How We Work

How we evaluate evidence, fund our work, and think about health information. This is the how; for the why, read our story.

Our Methodology

How we evaluate evidence

Every claim on MeMurton Labs traces back to a source. Not a blog post, not an influencer's opinion, not a supplement company's marketing page, a source. We cite peer-reviewed journal articles, meta-analyses, clinical guidelines, and established scientific databases. When the evidence is strong, we say so. When it's preliminary, we say that too.

This isn't just a preference, it's a system.

The evidence tier framework

Every intervention and recommendation on this site carries an evidence grade. These aren't arbitrary, they reflect the quality and strength of the research behind them.

[A]
Strong evidence: Supported by human interventional studies, randomized controlled trials, meta-analyses, or established clinical guidelines. Multiple high-quality studies in agreement. This is the strongest level of evidence, recommendations at this tier are well-established in the scientific literature.
[B]
Moderate evidence: Supported by prospective cohort studies, strong observational data in humans, or consistent findings across multiple smaller studies. The direction of effect is clear, but the evidence hasn't reached the gold standard of large RCTs or meta-analyses.
[C]
Preliminary evidence: Supported by mechanistic studies, animal data, in-vitro research, or cross-sectional associations. Promising and scientifically plausible, but not yet confirmed in robust human trials. We include these because emerging science matters, but we always label the tier so you know where it stands.
[D]
Theoretical: Based on clinical inference, expert interpretation, early hypothesis, or case reports. Interesting and worth knowing about, but not yet supported by formal study. We flag these clearly so you can distinguish between what's proven and what's plausible.

When you see a lever like "Eat 10g of soluble fiber daily [A]" in a biomarker article, the [A] tells you this recommendation is backed by strong human evidence. When you see something tagged [C], you know it's promising but early. This transparency is the foundation of everything we publish.

The three-range system

Most lab reports give you a single reference range and tell you whether you're "normal" or not. We think that's incomplete. For every biomarker we cover, MeMurton Labs presents three distinct ranges:

Standard range: The conventional reference range used by most laboratories. This is the broadest range, designed to identify disease. If you fall outside it, something is clearly wrong. But falling inside it doesn't mean you're optimized, it just means you're not clinically ill by the most conservative definition.
Optimal range: A narrower window drawn from functional medicine practice and prospective research. This is the range where practitioners consistently see patients feeling their best, performing well, and showing lower disease risk. It's based on clinical experience and cohort data, not just population averages.
Longevity range: The narrowest target, derived from longevity-focused research, centenarian biomarker analyses, and biological aging studies. This represents the range associated with the best long-term outcomes in healthspan and lifespan research. It may not be appropriate for everyone, but for people actively optimizing their biology, it's the aspirational target that the science supports.

We believe you deserve to know all three. Your doctor works with the standard range. We show you the rest of the picture.

How we source our content

Our primary sources include:

  • Peer-reviewed journal articles, with preference for systematic reviews and meta-analyses
  • Clinical guidelines from established bodies (AHA, WHO, Endocrine Society, and others)
  • Scientific databases (PubMed, HMDB, UniProt, KEGG, NIH Office of Dietary Supplements)
  • Longevity-focused research from GeroScience cohort studies and centenarian biomarker analyses

Every biomarker article includes inline citations that you can hover over for a summary of the source, or click through to the original paper. We cite after specific claims, not as general background decoration. If we make a statement, you can check where it came from.

The six-part writing framework

Every biomarker article on MeMurton Labs follows the same six-part structure. This isn't just editorial consistency, it's designed to serve every reader, from someone who's never heard of a biomarker to a clinician reviewing our work.

  1. The Question: Why does this matter? We start with curiosity, not jargon.
  2. The Mechanism: What's actually happening in your body? We explain using the City of Meridian analogy first (plain language, visual), then layer in the biology, then the clinical detail.
  3. The System: How does this connect to everything else? No biomarker exists in isolation.
  4. The Rhythm: What timing, cycles, or context matters? Circadian, seasonal, hormonal.
  5. The Levers: What can you actually do about it? Specific, actionable, evidence-graded.
  6. The Reflection: What does this teach you about your body? We close with meaning, not fear.

Within each section, we layer from accessible to deep, so you can read at the level that serves you and go deeper when you're ready.

What we don't do

  • We don't accept industry funding or sponsored content
  • We don't let affiliate relationships influence our recommendations (see our disclosure below)
  • We don't present emerging research as established fact
  • We don't give medical advice, we give education (see our medical approach below)
  • We don't use jargon without explaining it first

Affiliate Disclosure

How we fund this work

MeMurton Labs is an independently funded health education platform. We earn revenue through affiliate commissions, when you click a link to order a lab test, purchase a supplement, or buy a recommended product, and you complete that purchase, we may earn a small commission from the retailer.

This is how we keep the site free, independent, and ad-free.

How affiliate links work on this site

Affiliate links appear in specific, predictable places:

  • The Test Library: "Order" buttons next to lab service pricing. When you click through to a lab service like Ulta Lab Tests or Quest Diagnostics and place an order, we may earn a commission.
  • The Levers section of biomarker articles, When an evidence-based intervention involves a specific product (a supplement, a device, a tool), we may link to it with an affiliate link.
  • Panel pages: "Order this panel" buttons linking to lab services.

Affiliate links are always functional links to real products and services. They work exactly like a normal link, you click, you go to the retailer's site, you decide whether to purchase. The price you pay is the same whether you use our link or go directly.

What affiliate links never do

Commissions never determine our recommendations. We evaluate every product and service against our evidence standards first. If it doesn't pass, we don't recommend it, regardless of the commission rate. Some of the highest-commission products in the longevity space are ones we've chosen not to recommend because the evidence isn't there.

We compare multiple options honestly. Our Test Library shows pricing from five lab services side by side. We don't hide the cheapest option to promote a higher-commission partner. The lowest price is always highlighted, even when it's not our highest-earning affiliate.

We never create content to sell a product. Every article starts with the science and the biomarker. If an affiliate product naturally fits as an evidence-based lever, it's included. If it doesn't, it isn't, no matter how lucrative the partnership.

Our affiliate partners

We work with affiliate programs across these categories:

  • Lab testing services: Ulta Lab Tests, Quest Diagnostics, Labcorp OnDemand, Walk-In Labs, HealthLabs.com, and others
  • Supplements: Brands that meet third-party testing and evidence standards
  • Wearables and devices: Sleep trackers, continuous glucose monitors, red light panels, and other measurement tools
  • Wellness services: Sauna, cold therapy, and other evidence-based interventions

We are transparent about which specific partners we work with. As affiliate relationships are activated, we will maintain a current list on this page.

How to identify affiliate links

On biomarker article pages, a brief disclosure appears near the top of the Levers section. In the Test Library, a disclosure appears below the pricing comparison. All affiliate links open in a new tab and are tagged for search engine transparency.

If you'd prefer not to use our affiliate links, you can always navigate directly to any retailer's website. We'd rather you order the right test at the best price than worry about whether we earn a commission.


Our Approach to Health Information

Your body, your data

MeMurton Labs exists because we believe you have the right to understand your own biology. Not in a watered-down, "ask your doctor" way, in a real, substantive, actionable way. Your blood tells a story. You should be able to read it.

The current healthcare system isn't designed for proactive health optimization. Most doctors order the minimum tests covered by insurance, interpret results against broad reference ranges designed to catch disease (not optimize health), and tell you everything is "normal", even when your numbers suggest real room for improvement. Testing frequency is determined by insurance reimbursement schedules, not by what would actually help you catch problems early or track whether your interventions are working.

We think that's a gap you can fill yourself.

You can order your own tests

In most US states, you can order blood work directly from lab services like Ulta Lab Tests, Quest Diagnostics, Labcorp OnDemand, and others, without a doctor's referral, without insurance approval, and at prices that are often lower than your insurance copay. Our Test Library exists specifically to make this easy: compare prices across services, understand what each test measures, and order with confidence.

When you test more frequently than the once-a-year physical your insurance covers, quarterly, or even monthly for specific markers during an intervention, you gain something powerful: trend data. A single ApoB reading is a snapshot. Four readings over a year, correlated with the dietary and supplement changes you've made, is a conversation with your own biology. That's the kind of data that transforms how you think about your health.

What we provide, and what we don't

MeMurton Labs is a health education platform, not a medical practice. We provide:

  • Deep, evidence-based explanations of what biomarkers measure and why they matter
  • Three-tier range interpretation (standard, optimal, longevity) so you can see beyond "normal"
  • Evidence-graded intervention levers so you know what's proven and what's promising
  • Lab pricing comparisons so you can order tests affordably and without gatekeeping
  • The scientific context to have informed, productive conversations about your health

What we don't provide is personalized medical advice. We can explain what ApoB measures in general and what the research says about optimal ranges, but we can't tell you what your specific ApoB result means given your complete medical history, medications, genetics, and symptoms. That level of personalized interpretation requires clinical context that no website can replicate.

When to work with a clinician

We're not anti-doctor, we're pro-agency. The ideal scenario is that you arrive at your next medical appointment already understanding your numbers, already knowing what questions to ask, and already tracking trends over time. That changes the dynamic from "tell me what's wrong" to "here's what I'm seeing in my data, what do you think?"

There are situations where professional guidance is especially important:

  • Results significantly outside the standard reference range
  • Symptoms that concern you, whether or not your labs look "normal"
  • Before starting or stopping any medication
  • When you're interpreting results in the context of a known condition
  • Pregnancy, chronic illness, or complex hormonal situations

But we also want to be honest: many of the proactive, optimization-focused actions covered on this site, eating more soluble fiber, improving sleep hygiene, starting zone 2 exercise, testing your Vitamin D levels, don't require a doctor's permission. You have agency over your own health choices. The evidence is here. The tests are accessible. The levers are in your hands.

The bottom line

We believe that understanding your biology is a right, not a privilege. That testing should be accessible, affordable, and frequent enough to be useful. That "normal" is not the same as "optimal." And that when you combine real data with real education, you can make measurable, meaningful changes to your healthspan.

That's what MeMurton Labs is here to help you do.

MeMurton Labs, Restoring coherence between human biology and the natural world.