Because I have way better things to do than keep up with every new wellness claim.
Every season, there's a new breakthrough. New study, new product, new thing you're apparently supposed to be taking. Three months later — something else.
It's not that the information doesn't exist. It's that there's too much of it, most of it is shaped by whoever's selling something, and none of it tells you the thing that actually matters: does it work for this specific claim, and is it realistic for your actual life?
I don't have time to keep searching, keep reading, keep evaluating every new finding. Nobody does.
So I built a tool. A rubric. A set of questions I'd ask anyway — systematised, scored, and cross-checked across multiple AIs so the result is as rigorous as I can make it.
That's the BS-ometer. This is how it works.
A Scoring System — Two Axes, Four Verdicts
Every ingredient or product gets scored on a specific claim — not in general. Green tea for fat metabolism scores differently to green tea for skin health. One claim, one verdict.
Two axes:
Y-Axis: Evidence Score (1–5)
How strong is the science behind this specific claim?
- Study design quality
- Sample size and statistical power
- Replication across multiple independent studies
- Funding sources — industry-funded vs. independent
- Whether the active dose is confirmed in humans
- Safety and tolerability data
X-Axis: Practicality Score (1–5)
How realistic is daily use for your actual life?
- Affordability — cost per serving for daily use
- Accessibility — at your local supermarket, or only via specialist importers?
- Experience — for ingestibles: taste, texture, ease of use. For topicals: skin feel, absorption, application.
- Systemic Impact — what else does daily use do to your body? A product that works for one thing but disrupts sleep, stresses your liver, or interferes with medication is not a Daily Staple. This is the question the wellness industry almost never asks. We ask it every time.
These two scores place each ingredient into one of four quadrants:
| Quadrant | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Daily Staple — High Evidence + High Practicality | Proven, affordable, accessible, well-tolerated. The holy grail. |
| Investment — High Evidence + Low Practicality | Strong science, but expensive, hard to find, or complex to use. |
| Feel-Good, Not Fact — Low Evidence + High Practicality | More fad than function. Enjoy it, but don't count on it. |
| Experimental — Low Evidence + Low Practicality | Early-stage data, niche, expensive. Caution or pure curiosity. |
One More Thing: Eco Friendly, Cruelty Free + Local
The best product works — and doesn't cost the planet or animals, and ideally supports a local independent. We check three additional flags for every ingredient:
- Eco Friendly ✅/❌/⚠️ — sustainable sourcing, packaging, environmental certifications
- Cruelty Free ✅/❌/⚠️ — no animal testing, by the brand or on its behalf
- Local ✅/❌/⚠️ — a NZ/AUS independent small business, not a multinational or offshore private label
The flags don't change the score — they raise the verdict tier. A Daily Staple that's Eco Friendly and Cruelty Free becomes Near Perfect. Add the Local tick and it's Perfect — rush out and buy it. The complete buy.
How We Score — The Multi-AI Cross-Check
Claude is our primary scorer. We then run the same prompt through Gemini and Perplexity independently and compare all three results.
When all three agree, that's high confidence. When they disagree — that's even better content. We explain why on camera.
AI handles the research volume. Jan reviews, adjusts, and approves every score. Final judgment is human.
Why This Matters for Women
Women are over-targeted by the wellness industry. We're told we need collagen for ageing, probiotics for gut health, adaptogens for stress, menopause supplements for everything.
The truth: most of these products have weak or no evidence for the specific claims they make.
The matrix doesn't shame you for trying something. It just asks two questions:
- Is the science actually there?
- Is this actually practical for your life?
If yes to both — Daily Staple. If not — at least you know where it lands.
What We're Not Doing
- Shaming you for trying collagen or anything else
- Selling you anything via affiliate deals that bias our scores
- Pretending to be medical professionals — this is not medical advice
- Hiding our work — key study citations are in every caption
- Ignoring corrections — we publish a corrections log when scores change
The Bigger Truth
The best longevity habits are largely free. People in the world's Blue Zones don't take collagen supplements or buy anti-ageing creams. They eat mostly plants, move naturally throughout the day, eat to 80% full, find purpose, and build strong community.
It's not sexy. It doesn't make money for anyone powerful. But it's proven.
Our matrix keeps showing this. Blue Zones principles score as Daily Staples. Most trending supplements score as Feel-Good, Not Fact or Experimental.
What's In the Series
Episodes are live and ongoing — scored for NZ/AUS. Every episode includes the scores, key study citations in the caption, safety notes, and the systemic trade-offs question.
- Green Tea / EGCG — fat metabolism → Daily Staple
- L'Oréal Age Perfect Collagen Expert Day — anti-ageing → Feel-Good, Not Fact
- L-Theanine — calm focus → Daily Staple
- Mitchell's Bone Broth, Matcha, Creatine, Collagen drinks, Gut sodas, Menopause supplements — coming
Follow along. Vote for the next ingredient in the comments.
Want the Full Scoring Rubric?
The detailed scoring criteria — exactly how each sub-criterion is rated 1–5 — is available on request. Email cali@yahcha.com with the subject line Rubric request and we'll send it through.
Not medical advice. Consult your healthcare provider for medical questions.