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Monarch Health

What the evidence says, and how sure we are.

Healthspan is a field with a great deal of advice and rather less agreement. This section is how we tell the two apart: what we have written ourselves, what we make of other people's research, and what we point you to elsewhere, each kept separate, and every claim carrying the same plain statement of how strong the evidence behind it is.

Five phrases, and only these five

Every claim discussed here carries one of these labels, with the kind of study it rests on stated alongside it. We do not use adjectives instead. If a label changes, the page says when and why.

Strong and consistent
Several good studies, in people, pointing the same way, with an effect large enough to matter to a person rather than a spreadsheet.
Promising but early
Real signal, but from small studies, short follow-up, animal work or a single trial that has not yet been repeated.
Mixed
Good studies disagree, or the effect appears in some groups and not others. Honest answer: it depends, and we say on what.
Insufficient
Too little research in people to say either way. Not the same as evidence of no effect; it means nobody has properly looked yet.
Not something we offer
We have looked, and either the evidence is against it or the risk is not justified by what it might do. We say which.

Study types, as we name them: Randomized trial · Cohort study · Systematic review · Animal or laboratory study · Expert opinion.

What is here

Five things. The first is ours. The next three are our reading of other people's work, and the last is other people's work itself.

  • Insights

    What we have written ourselves, each piece with its author, its clinical reviewer and its date.

    Open

  • Evidence briefs

    One-page readings of the strongest reviews on a question, under fixed headings, ending in a bottom line.

    Open

  • In the headlines

    One health claim from the news each month, and what the research actually says about it.

    Open

  • Questions we are asked

    The questions that come up most, answered plainly, with how strong the evidence behind each answer is.

    Open

  • The wider library

    Reading and organizations we trust, from outside Monarch.

    Open

Research we love

Where our positions come from. Each page sets out what the body published, then, separately and labelled as ours, what it changes here. We have no affiliation with any of them.