The Supplement Database

The Supplement Database launched in early 2019 to provide objective, research-driven supplement reviews for both ingredients and products. Currently, there’s a problem finding unbiased supplement reviews. Google is riddled with affiliate marketing “review” sites. Instagram influencers are essentially advertisers. Short of trying every single supplement yourself, it’s become very difficult to find good information.

Affiliate Marketing

The internet has become polluted with affiliate marketers. Affiliate marketing is the process of selling a product for a company in exchange for a commission. For example, Amazon offers 1%-4% of a sale to website owners for referring customers. If a site puts up a review of a protein supplement and convinces someone to buy it through an affiliate partner, the website will earn a commission. On a $20 supplement, the commission can range from $0.20 to $0.80 per sale.

The problem with this model is that it creates a conflict of interest. On one hand, you want to create honest content that people will believe, on the other, you want to make as many sales as you can. You can’t make a sale if you don’t recommend a product because it’s ineffective.

The dirty secret in the supplement world is that most products are ineffective. They’re made out of ingredients that don’t work. Trying to profit through affiliate sales on products that are largely ineffective is tough if you’re trying to stay honest.

Try searching for a supplement review site. You’ll find they mostly have affiliate links to stores where you can purchase the reviewed supplements. Most of the reviewed products probably have high ratings with fake comments to justify those ratings. Visit the affiliate marketing community on Reddit to see all the tactics they use to convince visitors to buy products.

Not all affiliate marketers are bad. Some of them do use legitimate reviews to push sales in products they believe in. Unfortunately, the vast majority have no interest or knowledge in the product segment they’re pushing. They often run multiple sites, selling different types of products with fake reviews.

How is the Supplement Database different?

The ratings on this website are based on peer-reviewed journal articles. Products are rated based on what ingredients they’re made up of. Those ingredients are rated based on conclusions found in legitimate studies published in scientific articles. If you scroll down to the ingredients section of each product page, you can click on every ingredient to see the studies and conclusions those ratings are based on.

This website does not do affiliate marketing. Product pages have links to the manufacturer’s website and social media pages. These links are not paid for and do not include any affiliate code. They are simply there as a means for you to get more information from the manufacturer. The Supplement Database makes money through advertising placement with the Google Adsense program. These advertisements are placed automatically and based on many factors including page content and your browsing history (which you should take steps to avoid by visiting our privacy policy page).

The Bottom Line

The reviews contained in the Supplement Database are objective. They are not based on subjective measures such as taste, mixability, or how good a reviewer perceives they work. The ratings are based on unbiased conclusions from scientific articles. This website should be only one of the many tools you use to find effective products that positively contribute to your wellbeing.