An outreach project on natural health and scientific advances. This is what we do, how we do it and what you will not find here.
What EcoKOMPASS is
We publish in Spanish for anyone who wants to understand what the research says about a plant, a supplement or a treatment, and what those who treat patients every day are seeing. Without having to trust whoever is selling it to you.
Searching for information on natural health almost always leads to the same destination: a page explaining why its product works. What is missing is the step before that, the one that answers the real questions. What did the study say? How many people was it tested on? Has the result been replicated? What do we still not know?
That is the gap we are trying to fill. Hence the name: a compass does not tell you where to go, it tells you where you are.
Our editorial methodology
We cannot ask you to trust us without telling you how we work. This is the full procedure.
Two sources, not one
What we publish comes from two different places, and we always tell you which.
1 · Published research
We follow scientific publications, peer-reviewed journals and communications from health institutions, and we choose on the basis of genuine interest to the reader: a new finding, a plant with widespread traditional use, a supplement everyone talks about and hardly anyone has read up on.
2 · The experience of those who treat patients every day
We speak directly with therapists. They tell us what they have seen work in their practice, with what regimen and in what kind of person. Sometimes it is experience accumulated over years. Sometimes it is a single case we have known at first hand.
We publish these experiences because they are what brings us closest to day-to-day health. What happens in a practice takes years to reach the scientific literature, if it ever does. In the meantime there are people trying things and seeing results, and that information exists even if nobody has measured it yet.
But an experience is not proof, and we are not going to confuse you by calling it something else.
How we handle clinical experience
- It is always identified as experience from the title and the lead itself. We never mix it with evidence articles without telling you.
- We tell you how many cases we are talking about. If it is one, we say one. We do not dress it up as a trend.
- The therapist does not appear by name, but we know who they are. We have spoken with them directly and we know their practice: we do not publish experiences that reach us second-hand or from sources we cannot verify ourselves. We do tell you their profile —what therapy they practise and since when— so that you can weigh what you read.
- The patient is always anonymous. We do not publish any detail, or any combination of details, that would allow them to be identified: no exact age, no locality, no dates, no details that taken together point to a specific person.
- It is not a recommendation. The fact that something worked for someone does not mean it will work for you, nor that you should try it on your own.
- We do not link to products from a clinical experience piece. Telling you what worked for one person and placing a buy button next to it would be something else entirely, and it is not what we do.
In both cases, never the other way round. The topic is not chosen by looking at the shop catalogue.
Which sources
- PubMed and Europe PMC. The original study, not the press release summarising it.
- Cochrane Library. To find out whether a systematic review exists that puts the finding in context.
- EFSA and AESAN. What can legally be claimed about a food or a supplement in the European Union.
- NCCIH. Medicinal plant fact sheets from the US centre for complementary health.
- Examine. State of the accumulated evidence on a specific supplement.
We always link to the source. If an article does not let you check where its claims come from, for us it is not finished.
How we write it
In plain language, without unnecessary jargon and without exaggeration. When the evidence is preliminary —a single trial, a small sample, results in animals rather than people— we say so within the text, not in a footnote nobody reads.
Figures come with their context. “Reduced the risk by 50%” means nothing if you do not know what the starting point was.
What we do not publish
- Anything that promises to prevent, treat or cure a disease. Not even by implication.
- Anything about slimming or weight control.
- Products whose manufacturer we cannot verify. We have already rejected listings for finding no trace of the laboratory.
- Anonymous testimonials, or cases presented as proof that something works. The clinical experience we publish is identified, with its author and its scope.
- Paid content, advertorials or articles written by a brand.
Review and corrections
Science changes, and an article from two years ago may have aged badly. We review content periodically and each piece visibly displays its last review date.
And we make mistakes, like everyone. If you spot an error, write to us. We correct it and record it in the article itself, without erasing the trail.
Our relationship with EcoSHOP
EcoKOMPASS has a shop. It is only fair that you know how that coexists with what you read, because it is the question anyone would ask.
- Articles are not written to sell. The topic is chosen out of interest, and the link to the product, if there is one, comes afterwards.
- When an article links to a product, it does so visibly and separately from the content. Never within the safety, precautions or interactions sections.
- We also publish when the research goes against something we sell. We have already done so.
- The product sheets describe composition, dosage, directions for use and precautions. We do not attribute curative properties to them, because neither does European law allow it nor would it be honest.
What EcoKOMPASS is not
- It is not a medical consultation. We do not diagnose, we do not treat and we do not recommend personal regimens to anyone.
- We do not sell medicines. In Spain, distance selling of medicines is reserved by law to pharmacies authorised and listed in the AEMPS register.
- It is no substitute for your doctor. What you read here is one more reading to take to your appointment, never the only one.
If you are deciding something about your health. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist before starting, changing or stopping any treatment or supplement, especially if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, taking medication or have any medical condition. Food supplements are not a substitute for a varied and balanced diet.
Write to us
A correction, a topic you would like to read about, a question about an order or about your report. We read every e-mail: info@ecokompass.com