Sci-cher

VO₂max & Longevity

48 sub-claims across 10 physiological categories — reconciled from two independent fact-checks against 83 cited sources, from Holloszy (1967) to Mandsager's 122,007-person cohort.

5.04×

hazard ratio — low vs elite fitness

The protein stack, stripped to the evidence

Whey · creatine · glutamine · EAAs — a two-tier audit of the four supplements most often stacked for muscle gain and fat loss, with effect sizes, conflicts of interest, and an honest debunk of BCAAs-as-muscle-builder.

+0.30 kg

FFM gain · whey + RT (Morton 2018)

The Incretin Decade: GLP-1, dual & triple agonists

GLP-1, dual and triple agonists graded for evidence — the efficacy ladder, the organ-outcome dossier, what really happens to muscle, the drugs that try to spare it, and the hype the randomized trials are quietly deflating.

28–30%

peak weight loss (retatrutide, TRIUMPH)

Creatine, stripped to the evidence

A synthesis of 685 controlled trials and ~26,000 participants — separating what creatine reliably does from industry hype and unsettled science, with a sex-specific antidepressant signal in women.

685

controlled trials synthesized

Drinking water safety in Greece

Microplastics, PFAS, fluoride and lead — graded for evidence and mapped to what actually ships to a Greek address.

9.29×

nanoplastic rise in hot PET

Magnesium, stripped to the evidence

Nine forms compared, three upper limits reconciled, and the L-threonate premium audited — which magnesium is worth paying for, at what dose, and where the literature is funded by people who sell it.

9

magnesium forms graded

Do hot drinks cause cancer?

A viral chart says the hot-drink–cancer link collapses under age adjustment — and coffee is genuinely exonerated. But the headline drops the one signal that survives every control: scalding liquids and the esophagus.

5.7 → 0 pp

hot-drink cancer gap, erased by age

Short video and the brain

One preregistered scan says two control regions go quiet during videos you choose to keep watching. The headline says your self-control shuts down. The paper says the opposite.

1 of 2

regions in the “cognitive control network” claim that were actually preregistered

Your daily omega-3 regimen, graded

Three multi-oil softgels plus three fish-oil caps — what 900 mg of EPA+DHA actually buys across nine health domains.

900 mg

EPA+DHA — 90% of AHA floor

Does red light therapy work?

Fifteen indications, graded one at a time. One reaches guideline strength — and it uses a probe inside the mouth. Two more are probable. Most of what the consumer market sells is unproven, and one claim has no human evidence at all.

1 of 15

indications at guideline strength

Does omega-3 speed up cognitive decline?

A critical appraisal of a contested observational finding (Liao et al. 2026) and the viral claim it triggered.

β +0.823/yr

ADAS-Cog13 slope (full text verified)

Less protein, more years of life?

A Greek press report says a July 2026 review shows that eating less protein adds years to human life. A common counter-claim says muscle adds them instead. Both are tested here from the primary literature — and the mechanism everyone cites has a gap exactly where the argument needs a result.

0

dietary trials designed and powered for lifespan in healthy people

Twenty patches, one billion cells

First-in-human engineered heart muscle in advanced heart failure — the BioVAT-HF readout, read alongside the field's graveyard and a founder's conflict of interest.

+6.9 pp

LVEF gain at latest follow-up (n=16)

Zinc picolinate, audited

Statistical significance, conflicts of interest, sample-size weighting and replication status across every major zinc claim.

33–42%

cold-duration cut (lozenges only)

Do food additives hurt the gut?

Carrageenan, emulsifiers, titanium dioxide, sweeteners, maltodextrin — a graded audit of the additives most accused of harming the intestine. Real, reproducible mechanism in cells and mice; thin, additive-specific, often-null human proof.

0 / 5

additives with proven human gut-disease causation

NMN & NR efficacy, audited

A zero-bias meta-analysis of 26 randomized trials — what raising blood NAD⁺ does, and what it doesn't.

60–200%

blood NAD⁺ increase

Seed oils, butter and olive oil

The internet says seed oils are poison and butter is back. The trial record says something duller and more useful: cholesterol falls, death does not follow, and the one comparison everybody argues about has never been run.

0

trials comparing extra-virgin olive oil with a seed oil on death, infarction or stroke

Sodium butyrate for gut health, audited

“Very good for the gut” — a vital colonic molecule wrapped in an overstated bottle. Separating butyrate's strong gut biology from the mixed human trials, the bioavailability wall, and the fibre that does the job better.

≈2%

of an oral dose reaches the blood — little reaches the colon

Cortisol supplements, ranked

Ten agents sold for cortisol control, ranked by evidence tier, effect size and dose range. One carries two independent meta-analyses. Six rest on a single trial each.

−1.16 µg/dL

the pooled ashwagandha cortisol effect (Albalawi 2025, 7 trials, n=488) — against the 27.9% single-trial figure in circulation