supplementscore/glossary.html at main · Code-Yves/supplementscore · GitHub

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, viewport-fit=cover">
  <title>Glossary — SupplementScore</title>
  <link rel="icon" type="image/svg+xml" href="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 24 24'%3E%3Crect width='24' height='24' rx='6' fill='%231F7A6B'/%3E%3Cpath d='M5 19C5 11 11 5 19 5C19 13 13 19 5 19Z' fill='%23F8F4ED'/%3E%3Cpath d='M5 19C9 15 13 11 19 5' stroke='%231F7A6B' stroke-width='1.4' stroke-linecap='round' fill='none'/%3E%3C/svg%3E">
  <meta name="description" content="Plain-language definitions for medical research terms used across SupplementScore: RCT, meta-analysis, PMID, NNT, MTHFR, and more.">
  <meta property="og:url" content="https://supplementscore.org/glossary.html">
  <meta property="og:site_name" content="SupplementScore">
  <meta name="twitter:title" content="Glossary — SupplementScore">
  <meta name="twitter:description" content="Plain-language definitions for the research terms used across the site.">
  <!-- 2026-05-24 — Glossary content absorbed into /about.html#glossary so the
       site has a single source of truth. This page is kept live so old inbound
       links don't 404, but search engines should treat the about page as
       canonical. Human visitors are bounced via meta refresh. -->
  <link rel="canonical" href="https://supplementscore.org/about.html#glossary">
  <meta name="robots" content="noindex,follow">
  <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0; url=/about.html#glossary">
  <meta property="og:title" content="Glossary — SupplementScore">
  <meta property="og:description" content="Plain-language definitions for the research terms used across the site.">
  <meta property="og:type" content="website">
  <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">
  <script>document.documentElement.setAttribute('data-theme','light');</script>
  <style>html{color-scheme:light}</style>
  <link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com">
  <link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.gstatic.com" crossorigin>
  <link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Mona+Sans:wght@400;500;600;700;800&family=Plus+Jakarta+Sans:wght@400;500;600;700&display=swap" rel="stylesheet">
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="/styles.css?v=20260527-bottomline">
  <link rel="manifest" href="/manifest.webmanifest">
  <link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="180x180" href="/icons/icon-180-apple.svg">
  <meta name="theme-color" content="#1F7A6B">
  <meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-title" content="SuppScore">
  <meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-capable" content="yes">
  <style>
    body { background: var(--color-background-primary); color: var(--color-text-primary); }
    .gl-wrap { max-width: 800px; margin: 0 auto; padding: 32px 24px 64px; line-height: 1.6; }
    .gl-back { display: inline-flex; align-items: center; gap: 6px; font-size: 13px; color: var(--color-text-secondary); text-decoration: none; padding: 6px 12px; border: 1px solid var(--color-border-secondary); border-radius: 8px; margin-bottom: 24px; }
    .gl-back:hover { color: var(--color-brand); }
    .gl-h1 { font-size: 2rem; font-weight: 800; letter-spacing: -.5px; margin: 0 0 6px; line-height: 1.2; }
    .gl-sub { color: var(--color-text-secondary); font-size: 14.5px; margin-bottom: 28px; }
    .gl-search { width: 100%; padding: 12px 14px; border: 0.5px solid var(--color-border-secondary); border-radius: 10px; font-size: 14px; font-family: inherit; outline: none; background: var(--color-background-primary); margin-bottom: 24px; box-sizing: border-box; }
    .gl-search:focus { border-color: var(--color-brand); box-shadow: 0 0 0 3px rgba(31,122,107,.12); }
    .gl-section { margin: 30px 0 12px; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 800; letter-spacing: .12em; text-transform: uppercase; color: var(--color-text-tertiary); border-top: 0.5px solid var(--color-border-tertiary); padding-top: 16px; }
    .gl-term { padding: 14px 0; border-bottom: 0.5px dashed var(--color-border-tertiary); }
    .gl-term dt { font-size: 14.5px; font-weight: 700; color: var(--color-text-primary); margin-bottom: 4px; }
    .gl-term dt span.acro { color: var(--color-brand); margin-right: 8px; font-family: ui-monospace, "SF Mono", Menlo, monospace; font-size: 13px; }
    .gl-term dd { font-size: 13.5px; color: var(--color-text-secondary); margin: 0; line-height: 1.55; }
    .gl-term.hidden { display: none; }
    .gl-foot { margin-top: 32px; font-size: 12px; color: var(--color-text-tertiary); padding: 14px 0; border-top: 0.5px solid var(--color-border-tertiary); }
    .pg-close-fab{position:fixed;top:16px;right:16px;width:40px;height:40px;border-radius:50%;background:var(--color-background-primary);border:1px solid var(--color-border-secondary);box-shadow:0 2px 12px rgba(0,0,0,.14);display:flex;align-items:center;justify-content:center;cursor:pointer;z-index:50;color:var(--color-text-secondary);transition:transform .15s,color .15s;padding:0;text-decoration:none}
    .pg-close-fab:hover{transform:scale(1.08);color:var(--color-text-primary)}
    .pg-close-fab:focus-visible{outline:2px solid var(--color-brand);outline-offset:2px}
    @media(max-width:760px){.pg-close-fab{top:12px;right:12px;width:36px;height:36px}}
  </style>
  <meta http-equiv="Content-Security-Policy" content="default-src 'self'; script-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline' https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com https://unpkg.com https://plausible.io; style-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline' https://fonts.googleapis.com; font-src 'self' https://fonts.gstatic.com data:; img-src 'self' data: https:; connect-src 'self' https://formspree.io https://plausible.io https://www.fda.gov https://www.efsa.europa.eu; frame-ancestors 'none'; base-uri 'self'; form-action 'self' https://formspree.io;">
  <script src="_site-ux.js?v=20260527-rel-path-fix" defer></script>
  <!-- SEO-GLOSSARY-SCHEMA removed 2026-05-24: page is noindex, canonical points to /about.html#glossary so schema is unused -->
  <!-- SEO-BREADCRUMB:start -->
  <script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
  "itemListElement": [
    {
      "@type": "ListItem",
      "position": 1,
      "name": "Home",
      "item": "https://supplementscore.org/"
    },
    {
      "@type": "ListItem",
      "position": 2,
      "name": "Glossary",
      "item": "https://supplementscore.org/glossary.html"
    }
  ]
}
  </script>
  <!-- SEO-BREADCRUMB:end -->
  <!-- SEO-GLOSSARY-SCHEMA:end -->
</head>
<body>
<main class="gl-wrap">
  <a href="index.html" class="pg-close-fab" onclick="event.preventDefault();if(document.referrer&&document.referrer.indexOf(location.origin)===0&&history.length>1){history.back();}else{location.href='index.html';}" aria-label="Close and return">
    <svg width="18" height="18" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2.5" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" aria-hidden="true"><line x1="18" y1="6" x2="6" y2="18"/><line x1="6" y1="6" x2="18" y2="18"/></svg>
  </a>
  <h1 class="gl-h1">Glossary</h1>
  <p class="gl-sub">Plain-language definitions for the research terms used across the site. If you've ever wondered what "p < 0.05" means, this is for you.</p>

  <input type="text" id="gl-search" class="gl-search" placeholder="Filter terms (e.g. RCT, meta-analysis, MTHFR)" autocomplete="off">

  <div class="gl-section">Study design</div>
  <dl>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">RCT</span>Randomized controlled trial</dt><dd>The strongest single-study design. Participants are randomly assigned to receive the intervention (e.g. a supplement) or a control (placebo or standard care). Randomization balances confounders so any difference in outcome is attributable to the intervention.</dd></div>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">DBPC</span>Double-blind, placebo-controlled</dt><dd>An RCT where neither the participant nor the researchers measuring outcomes know who received the active compound. Eliminates placebo and observer bias. The gold standard for supplement evidence.</dd></div>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">Crossover</span>Crossover trial</dt><dd>Each participant receives both the intervention and the control, separated by a washout period. Smaller sample size needed but only works for short-term, fully-reversible effects.</dd></div>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">Cohort</span>Cohort study</dt><dd>Observational. Follows a group of people over time and observes which ones develop an outcome. Can show association, not causation. Confounding (e.g. healthy-user bias) is the main weakness.</dd></div>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">Case-control</span>Case-control study</dt><dd>Observational. Compares people with a condition to people without it, looking backward for differences. Cheap and fast but prone to recall bias.</dd></div>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">In vitro</span>In vitro</dt><dd>Latin for "in glass". Done in cells or test tubes, not in living humans or animals. Hypothesis-generating; rarely translates directly to human effects.</dd></div>
  </dl>

  <div class="gl-section">Synthesizing evidence</div>
  <dl>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">SR</span>Systematic review</dt><dd>A structured search across all published evidence on a question, using pre-specified inclusion criteria. Reduces cherry-picking. Often paired with a meta-analysis.</dd></div>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">Meta-analysis</span>Meta-analysis</dt><dd>Pools the numeric results of multiple RCTs to compute a more precise summary effect. Cochrane reviews are considered the highest-quality form. The site's Tier 1 calls usually rest on a meta-analysis with positive results.</dd></div>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">NMA</span>Network meta-analysis</dt><dd>A meta-analysis that compares 3+ interventions even when not all of them have been directly compared head-to-head. Used to rank treatments (e.g. the 2025 Cheng NMA ranking nutraceuticals against antidepressants).</dd></div>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">GRADE</span>GRADE evidence rating</dt><dd>A standardized framework that rates the certainty of evidence as High, Moderate, Low, or Very Low based on study design, consistency, directness, precision, and publication bias.</dd></div>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">PRISMA</span>PRISMA reporting standard</dt><dd>The PRISMA checklist standardizes how systematic reviews report their methods, so you can reproduce the search and judge what was excluded.</dd></div>
  </dl>

  <div class="gl-section">Effect-size measures</div>
  <dl>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">SMD</span>Standardized mean difference</dt><dd>The intervention's effect expressed in standard deviations. SMD 0.2 ≈ small, 0.5 ≈ moderate, 0.8 ≈ large. Lets you compare effect sizes across trials that used different scales.</dd></div>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">RR</span>Relative risk</dt><dd>The ratio of an event happening in the treated group vs control. RR 0.7 means 30% lower risk; RR 1.5 means 50% higher risk.</dd></div>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">OR</span>Odds ratio</dt><dd>Like RR but uses odds (event:no-event) instead of probability. Approximates RR when the event is rare.</dd></div>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">HR</span>Hazard ratio</dt><dd>Like RR but accounts for time-to-event. Used in survival analysis.</dd></div>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">CI</span>Confidence interval (95% CI)</dt><dd>The range within which the "true" effect probably lies. If the 95% CI for an RR crosses 1.0, the result is not statistically significant.</dd></div>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">p-value</span>p-value</dt><dd>The probability that a result this large would happen by chance if the intervention had no real effect. p < 0.05 is the conventional cutoff for "statistically significant" — but it doesn't mean clinically meaningful.</dd></div>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">NNT</span>Number needed to treat</dt><dd>How many people you'd need to treat to prevent one bad outcome. NNT 10 = treat 10 people for one to benefit. The lower the better.</dd></div>
  </dl>

  <div class="gl-section">Citation infrastructure</div>
  <dl>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">PMID</span>PubMed identifier</dt><dd>A unique number assigned by the U.S. National Library of Medicine to every paper indexed in PubMed. Lets you look up the exact source — every PMID on this site is a clickable link.</dd></div>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">DOI</span>Digital Object Identifier</dt><dd>A persistent ID for any published document. Resolves to the publisher's page (where the full PDF often lives behind a paywall, sometimes not).</dd></div>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">PMC</span>PubMed Central</dt><dd>The free full-text repository for biomedical research. ~6 million papers; a subset of PubMed.</dd></div>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">COI</span>Conflict of interest</dt><dd>Any financial or personal relationship that could bias the research. We tag every cited paper with its disclosed COI status.</dd></div>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">Funder type</span>Funder type</dt><dd>Who paid for the research. Categorised on this site as <code>public</code> (NIH, NHS, etc.), <code>nonprofit</code> (American Heart Association, etc.), <code>industry</code> (a supplement company), <code>mixed</code>, or <code>none_disclosed</code>. Tier 1 calls require at least one public/nonprofit citation.</dd></div>
  </dl>

  <div class="gl-section">Pharmacology terms</div>
  <dl>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">UL</span>Tolerable Upper Intake Level</dt><dd>The highest daily intake of a nutrient unlikely to cause harm in nearly all people. Set by NIH/NAS/EFSA. Above the UL, risk of toxicity rises.</dd></div>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">RDA</span>Recommended Dietary Allowance</dt><dd>The intake sufficient to meet the requirement of 97–98% of healthy people. Below the RDA, deficiency risk rises.</dd></div>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">AI</span>Adequate Intake</dt><dd>Used when an RDA can't be set due to insufficient data. The AI is the average intake assumed to maintain adequacy.</dd></div>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">EAR</span>Estimated Average Requirement</dt><dd>The intake that meets the requirement of 50% of healthy people in a group. Below the EAR, deficiency is statistically common.</dd></div>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">CYP450</span>Cytochrome P450</dt><dd>The liver's main drug-metabolising enzyme system. CYP3A4, CYP2D6, CYP1A2, CYP2C9, CYP2C19 are the most clinically important. Many supplements either induce (speed up) or inhibit (slow down) these — which changes prescription drug levels.</dd></div>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">P-gp</span>P-glycoprotein</dt><dd>A pump that ferries drugs out of cells. Some supplements modulate P-gp activity, which changes how much of an oral drug actually gets absorbed and how much gets cleared.</dd></div>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">Half-life</span>Half-life</dt><dd>The time it takes for half of a dose to clear from the bloodstream. After 5 half-lives, ~97% is gone. Determines dosing frequency.</dd></div>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">AUC</span>Area Under the Curve</dt><dd>Total drug exposure over time. A higher AUC means more drug reached the bloodstream — relevant when evaluating bioavailability or absorption-enhancing pairings (e.g. piperine + curcumin).</dd></div>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">Cmax</span>Cmax</dt><dd>Peak blood concentration after a dose.</dd></div>
  </dl>

  <div class="gl-section">Genetic terms</div>
  <dl>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">SNP</span>Single nucleotide polymorphism</dt><dd>A common one-letter difference in DNA. Some SNPs affect how you metabolise nutrients or drugs.</dd></div>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">MTHFR</span>MTHFR variant</dt><dd>The methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene. Common variants (C677T, A1298C) reduce conversion of folic acid to its active form. Carriers benefit from supplementing methylfolate (5-MTHF) directly.</dd></div>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">APOE4</span>APOE4 carrier</dt><dd>A variant of the apolipoprotein E gene linked to higher Alzheimer's risk. Some supplement effects (e.g. omega-3, B vitamins) differ by APOE status.</dd></div>
  </dl>

  <div class="gl-section">Methodology</div>
  <dl>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">Tier 1</span>Tier 1 (Strong Evidence)</dt><dd>Composite score ≥ 72 AND at least one cited PMID with public or nonprofit funding. The "I'm comfortable taking this" tier.</dd></div>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">Tier 2</span>Tier 2 (Promising)</dt><dd>Composite score 60–71. Real evidence but limited to specific populations, doses, or outcomes.</dd></div>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">Tier 3</span>Tier 3 (Trending)</dt><dd>Popular in wellness culture but weak or inconsistent clinical evidence.</dd></div>
    <div class="gl-term"><dt><span class="acro">Tier 4</span>Tier 4 (Risky / Avoid)</dt><dd>Documented safety risks (organ damage, drug interactions, deaths). Regulatory warnings issued.</dd></div>
  </dl>

  <div class="gl-foot">Term missing? <a href="index.html" style="color:inherit;text-decoration:underline">Suggest a definition</a> via the inaccuracy-report flow on any supplement card.</div>

</main>
<!-- SS_FOOTER_BEGIN -->
<!-- 2026-05-23 — Footer rewritten in centered-column layout (Direction B from
     the mockup review). Single vertical axis: brand → tagline → inline link
     row (hairlines top/bottom) → centered contributor CTA → legal at bottom.
     The previous brand+3-column grid is gone; .site-footer-grid and
     .site-footer-col classes are no longer emitted. Old CSS rules for those
     remain in place harmlessly (no markup references them). -->
<footer class="site-footer" role="contentinfo">
  <div class="site-footer-inner">
    <div class="site-footer-brand-row">
      <span class="site-footer-leaf" aria-hidden="true">
        <svg viewBox="0 0 24 24" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M5 19C5 11 11 5 19 5C19 13 13 19 5 19Z"/></svg>
      </span>
      <span class="site-footer-brand">SupplementScore<span class="site-footer-brand-tld">.org</span></span>
    </div>
    <nav class="site-footer-links" aria-label="Footer navigation">
      <a href="/">Home</a>
      <a href="/compare/index.html">Compare</a>
      <a href="/#research" onclick="window._tabSwitchByUser=true">Research</a>
      <a href="/#profile" onclick="window._tabSwitchByUser=true">Profile <span class="site-footer-beta" aria-label="Beta">(Beta)</span></a>
      <a href="/about.html">About</a>
    </nav>
    <div class="site-footer-contrib">
      <div class="site-footer-contrib-eyebrow">Non-profit · volunteer-run</div>
      <div class="site-footer-contrib-title">Help build the database</div>
      <div class="site-footer-contrib-desc">Clinicians, researchers, developers, help us improve this site.</div>
      <form class="site-footer-contrib-form" onsubmit="return ssFooterContrib(event)" novalidate>
        <input type="email" placeholder="your@email.com" aria-label="Your email address" required>
        <button type="submit" aria-label="Send" title="Send"><svg width="16" height="16" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" aria-hidden="true"><line x1="5" y1="12" x2="19" y2="12"/><polyline points="12 5 19 12 12 19"/></svg></button>
        <div class="site-footer-contrib-success" role="status" aria-live="polite">✓ Thanks! We'll be in touch.</div>
      </form>
    </div>
    <div class="site-footer-bottom">© 2026 SupplementScore · CC-BY 4.0 · <a href="/privacy.html">Terms &amp; Privacy</a> · <a href="mailto:hello@supplementscore.org">hello@supplementscore.org</a> · Educational reference, not medical advice. Always consult a clinician before changing your supplement regimen.</div>
  </div>
<script>
/* Footer contributor form — small handler shared by every page that ships the
   shared site-footer. Defined once on window so re-loads on subsequent pages
   are no-ops. Posts to the same Formspree endpoint as the about-page form,
   tagged with source='contributor-footer' so leads from here are attributable. */
window.ssFooterContrib = window.ssFooterContrib || function(e){
  e.preventDefault();
  var form = e.target;
  var input = form.querySelector('input[type=email]');
  var btn = form.querySelector('button');
  var email = (input.value || '').trim();
  if (!email || email.indexOf('@') < 0 || email.length < 5) {
    input.classList.add('is-invalid');
    setTimeout(function(){ input.classList.remove('is-invalid'); }, 2000);
    return false;
  }
  btn.disabled = true; btn.textContent = 'Sending…';
  fetch('https://formspree.io/f/mnjoylkz', {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json', 'Accept': 'application/json' },
    body: JSON.stringify({ email: email, source: 'contributor-footer', date: new Date().toISOString() })
  }).then(function(r){
    if (r.ok) { form.classList.add('is-success'); }
    else { btn.disabled = false; btn.textContent = 'Try again'; }
  }).catch(function(){ btn.disabled = false; btn.textContent = 'Try again'; });
  return false;
};
</script>
</footer>
<!-- SS_FOOTER_END -->

<script>
(function(){
  var inp = document.getElementById('gl-search');
  var terms = [].slice.call(document.querySelectorAll('.gl-term'));
  inp.addEventListener('input', function(){
    var q = inp.value.trim().toLowerCase();
    terms.forEach(function(t){
      var hit = !q || t.textContent.toLowerCase().indexOf(q) !== -1;
      t.classList.toggle('hidden', !hit);
    });
  });
})();
</script>
</body>
</html>