Research & Disclosure Standards

TotalHealth Research Desk is funded primarily by affiliate relationships with retailers and brands. This page explains how that works, what the relationship does and does not influence, and the legal framework we operate under. Transparency about commercial relationships is a core editorial commitment.

What an Affiliate Relationship Is

An affiliate relationship is a commercial arrangement under which a retailer or brand pays a commission to the referring publication when a reader clicks through a tracked link and makes a purchase. The commission is paid by the retailer or brand. The reader pays the same price they would pay if they had arrived at the retailer through any other channel. There is no markup, no surcharge, and no additional cost passed through to the reader as a result of the affiliate relationship.

The links that carry an affiliate relationship on this site are called paid links. We use that term deliberately. The FTC's current guidance under 16 CFR Part 255 indicates that the term “affiliate link” alone may not be sufficient for consumer understanding, and “paid link” language is the standard we have adopted across the publication.

Why We Use “Paid Link” Language

The FTC's “Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers” guidance and the 2023 revision of 16 CFR Part 255 emphasize that disclosures must be clear and conspicuous to the average consumer. Language that requires the reader to know what an “affiliate” is, or to understand that “#ad” is shorthand for a paid commercial relationship, is not sufficient under current FTC guidance. “Paid link” is plain language. It tells the reader, in words they can immediately understand, that the publication has a commercial interest in their decision to click through.

Every article on TotalHealth Research Desk that contains a paid link discloses that relationship at the top of the article, above the first paid link, using “paid link” language. The footer on every page also carries the paid link disclosure. Both are present. Neither replaces the other.

The Standard Disclosure Language

The in-article disclosure on every monetized article reads:

Disclosure: This article contains paid links. If you purchase through them, TotalHealthRD.com may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. This does not influence our research or conclusions. See our Research & Disclosure Standards for full details.

The footer disclosure on every page reads:

Some links on this site are paid links. If you purchase through them, TotalHealthRD.com may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. This does not influence our research or conclusions. See our Research & Disclosure Standards for full details.

What Affiliate Relationships Do Influence

The affiliate relationship is, candidly, what allows TotalHealth Research Desk to exist as a publication. Commission revenue funds the editorial work — the research, the verification protocol, the writing, the technical infrastructure. Without commission revenue, there is no publication.

So affiliate relationships influence:

• The economic viability of the publication.
• The pace at which we can publish new coverage.
• The breadth of products we can afford to research and review.

What Affiliate Relationships Do Not Influence

The affiliate relationship does not influence editorial coverage or conclusions. This is the bright line at this publication, and it is the standard the editorial team holds itself to:

• Brands cannot pay to be reviewed. Coverage decisions are made by the editorial team based on demonstrated reader interest, SERP demand, and the verification protocol. A brand's willingness to join an affiliate program does not buy coverage.
• Brands cannot pay to be reviewed favorably. Conclusions are based on the verification protocol documented on our How We Review page. A brand whose product does not survive the verification protocol cannot purchase a favorable conclusion.
• Brands cannot pay to be excluded from a comparison. If a brand's product is relevant to a comparison and would naturally belong in it, it appears in the comparison regardless of whether the brand has an affiliate program with us. We disclose the brand in our coverage and link to its direct site if there is no affiliate option.
• Brands cannot dictate language. Brands do not see articles before publication. Brands cannot edit articles after publication except via the corrections process, which only addresses factual errors, not editorial judgment.
• Brands cannot dictate the “Last verified” date. Re-verification happens on our schedule based on the verification protocol, not on a brand's request to refresh coverage.

When We Have No Affiliate Relationship

Not every product we cover has an affiliate program available to us. Some brands sell direct-to-consumer with no affiliate network. Some have affiliate programs we have not joined. Some are too small to operate one. When we cover a product where there is no affiliate relationship, we link to the brand's direct site without an affiliate tracking parameter and we say so in the article. The absence of an affiliate relationship does not change our coverage standards.

FTC Compliance Framework

TotalHealth Research Desk operates under the FTC's framework for endorsements and testimonials in advertising, codified at 16 CFR Part 255, as updated in the 2023 revision and clarified in the FTC's “Disclosures 101” guidance. Our compliance commitments under that framework are:

• Proximate disclosure: The paid link disclosure appears at the top of every monetized article, above the first paid link. It is not buried in a footer-only disclosure. It is not in fine print. It is in the body of the article, in normal-size text, before the reader encounters the link it discloses.
• Plain-language disclosure: We use “paid link” language. We do not rely on “#ad,” “affiliate,” or industry shorthand the consumer may not understand.
• Honest commercial relationship description: We do not characterize paid relationships as anything other than what they are. We do not hide them, soft-pedal them, or use marketing-friendly euphemisms.
• Truthful testimonial standards: We do not publish fabricated testimonials, invented customer outcomes, or unverified user experiences. If a testimonial appears on the site, it is from a verifiable source.
• Substantiated claims: Health claims about supplements are substantiated against published research and follow DSHEA structure-function language. We do not make disease claims for supplements.

Research Standards

The research standards governing how we cite and qualify evidence are documented in full on our Editorial Standards and How We Review pages. In summary:

• Studies are cited by named author, year, and journal.
• Evidence is qualified — established, preliminary, animal, in vitro, marketing claim.
• Supplement claims follow DSHEA structure-function language.
• Marketing copy is verified against the Supplement Facts panel before being treated as fact.
• Compounded medication coverage carries the compounding disclaimer in the article body.

What This Page Is Not

This page is not a list of every brand we have an affiliate relationship with. Affiliate relationships change frequently — brands launch new programs, retailers update commission structures, networks add and drop merchants. Maintaining an accurate, public list of every relationship in real time is not practical and is not standard practice in editorial publishing. The disclosure in every monetized article tells the reader that the article contains paid links. That is the disclosure the FTC framework requires.

If you want to know whether a specific link in a specific article is a paid link, the disclosure in that article tells you that the article contains paid links. We do not differentiate between “paid” and “non-paid” links within an article on a per-link basis, because the in-article disclosure covers the article as a whole.

Contact for Disclosure Concerns

If you have a specific concern about how a disclosure is presented in any article on this site, please reach out via our contact form and use the “Disclosure Question” inquiry type. We take disclosure concerns seriously and will respond to legitimate inquiries.

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Some links on this site are paid links. If you purchase through them, TotalHealthRD.com may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. This does not influence our research or conclusions.