Editorial policy
How Slimr reviews diets (and everything else)
The diet and supplements industries run on hype. Slimr runs on a boring, repeatable method: the same questions for every topic, answered from the same kinds of sources, with the evidence graded honestly. Including when the honest answer is "there is not any".
The method
Every one of the 77 entries in the diet directory answers the same twelve questions: what it is, what people typically eat, what is restricted, why people try it, realistic advantages, realistic disadvantages, strength of evidence, likely cost and difficulty, nutritional risks, who should avoid it, whether professional supervision is advisable, and the references we relied on, with a last-reviewed date on every page.
We deliberately do not give every diet a balanced-looking verdict. Some entries have substantial supporting evidence. Others have no demonstrated advantage and significant downsides. Where the British Dietetic Association classifies something as a fad, where a cancer centre warns against it, or where a systematic review has tested the claims and found nothing, we say that in plain English. The same rule applies to our guides on vitamins, minerals, supplements and our GLP-1 patch exposé.
The sources we trust
- NHS and NICE, for UK clinical guidance and evidence reviews.
- The MHRA, GPhC, ASA and CQC, for licensing, safety and advertising reality. We explain what each does on our regulators page.
- British Dietetic Association, the professional body for UK dietitians, including its fad-diet and detox assessments.
- Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (The Nutrition Source), for evidence-based diet reviews.
- Cochrane reviews, position stands and landmark trials, linked directly from the page so you can read them yourself: STEP 1, SURMOUNT-1, SURMOUNT-4, SELECT, OASIS 4, PREDIMED, DASH, DiRECT, the ISSN creatine review and the USPSTF supplement review among them.
- Major medical centres such as the Royal Marsden, Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic and MD Anderson, for expert consensus.
What the evidence ratings mean
Independence and medication content
Slimr sells nothing and prescribes nothing. Our GLP-1 coverage explains what each medicine is, what the trials actually found, and how UK regulation works. We link to independent safe-sourcing resources, monj.co.uk for Mounjaro, igovy.co.uk for the Wegovy injection, and ogovy.co.uk for Wegovy pills, because the biggest real-world risk with these medicines is buying from an illegitimate seller. We always advise verifying any pharmacy on the GPhC register directly, whatever list you found it on.
Nothing on this site is medical advice, and nothing here replaces your GP, pharmacist or a registered dietitian. Medically indicated diets, such as renal, texture-modified or exclusive enteral nutrition, are treatments rather than lifestyle choices, and we label them as such.
Spot an error? Corrections and source updates are part of the method.