What Is PubMed?
A free searchable database maintained by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) containing over 36 million citations and abstracts from biomedical and life sciences journals.
Why It Matters for Supplement Brands
PubMed is the primary source for finding clinical evidence to substantiate supplement claims. Any credible substantiation file should reference studies indexed in PubMed, as it is the standard evidence source recognised by FDA, FTC, and major retailers.
How It Works
PubMed indexes articles from MEDLINE and additional life science journals. Each article has a unique PubMed ID (PMID) that serves as a permanent reference.
Key search strategies for supplement substantiation: - Use MeSH terms for standardised searching (e.g., 'Withania somnifera' rather than 'ashwagandha') - Filter by study type: Clinical Trial, Randomised Controlled Trial, Meta-Analysis, Systematic Review - Filter by species: Humans (exclude animal and in vitro studies for claim substantiation) - Use the 'Related Articles' feature to find similar studies
Nutra Comp automates PubMed searching and evidence extraction, saving hours of manual literature review.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- ✗Using only keyword searches without MeSH terms, missing relevant studies
- ✗Including animal studies or in vitro data as primary evidence for human health claims
- ✗Not checking whether a study is actually a full-text article or just a conference abstract
Related Terms
See It in Action
Explore how this concept applies to real ingredient substantiation:
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