Every efficacy or safety statement on GLP Notes is attributed to a primary source. This page explains which sources we trust, in what order, and how we handle uncertainty.
The source hierarchy
When sources disagree, we weight them in roughly this order:
- FDA prescribing information and safety communications — the labeled, regulated source of record for approved medications.
- Named randomized controlled trials — the STEP and SUSTAIN programs for semaglutide, SURMOUNT and SURPASS for tirzepatide, and other registered trials, cited by name so you can check them yourself.
- Peer-reviewed reviews and meta-analyses, especially those indexed in PubMed Central (NIH).
- Major academic medical centers — Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic, Harvard Health, and similar — for clinically accepted, plain-language guidance.
We link out generously to these allies, because pointing you to the primary source is the whole job.
How we attribute
Every prevalence figure, efficacy number, or safety statement names its source in line — for example, "SURMOUNT-5 reported roughly 20.2% mean weight loss with tirzepatide versus about 13.7% with semaglutide." If we cannot attribute a claim to a credible source, we do not publish it.
Uncertainty and serious risk
We report serious risks — including the thyroid C-cell boxed warning, pancreatitis, gallbladder disease, and gastroparesis — from FDA and clinical sources, with neither alarmism nor minimization. We do not adopt litigation or causation framing that runs ahead of the evidence, and we never imply a medication "causes" an outcome that the data only associates with it.
What we will not source from
We do not build claims from manufacturer marketing, affiliate-driven telehealth blogs, or anonymous forum posts. Patient experience is valuable, but it is labeled as experience and kept separate from the clinical record.
Every clinical claim above is cited inline to a primary source. See how we review and our sourcing & fact-check standards.