How we write.
The Gut Check is a gastroenterologist’s letter on gut health, performance, and longevity. What follows is the standard we hold this work to. If we ever violate one of these, you have a license to call it out, and we will publish the correction.
- 01
Publication-first.
A twice-weekly letter, not a sales platform. Any future product holds these same standards: cited evidence, transparent partnerships, no surprise costs, no paywall on the letter itself. The day that ever changes, we say so on the front page.
- 02
Evidence-based partnerships.
Collaborations only with companies meeting clinical evidence standards, disclosed transparently on the page where they appear. No supplements sold, no affiliate codes. The rule: I will not recommend anything I would not take myself, give to my own patients, or hand to a training partner before a long race.
- 03
Free access — and no CME claim we don't hold.
The public letter is free. We sell nothing today. We do not claim accredited continuing-education (CME / RCPSC MOC) credit. Any accredited CME tier would require a formal partnership with a recognized not-for-profit accreditor — a university CPD office, a specialty society, or CAG — because a for-profit publication cannot self-accredit. Until such a partnership exists, no CME credit is offered or implied.
- 04
Primary-literature citations.
Every empirical claim references peer-reviewed sources with PMIDs or DOIs. When we hedge, we say what we're hedging on. When the evidence is mixed, we say so. When we don't know, we say so.
- 05
Best evidence, not consensus.
Where major guidelines diverge — CAG, ACG, AGA, NICE, ESGE — we follow the strongest evidence and say where they disagree, with Canadian (CAG) context first where it is load-bearing. When the major societies disagree, we let you see the disagreement, not the consensus version.
- 06
Ideas over personalities.
Critiques target claims and evidence, never individuals. This brand is built around one editor's read on the evidence — so that perspective is in the room. What stays out of the room is other people's personalities.
- 07
Public accountability.
Corrections appear visibly in subsequent letters; the original piece gets a dated correction note, not a buried one. Reader feedback is solicited. If I ever violate one of these, you have a license to call it out, and I will publish the correction.