We don't sell supplements. We never will.
Substrate (evidencebased.info) is an independently reviewed evidence-answer system that translates clinical research into graded, claim-level answers about benefits, harms, doses, interactions and uncertainty — with no product sales and no affiliate revenue.
The one sentence
Substrate sells no supplements, takes no affiliate commissions, accepts no supplement advertising, and receives no money from any supplement company. When the evidence says something doesn't work, saying so costs us nothing.
How we make money
Precisely, and updated annually:
- Consumer subscription — $6/mo
- Practitioner tier — $29/mo
- API / data licensing for commercial reuse
Revenue-by-source percentages publish here once billing volume is material enough that a single-quarter number would not be misleading on its own.
How we don't
- No affiliate links. Not one, not "clearly labelled" ones.
- No supplement ads.
- No sponsored content.
- No paid placement in grades or rankings.
- No brand partnerships.
- No free product review programme.
The editorial firewall
Commercial staff cannot see, influence, or veto a grade. Reviewers can refuse to sign and can publicly dissent. Substrate cannot overrule a reviewer's refusal. This is written into every reviewer agreement, not held as an unwritten norm.
Reviewer conflicts of interest
Every reviewer discloses, annually and per review, using the ICMJE disclosure format — grants, consulting fees, honoraria, patents, equity, board positions, and non-financial interests (a strongly held public position on an intervention is a disclosable interest, same as money). See reviewer profiles for individual disclosures.
Recusal rules: a reviewer with a material financial interest in an intervention cannot sign claims about it. A reviewer with a strong prior public position on it can sign only alongside a second, independent reviewer. Both rules are enforced in the publish pipeline (credential-to-claim matching, CLAIM-SCHEMA §11), not by memory.
The gift, sample & hospitality policy
- No free product. We buy anything we test, at retail, and say what we paid.
- No industry-funded travel, honoraria, or speaking fees for anyone who touches a grade.
- No advance access, embargoed briefings, or "educational grants" from supplement companies.
- No pre-publication review by any commercial party — ever, including "just for accuracy."
- Unsolicited product sent to us is donated or destroyed, and logged publicly.
Gift/sample log: no entries — nothing received. This section updates the moment that changes.
What would compromise us
Revenue pressure meeting an unpopular grade is the actual risk, not a hypothetical one. If a low grade ever cost us a subscriber, a partnership, or press goodwill, the response is documented here, not smoothed over. The guardrail is structural — no product money to lose — not a promise we're asking to be trusted on.
Committed in advance
| If this happens | We commit to |
|---|---|
| An investor acquires a supplement-industry holding | Disclosed within 30 days; investor recused from all product decisions; if material, published with an exit offer |
| A supplement company offers a licensing deal | Terms published. Data licensing is fine; influence over a grade is not, at any price |
| A brand threatens legal action over a low grade | The threat is published |
| A reviewer takes industry consulting work | Disclosed; recused from affected claims; disclosed retroactively on every claim they previously signed |
| Revenue pressure meets an unpopular grade | The grade doesn't move. The incident is documented in the corrections/accuracy record |
How to hold us to it
Report an error · Corrections log · Public metrics · URAC self-audit. Audit us against any of this — we mean it.
Preferred sources
Google lets you elect the sources you want to see more of in search — it's called "preferred sources." If you find our grades useful, you can tell Google to show you more of them from your search settings. We're mentioning this once, here — we won't nag you about it in the product or the newsletter.