Educational information, not medical advice.See how evidence is graded

Most natural remedies are understudied. Here is the count.

We grade the evidence for every remedy we recommend, separately for every condition we recommend it for. That is 8,445 remedy-condition pairs across 285 conditions. Of those, 62.9% have no gradeable human evidence at all, and only 25.2% rest on clinical trials.

We publish this because the number is unflattering and still true. A library that graded everything B would not be a graded library.

8,445
Remedy-condition pairs

Across 285 conditions, median 26 options each.

25.2%
Rest on clinical trials

2,130 pairs graded A or B.

62.9%
Have no gradeable evidence

5,313 pairs. Shown as ungraded rather than quietly dropped.

Why a remedy has no single grade

No remedy carries a single evidence grade. Evidence is graded per condition, because the same remedy can rest on controlled trials for one use and on nothing for another.

Turmeric has real trial evidence for osteoarthritis pain and none worth a letter for a dozen other things it is sold for. One grade per remedy would have to pick which of those to tell you. So the grade lives on the pair, and the same remedy can read A on one page and ungraded on another.

Every pair, by grade

AControlled trials in this condition995 (11.8%)
BSmaller or mixed clinical studies1,135 (13.4%)
CLimited or preliminary clinical evidence974 (11.5%)
DMechanism or laboratory evidence only21 (0.2%)
–Looked, and could not tell7 (0.1%)
–Not yet graded5,313 (62.9%)

“Looked, and could not tell” is a separate answer from “not yet graded”. The first means someone read the literature for that pair and found nothing that justified a letter. It is a finding, not a backlog.

Where the evidence is

The conditions with the most trial-backed options. These are the ones where choosing well is possible.

ConditionOptionsOn trials
Diabetes8540
Osteoarthritis6132
Chronic Low Back Pain6031
Lower Back Pain6031
Pain5829
Weight Loss6425
PTSD6125
Depression 4924
Migraine3523
Prediabetes4422
Sleep6622
Chemo Nausea4422

Where it is not

33 of 285 conditions have no option backed by a clinical trial, and 14 have nothing graded at all. The largest of those are below: plenty of options offered, none of them studied for that use. We keep the pages and say so rather than deleting the question.

ConditionOptions offered
Longevity54
Cellular Regeneration32
Mast Cell Activation Syndrome26
Conjunctivitis (Pink Eye)21
Ganglion Cyst16
Poison Ivy12
Endometriosis10
Jock Itch10
Ringworm10
Hyperhidrosis (Excessive Sweating)8
Trigger Finger8
Nail Health6

How the grades are assigned

Popularity never raises a grade and traditional standing is tracked separately. A remedy used for a thousand years with no trial behind it grades D, and saying so is the entire point of the grade. How we build and check these pages.

Measured 2026-10-07 across 3,555 remedies, 489 health topics, 368 pressure points and 53 deficiencies. Recounted whenever the library changes.