Cited Health

CITED Health -- Evidence-Based Supplement Research

CITED Health is a network of evidence-based supplement review sites where every health claim is backed by peer-reviewed research from PubMed. The evidence grading engine calculates A-F grades algorithmically from study type, result consistency, sample size, and study count.

Sites

Quick Start

# Search for ingredients
curl -s "https://haircited.com/api/ingredients/?q=biotin" | python3 -m json.tool

# Get evidence for a specific ingredient-condition pair
curl -s "https://haircited.com/api/evidence/?ingredient=biotin&condition=hair-loss" | python3 -m json.tool

# Get embed badge data (CORS-enabled)
curl -s "https://haircited.com/embed/biotin/for/hair-loss/data.json" | python3 -m json.tool

# Search research papers
curl -s "https://haircited.com/api/papers/?q=biotin+hair" | python3 -m json.tool

# Get LLM-friendly markdown for any page
curl -s "https://haircited.com/ingredients/biotin.md"

Evidence Grading System

CITED calculates evidence grades algorithmically from extracted study data:

Algorithm factors:

1. Base score from highest-quality study type (Meta-Analysis > RCT > Cohort > Observational > In Vitro)
2. Consistency bonus (>70% positive = bonus, <30% = penalty)
3. Sample size bonus (>=500 participants = bonus, <100 = penalty)
4. Study count bonus (>=5 studies = bonus, <2 = penalty)

REST API Endpoints

All endpoints are free, public, and require no authentication. Base URLs: https://haircited.com and https://sleepcited.com.

Ingredients

GET /api/ingredients/
GET /api/ingredients/?q={name}
GET /api/ingredients/?category={category}
GET /api/ingredients/?page={n}&page_size={n}

Query params: q (search by name), category (filter), page, page_size (max 100, default 20).

Response fields: id, name, slug, category, mechanism, recommended_dosage, forms, is_featured.

# Example: search for biotin
curl -s "https://haircited.com/api/ingredients/?q=biotin"

{
  "count": 1,
  "next": null,
  "previous": null,
  "results": [
    {
      "id": 1,
      "name": "Biotin",
      "slug": "biotin",
      "category": "Vitamins",
      "mechanism": "Essential B-vitamin cofactor for carboxylase enzymes...",
      "recommended_dosage": "2,500-5,000 mcg daily",
      "forms": "Capsules, tablets, gummies, liquid",
      "is_featured": true
    }
  ]
}

Evidence

GET /api/evidence/
GET /api/evidence/?ingredient={slug}
GET /api/evidence/?condition={slug}
GET /api/evidence/?ingredient={slug}&condition={slug}

Query params: ingredient (slug), condition (slug).

Response fields: id, ingredient (slug, name), condition (slug, name), grade, grade_label, summary, direction, total_studies, total_participants.

# Example: get evidence for biotin + hair loss
curl -s "https://haircited.com/api/evidence/?ingredient=biotin&condition=hair-loss"

{
  "count": 1,
  "results": [
    {
      "id": 1,
      "ingredient": {"slug": "biotin", "name": "Biotin"},
      "condition": {"slug": "hair-loss", "name": "Hair Loss"},
      "grade": "B",
      "grade_label": "Moderate",
      "summary": "Research suggests biotin may support hair growth...",
      "direction": "positive",
      "total_studies": 8,
      "total_participants": 540
    }
  ]
}

Papers

GET /api/papers/
GET /api/papers/?q={search}
GET /api/papers/?year={year}

Query params: q (search title/abstract), year (filter by publication year).

Response fields: id, pmid, title, journal, publication_year, study_type, citation_count, is_open_access, pubmed_link.

# Example: search for melatonin sleep studies
curl -s "https://sleepcited.com/api/papers/?q=melatonin+sleep"

Embed Badge Data

GET /embed/{ingredient}/for/{condition}/data.json

CORS-enabled JSON endpoint for embedding evidence badges on external sites.

Response fields: grade, grade_label, grade_color, ingredient, condition, studies, participants, direction, url, cite_url, logo_url, site_name, last_updated.

# Example: get badge data for biotin + hair loss
curl -s "https://haircited.com/embed/biotin/for/hair-loss/data.json"

OpenAPI Specification

GET /api/openapi.json

OpenAPI 3.1.0 specification for all API endpoints. Available on each site:

• https://haircited.com/api/openapi.json
• https://sleepcited.com/api/openapi.json

LLM-Friendly Markdown Endpoints

All pages support .md suffix for clean markdown output optimized for AI consumption:

URL Structure

/                                                  # Home (ingredient grid)
/ingredients/                                      # All ingredients
/ingredients/{slug}/                               # Ingredient detail
/conditions/                                       # All conditions
/conditions/{slug}/                                # Condition detail
/evidence/{ingredient}/for/{condition}/            # Evidence detail (N-squared)
/papers/                                           # All papers
/papers/{pmid}/                                    # Paper detail
/compare/                                          # Compare index
/compare/{slug1}-vs-{slug2}/                      # Ingredient comparison
/products/{slug}/                                  # Product detail
/glossary/                                         # Glossary index
/glossary/{slug}/                                  # Glossary term detail
/guides/                                           # Guides index
/guides/{slug}/                                    # Guide detail
/tools/                                            # Interactive tools index
/tools/{slug}/                                     # Interactive tool
/developers/                                       # Developer documentation

Interactive Tools

HairCited (haircited.com)

SleepCited (sleepcited.com)

Embed & Citation System

CITED provides embeddable evidence badges for external sites:

# Badge data (JSON, CORS-enabled)
GET /embed/{ingredient}/for/{condition}/data.json

# Self-contained JS widget
GET /embed/{ingredient}/for/{condition}/badge.js

# Citation page (APA, MLA, BibTeX, Chicago formats)
GET /cite/{ingredient}/for/{condition}/

Embedding example

<div id="cited-badge"></div>
<script src="https://haircited.com/embed/biotin/for/hair-loss/badge.js"></script>

FDA/FTC Compliance

All content uses FDA-compliant structure/function claims only:

• Allowed: "supports", "promotes", "helps maintain", "may help", "may support", "contributes to", "associated with", "research suggests", "clinically studied"
• Prohibited: "cures", "treats", "prevents", "diagnoses", "heals", "eliminates", "eradicates", "guaranteed", "proven to", "clinically proven", "100% effective", "miracle", "instant results"

Developer Documentation

• Developer portal: haircited.com/developers/
• OpenAPI spec: haircited.com/api/openapi.json
• LLM summary: haircited.com/llms.txt