anything important with a professional.

You can help

If you know of a reliable source that contradicts something we have written, we want to see it. Send it via Spotted an Error?. To understand the limits of what we publish, the Not Medical Advice page is worth a read too.