How the Box Score Works

Why a sports page

Sports-nutrition marketing is loud, and the numbers that matter are usually in small print on the back of the box. A newspaper box score does the opposite: it lays out the numbers of a game in one table, the same columns every time, so you can compare one line with another at a glance. Health News Weekly applies that idea to the products people who exercise for fun actually buy: electrolyte tablets, drink mixes, energy chews, protein shakes, oats and water bottles.

How a box score is filled in

The box score is only useful if every cell means the same thing on every page, so each one follows the same rules.

• One serving, as the label defines it. We copy the serving size printed on the Nutrition Facts or Supplement Facts panel, not a serving we invented, and we say which flavor or size we read.
• Only numbers that are printed. If a label does not list a value, the cell says "Not listed" rather than a guess. A true zero is shown as zero.
• Caffeine called out. Where a brand sells caffeinated and caffeine-free versions under the same name, the box score says which one we read and adds a row or a note for the other.
• Cost per serving, with the math shown. We divide the Amazon price we saw, on the date we saw it, by the number of servings on that listing, and print the sum under the table. A cost per serving is only true on that day.
• The amber cell is a judgment, and we say why. It marks the number most worth noticing, such as a large sodium dose or a caffeine content, not a score or a rating.

How a product earns a page

• An established brand with a live listing on Amazon.com. We open the listing ourselves and confirm the title, the brand, the exact size or variation, and that it is in stock. We do not write about products we could find only through a search page.
• The label and the manufacturer's page, read side by side. When they disagree, we say so and report both.
• Certifications checked at the source. NSF Certified for Sport and Informed Sport are different programs from each other, and both differ from USP Verified or NSF Contents Certified. "Made in a GMP facility" and "third-party tested" are not seals at all. We credit a program only after finding the product in that program's own public directory.
• Evidence in proportion. Where a product or its category makes a claim, we look for primary sources, such as position stands, systematic reviews and government pages, and describe what they found, for whom, and with what limits. We do not turn "a small study found" into "it works".

How we make money

Health News Weekly earns money in exactly one way: the Amazon Associates program. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Every product button on this site goes to that product's Amazon listing, and if you buy through it we receive a small commission from Amazon at no extra cost to you.

There is no other affiliate program, no direct-seller link, no sponsored post, no paid placement, and no free product accepted in exchange for coverage. A brand cannot pay for a page here, and the commission rate on a product plays no part in whether it gets one or in what the entry says. The full version is in our Affiliate Disclosure.

What we do not do

• We do not run lab tests. We are a small editorial team without a laboratory. When testing matters, we name the certification program and check its directory, or we say plainly that the testing status is not disclosed.
• We do not give medical advice. Nothing here is written for your particular situation. If you take medication, are pregnant or nursing, have been told to limit sodium or caffeine, or have any existing condition, talk to a clinician before changing what you eat, drink or take. That caution sits on every relevant page on purpose.
• We do not promise what your body will do. No body photos, no timelines, no body goals, no promises about speed, strength or stamina. A box score describes what is in a product; what it does for you depends on you.
• We do not target conditions, ages or body types. Entries are written for healthy adults who exercise for fun. We do not write "for people with" anything.
• We do not invent people. The byline on every page is Health News Weekly Editorial Team. There is no fictional doctor reviewing entries and no named athlete, coach or influencer, because we would rather you judge the sourcing than a face.
• We do not sell or ship anything. Every purchase happens on Amazon under Amazon's own terms. See Shipping and Returns.

Who writes this

Health News Weekly is published by ALL PRO NUTRITION, LLC. The pages are written and maintained by a small editorial team. We are not clinicians, dietitians or sports-nutrition professionals, and we do not claim to be. What we bring is a process: open the listing, read the label, check the certifier's directory, find the primary source, date the price, write it plainly, and say when we could not confirm something.

Corrections

If something on this site is wrong, we want to fix it: a price that has moved, a serving size we misread, a caffeine figure for the wrong flavor, a study we described too generously, a certification that has lapsed, a link that has died. Write to us through the Contact page with the page address, the sentence or number you believe is wrong and, if you have one, a source we can open ourselves.

When we confirm an error we correct the page and update its review date. If the correction changes what the entry actually says about a product, we add a short note on the page saying what changed. We do not quietly rewrite history.

How often pages are reviewed

Every entry and explainer carries the date it was last reviewed. Our working rule is to re-open every Amazon listing we link to at least once a quarter, confirming that the ASIN still resolves to the same product and variation, that it is in stock, and that the label has not been reformulated, and to re-check a price whenever we touch a page for any reason. Between reviews a listing can change without telling us, which is why the date on the page is the only date that counts. If you are relying on a price or a label number, check the listing first.

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