Evidence-based health education
First the evidence.Then the claim.
I'm Dr. Holger Scheib, a chemist. I trace ingredients and studies back to the source and tell you what's backed by evidence and what just sounds good.
How I workDr. Holger Scheib
Chemist · The HealthChemist
Own research, published in
Peer-reviewed work at the intersection of chemistry, biology and nutrition.
At a glance
The HealthChemist explains health and ingredient topics based on real studies. Every claim is visibly labelled: proven, plausible or hypothesis. No wonder cures, no fear-mongering.
The finding
“Green tea slows sugar absorption.”
Hypothesis
A mechanism is conceivable. Nothing more, yet.
Plausible
In the lab, flavonoids inhibit α-amylase, the enzyme that splits starch. Meta-analyses show a real but tiny effect on fasting blood glucose in humans.
Proven
Nothing stands here. The long-term marker HbA1c does not move.
And here it stays. The mechanism is clean, the effect in humans measurable — and so small that it decides nothing in everyday life. I co-authored the underlying paper myself. That is precisely why I do not say “proven”.
Lo Piparo, Scheib et al., J. Med. Chem. 2008 (PMID 18507367) · Zheng et al., Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 2013 (PMID 23426037) · Xu et al., Nutr. Metab. 2020 (PMID 32670385)
My promise
Three levels. Clearly separated.
Online, the line between what is proven and what is merely claimed blurs all the time. That is why every claim I make gets a quality label, like a traffic light.
Proven
Backed by robust studies. The source is named, and I describe the evidence honestly, limits included.
Plausible
Mechanistically reasonable or supported by early data, but not yet firmly proven. Named for exactly what it is.
Hypothesis
A reasoned guess. Interesting, but open. I flag it rather than selling it as certainty.
Why a chemist
Without chemistry, there is no life.
Many people talk about healthy products, and hardly anyone understands what is actually in them. So I read the ingredient list as what it chemically is. A list of molecules, each of which can be checked.
My background is computational chemistry and structural biology. For years I studied how small molecules act in the body. I now use that toolkit to make studies readable for you.
Topics
What I write about
My focus is ingredients and nutrition. Where my own research exists, I point to it; everything else I back with external sources and say so.
Understanding ingredients
What is behind the name on the label? I look at effect, dose and the state of the evidence, not at the promise printed next to it.
Nutrition & nutrients
What polyphenols, vitamins and the rest actually do in the body, and where the data gets thin.
Myth versus evidence
Popular health claims, calmly examined. The study is real; the real question is often the conclusion drawn from it.
What drives me
What I work on
It's always the same question: what does a substance actually do in the body, and does it match what the label promises? Everything you find here grew out of it.
Articles
Read along. Think along.
New articles appear regularly, and every one carries the traffic light. Join me in this quest.
Go to the articlesNewsletter
Shall I send you the next article?
I write irregularly but thoroughly: new articles, honestly sorted into proven, plausible and hypothesis. No spam, no sales funnel.
Contact
Do you have a question or topic idea?
Send me a short note about what you have in mind. Questions, topic ideas and collaboration enquiries all land here. I'm not trying to sell you anything along the way.