Methodology
How We Investigate Supplements
What Northbench actually does before publishing a review, and what we deliberately don't do.
What we check for every review
- Label and marketing claims. We read the official product page, the label images available to us, and any linked policy pages (terms, refund policy, disclaimer) word for word.
- Ingredient disclosure. We note exactly which ingredients are named, which are not, and whether per-serving doses are published.
- Cross-referencing cited science. When a brand publishes a references or "scientific evidence" list, we check whether each citation actually corresponds to an ingredient in the product's own confirmed formula, rather than assuming a long reference list means a well-supported product.
- Math and consistency checks. We verify that stated serving sizes, bottle counts, and day-supply claims are internally consistent with each other.
- Guarantee terms. We read the actual refund policy, not just marketing copy, to confirm what a guarantee really requires.
- Publicly available feedback. We look at what real buyers report, weighing recurring themes over isolated outlier comments, and we do not publish invented or composited testimonials.
What we do not do
- We do not run a formal, controlled multi-week clinical trial ourselves; we are a small editorial team, not a lab.
- We do not invent statistics, survey numbers, or user quotes that we cannot trace back to a real source.
- We do not accept payment from a brand in exchange for a favorable score, and no brand gets to see or edit a review before it publishes.
- We do not claim a supplement treats, cures, or prevents any disease; that determination belongs to regulators and physicians, not an editorial review.
Our scoring criteria
Every review scores the same six weighted categories, shown on each review as a set of criteria bars:
- Ease of use — how simple the actual daily routine is
- Guarantee clarity — how plainly the refund terms are stated and how workable they appear
- Ingredient naming — whether active ingredients are named on the label at all
- Manufacturing standards — disclosed facility certifications (GMP, FDA-registered, etc.)
- Value for money — price per serving relative to comparable products
- Label & marketing transparency — dosage disclosure, internal consistency, and whether marketing claims (references, day-supply math, urgency tactics) hold up to a direct check
Why we disclose affiliate links
Northbench earns revenue when readers click through to an official store and buy. This does not change how we score a product; a product with an active affiliate program is held to the same standard as one without. Full detail is in our advertising disclosure.