Who writes this
HappyGutFuel is written by Sam Okafor. Sam is not a dietitian, a doctor or a nutritionist, and nothing here should be read as if he were. He is a writer who got irritated enough by supplement marketing to start reading the underlying papers, and who found that most gut-health content online is either a press release with a byline or a wall of citations that never tells you what to actually buy.
That matters more than it might sound. Gut health is a field where a lot of people with no qualifications imply they have some. If you want clinical advice about your own symptoms, see a GP or a registered dietitian — those are protected titles and the people holding them have done the training. What this site offers is a careful read of product labels and published research, and a clear account of where the evidence runs out.
How a product gets recommended
Every product on this site is checked against its actual retail listing first, and the write-up is built from what the listing says. Not the brand's own marketing site, not a press release, not a summary of other reviews. If a claim can't be traced to the listing or to a published paper, it doesn't appear.
In practice the things that get a product onto the shortlist are: named strains with their codes rather than a proprietary blend, a dose that matches what was used in research, a delivery format that makes sense for the ingredient, and a cost per serving that isn't silly. The things that get a product rejected are vague ingredient lists, doses well below anything studied, and health claims that aren't on the GB register.
What we won't say
- That a supplement treats, cures or prevents any condition. It's not legal and it's not true.
- That a probiotic will "colonise" your gut. Most strains are transient and leave within days.
- That any product works for everyone. Response to fibre and fermented food varies enormously.
- That we've tested something we haven't.
How we make money
Affiliate commission. When you buy through some of our links we receive a small cut from the retailer, at no extra cost to you. We don't sell placements, we don't take payment for a good review, and commission rate plays no part in what gets recommended or in what order. The affiliate disclosure page sets this out in full.
We're also developing a fibre product of our own, HappyGutFuel Daily. It doesn't exist yet. When it does, it will be labelled clearly as ours wherever it appears, and it won't quietly replace a recommendation that's currently pointing somewhere else.
Corrections
If something here is wrong, tell us and we'll fix it and say that we have. Contact page has the address.