How we work

This page describes how an article on HCG is put together, so that a reader can judge it.

1. The question comes first

We write about questions people actually ask — how much can realistically be lost in a month, what happens when a medicine is stopped, what a programme costs — and not about whatever is in the news that week. An article is worth publishing only if it still answers the question next year.

2. Numbers, ranges and where they come from

Where a figure exists we print it with what it means and who published it. Where the evidence gives a range rather than a number, we print the range. Where a claim is popular but unsupported — and in weight loss many are — we say what it rests on.

3. Nothing here is medical advice

We describe mechanisms and evidence. We do not diagnose, prescribe, recommend doses, or tell a reader to start or stop anything. Decisions about medication, injections and very low calorie diets belong with a clinician.

4. Independence

The health sections carry no advertising links and no paid placements. The Gaming section is the exception, and says so on every page: it is advertising supported and marked 18+.

5. Corrections

Mistakes are fixed on the page, not quietly deleted. Write to [email protected] with the sentence you are questioning.