4 replies to this topic

[cpark91]

This started as a little data science experiment. I analyzed 15,000 reviews and was surprised by what I found.

 

A lot of reviews contain phrases like, "I took this [probiotic] for my gut health but then I noticed my eczema went away." The top 10 lists I was generating suggested supplements that weren't always suggested by the lists you find online when you google "supplements for eczema". I suspect this is because those lists are generated based on mechanisms we already understand while working backward from reviews also reveals effective supplements whose mechanisms are still not understood.

 

Here is the tool: 

 

https://www.supplementdb.org/search/

 

I think this could help some people out there, so I wanted to share it, even though I still have some work to do. Currently, I've only got 15,000 products in the database, and the ranking algorithm isn't great (it is currently more biased towards more popular products).

 

If there's one thing I've learned in my own health journey, it's that health is immensely personal. What works for you might be a less-common suggestion. Hopefully, this helps you find your body-double and you learn of something that helps improve your wellbeing.

 

I also posted this on Reddit yesterday. I received a really surprising amount of support and quite a few suggestions. I implemented almost all of those suggestions today. Please tell me how you think I could improve the tool, and share it with anyone you think it might help.

 

 

[Oakman]

Pretty cool, thanks for posting about it. Couple questions...

 

What do you actually search (what is in each supps database record) when a condition is searched for?

Or if you'd rather not say, where do you get your data? Can you scrape Amazon or..?

"Find the best supplements" - what is the purpose? I can't enter a term, just the three shown.

What is "customer behavior on Amazon"  vs Amazon reviews?

 

I'm going to play some and explore. Good luck!

Edited by Oakman, 30 November 2018 - 03:49 PM.

[sthira]

Thank you for this, it's a very cool thing you've done here, not only in the talent and dedication you've shown in the creation, but also in the sharing. Beautiful!

I searched "Anxiety" on your site, and it displayed several compounds I've not tried.

But I'm still left hanging on whether or not to actually purchase the products suggested and reviewed for many reasons.

So constructive criticism isn't directed at site -- which is cool -- but rather with the dismal state of the supplement industry itself.

One day in the future it would be great to type in a specific body malady, pull up suggestions for easily accessed, effective, regulated, honest compounds that have actual human data supporting eficacy. And then I will buy it, take it on a ride around the block, and see if it works.

That day just isn't here yet (my opinion) and I think I'm better off just obtaining RDA from the foods I eat, rather than a supplement.

Having said all that, I'm gonna buy the supplement that your engine indicated, and see what happens.

[cpark91]

> What do you actually search (what is in each supps database record) when a condition is searched for?

reviews from Amazon.com

 

> "Find the best supplements" - what is the purpose? I can't enter a term, just the three shown.

This part of the site isn't ready yet... It's not valuable at all right now.

 

> Having said all that, I'm gonna buy the supplement that your engine indicated, and see what happens.

 

Thank you lol. Let me know how it works out!

 

[BarefootProphet]

Great initiative! 

 

Are you still actively developing?

 

I've tried searching for "sleep" but I found the results somewhat limited.

I'm getting a list of 10 products on the right, but most of them are duplicates. Ie. different brands of for example 5-htp or theanine.

I'd expect a list of supplements only

 

On the left I'm getting a really long list of reviews for just the theanine. Maybe you could condense this list a little and make it expandable to show all the reviews?

Also I'd expect the see the reviews grouped per supplement.

It would also be great if you could show an overview of the reviews. Ie. Group the positive reviews and the negative reviews, maybe score the supplement based on the % of positive reviews?