How we write the Knowledge Base

Who writes this

The Protein Buddy team. The same people who build the app, not a contracted content agency and not a freelancer paid by the word. Articles are attributed to the team rather than to an individual because that is who is accountable for them.

Drafting is assisted by AI, and editing, sourcing and fact-checking are done by people. We mention this because we would rather say it than have you wonder: every number in these articles was traced back to the paper it came from by a person, and nothing is published on the strength of a model asserting it.

What we cite, and what we do not

Across 75 articles there are 234 citations. They come from:

• Position papers and consensus statements from expert groups: PROT-AGE, ESPEN, the International Society of Sports Nutrition.
• Official reference intakes: the Institute of Medicine Dietary Reference Intakes, USDA FoodData Central.
• Peer-reviewed trials and cohort studies, cited directly rather than through a news article about them.
• Primary platform documentation for technical claims, such as Apple and Android developer docs for how health data actually behaves.

What you will not find cited: supplement-company blogs, content farms, other apps’ marketing pages, or a summary of a summary. If we could not reach the original, we did not make the claim.

Why there is no “medically reviewed” badge

Because we have not had these articles reviewed by a clinician. Health sites usually display a doctor’s name and photograph on every page, and readers reasonably read that as a guarantee. Adding one we had not earned would be a lie about the one thing you are most entitled to trust.

What we do instead is make the evidence checkable: named sources, linked, with inline markers so you can see which claim rests on which paper. If a number here matters to you, the source is one click away and you can judge it yourself.

Where we say “we do not know”

Stating the limits of the evidence is part of the standard, not a disclaimer bolted on at the end. The clearest example runs through the whole site:

There is no established protein target specific to GLP-1 medications. The 1.6 g/kg floor our calculator applies is an extrapolation from the weight-loss and resistance-training literature, not a guideline.

We repeat that anywhere the number appears, including on the calculator itself, because it would be easy and profitable to leave it out.

This is not medical advice

It is general reference material. It cannot account for your medical history, medication or kidney function, and it is not a substitute for someone who can. Anyone taking a GLP-1 medication, living with reduced kidney function, pregnant, or managing a condition affected by protein intake should set their target with a clinician.

Updates and corrections

Every article carries the date it was last checked, and that date only moves when somebody actually re-read it against its sources. We do not refresh dates to look current.

If something here is wrong, tell us at hello@heyproteinbuddy.app. Corrections to a factual claim are made and the article re-dated. You do not need to be a specialist to report one, and we would rather hear it from you than leave it up.

The commercial part, said out loud

We make a protein tracking app and these articles exist partly to introduce it. That is a real interest and you should weigh it. Two rules follow from it: no article recommends the app as the answer to a question it does not actually answer, and our comparison with other trackers names the cases where a competitor or no app at all is the better choice.