Editorial policy
Health claims on this site must be backed by primary sources such as PubMed, the FDA and the CDC. We verify that cited papers exist, correct errors when we find them, and say plainly when an article has not been medically reviewed.
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Who publishes this content
Helsa Health publishes this site and makes the Helsa app (see About). Articles, calculators, food guides and comparisons are educational. They explain research and general information and do not replace a clinician.
How content is researched
- Health claims, statistics and thresholds must come from a primary source: peer-reviewed research indexed on PubMed, or guidance from bodies such as the FDA and the CDC.
- A number or claim that we cannot trace to a source is rewritten as a general statement or removed.
- New drafts are fact-checked claim by claim against their sources before publication, and safety information is added where a topic involves medication or a medical condition.
- Articles do not make health claims for the Helsa app, and they must not describe app features that do not exist.
How citations are verified
We audit published articles for citations that do not support the claim they are attached to. When we correct an article, the change goes through an automated check before it is saved:
- Every PubMed link in the new text is looked up through the NCBI E-utilities service. If PubMed has no record of a cited ID, the change is refused.
- The check lists the real title of each cited paper, so a person can confirm that the paper actually supports the sentence that cites it. The automated lookup proves a paper exists; a person judges whether it fits the claim.
- The change is refused if the article was edited by someone else since it was exported, so a correction never overwrites newer work.
- After saving, the article is read back and compared with the intended text.
This automated check covers PubMed links. Other sources, such as FDA and CDC pages, are checked by a person when the article is written or corrected.
Authors and medical review
Articles are credited to a named author when one is listed on the article. Otherwise the byline reads "Helsa Health editorial team".
A "Medically reviewed by" line, with the reviewer's name and review date, appears on an article only when a named reviewer has been recorded for it. If an article has no such line, it has not been medically reviewed by a clinician. Drafts that are flagged as needing medical review are not published unless the publisher explicitly overrides that flag.
Updates and the "Last updated" date
An article shows "Last updated" only when it was changed on a later day than the day it was published. We move that date for real content changes, such as a rewritten body or corrected citations and numbers.
We do not move it for repairs that do not change what the article says, such as fixing a broken internal link, adjusting a title or excerpt, or unpublishing a post. This keeps the date from implying freshness that the content does not have.
Corrections
If you think something on this site is wrong or unsupported, email hi@helsa.health with the page and the claim. We check it against primary sources and, if it is wrong, correct the page and update its date.
Not medical advice
Content on this site is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. It does not replace advice from a qualified healthcare professional. Talk to your doctor before changing your diet, medication or exercise routine. If you think you are having a medical emergency, contact your local emergency services.
Sources
Examples of the primary sources our articles cite: