GRADE 5 · SETTLED
Large trials or long-established anatomy agree. Further studies are unlikely to change the picture.
174 entries in the Atlas.
For example: TRAVERSE in the Aging-Men Context, Desmopressin.
Methods
How we grade evidence
Every entry in the Atlas carries a grade from 1 to 5, and a few sit below that scale entirely. The grade rates how much has been proven, not how well something works. A low grade means nobody has tested it properly yet. It does not mean the thing has been shown to fail. Both happen, and we say which.
The five grades
GRADE 4 · STRONG
Good human trials point the same way. Some questions are open, none of them central.
403 entries in the Atlas.
For example: Age-Related Testosterone Decline, Abaloparatide.
GRADE 3 · MIXED
Human studies exist and disagree, or they are small. Reasonable people read this evidence differently.
416 entries in the Atlas.
For example: Oral 17-Alpha-Alkylated Steroids & Hepatotoxicity, Shinrin-yoku (Forest Bathing).
GRADE 2 · THIN
Almost all of the evidence is from animals or lab work. Human testing is one small study or none worth the name.
418 entries in the Atlas.
For example: Boldenone, Ayahuasca / Yage.
GRADE 1 · UNTESTED
No human trials have been run. What is claimed for this comes from theory, animals, or personal accounts.
172 entries in the Atlas.
For example: Animal-Based Aphrodisiacs, Bowen Technique.
OFF THE SCALE · REFUTED
This was investigated and the claim did not hold. It shares the lowest number so it can be sorted and filtered with everything else, but it is not the same as untested. Untested means nobody has looked.
12 entries in the Atlas.
For example: Therapeutic Touch (Krieger-Kunz)
When the grade varies
Some entries cover a whole condition, not a single compound, and the evidence differs by treatment. Urinary tract infection is the clearest case: antibiotics grade 5, cranberry grades 2. An entry like that carries no single grade anywhere, including on cards and in search results, because one number across the whole page would tell you cranberry works.
Why a grade is what it is
Where we have written the reasoning, it sits directly under the grade and names the trials and bodies behind it. Every MATRIA entry has one. No peptide entry has one yet, so those entries show the raw trial counts and say plainly that the written rationale is still being prepared. We do not invent a rationale to fill the space.
What you can check yourself
MATRIA entries carry per-claim sources: the claim, the publication, a link, the date we checked it, and how much confidence we place in it. Peptide entries name and describe their studies but do not yet link them, which means you cannot verify a peptide entry from the page. We say so on every peptide entry, because otherwise the length of the page implies we did.
A grade is not a safety rating
These are two different questions and we keep them visually separate. The grade tells you how much is known. The risk note near the top of every entry tells you what can go wrong. A compound can be well studied and dangerous, or barely studied and harmless. Confusing the two is the mistake we most want to prevent, which is why they never share a colour or sit in the same block.
We do not rank by popularity
Every list in the Atlas sorts by strength of evidence first. We record how much a subject is discussed, and we use it for one thing only: an optional sort. It never appears as a score. The most discussed peptide in the world sits at grade 2, and putting a large number next to that would undo the point of the grade.
Corrections
When we get something wrong we change the entry and say what changed. When an entry is merged into another, the old address keeps working and points at the new one. Entries that are still being written are listed as gaps on the entry itself.
What this is not
The Atlas describes what has been studied across populations. It cannot tell you what to do about your own body. That needs someone who can examine you, take a history, and be accountable for the answer. Nothing here is a diagnosis, a prescription, or a recommendation to take anything.