citedhealth 0.1.0

Evidence-based supplement research API client — search ingredients, conditions, evidence grades, and PubMed papers from Cited Health.

citedhealth

Pure Python API client for Cited Health — the evidence-based supplement research platform where every health claim is backed by peer-reviewed PubMed research. Search ingredients, conditions, evidence grades (A-F), and indexed papers. Free, no authentication required.

Cited Health maintains a growing network of supplement review sites covering hair health, sleep, and more. The platform indexes PubMed papers, extracts study data using AI, and calculates evidence grades from A (Strong — multiple RCTs/meta-analyses) to F (Negative — most studies show no effect).

Explore the evidence at citedhealth.com — Ingredients · Evidence · Papers · Developer Docs

Table of Contents

• Install
• Quick Start
• What You Can Do
  • Search Ingredients
  • Check Evidence Grades
  • Search PubMed Papers
  • Embed Evidence Badges
• Command-Line Interface
• MCP Server (Claude, Cursor, Windsurf)
• API Reference
• Learn More About Evidence-Based Supplements
• License

Install

# Core (zero dependencies)
pip install citedhealth

# With API client (adds httpx)
pip install "citedhealth[api]"

# With CLI (adds typer + rich)
pip install "citedhealth[cli]"

# With MCP server for AI assistants
pip install "citedhealth[mcp]"

# Everything
pip install "citedhealth[all]"

Quick Start

from citedhealth.api import CitedHealth

with CitedHealth() as api:
    # Search for supplement ingredients
    data = api.ingredients(q="biotin")
    print(data["results"][0]["name"])  # Biotin

    # Check evidence for a supplement-condition pair
    evidence = api.evidence(ingredient="biotin", condition="hair-loss")
    link = evidence["results"][0]
    print(f"Grade: {link['grade']}, Studies: {link['total_studies']}")

    # Get embeddable badge data
    badge = api.badge_data("biotin", "hair-loss")
    print(f"{badge['ingredient']} for {badge['condition']}: Grade {badge['grade']}")

What You Can Do

Search Ingredients

Cited Health catalogs supplement ingredients with their mechanisms of action, categories, and evidence profiles. Each ingredient is linked to conditions through evidence grades.

from citedhealth.api import CitedHealth

with CitedHealth() as api:
    # List all ingredients
    all_ingredients = api.ingredients()

    # Search by name
    results = api.ingredients(q="melatonin")

    # Filter by category (vitamins, herbs, amino-acids, minerals, etc.)
    vitamins = api.ingredients(category="vitamins")

Learn more: Browse Ingredients · Developer Docs

Check Evidence Grades

The evidence grading engine analyzes PubMed studies and calculates grades from A to F:

Grade	Label	Criteria
A	Strong	Multiple RCTs/meta-analyses, consistent positive results
B	Moderate	At least one RCT, mostly consistent
C	Limited	Small studies, some positive signals
D	Preliminary	In vitro, case reports, pilot studies
F	Negative	<30% of studies show positive effects

from citedhealth.api import CitedHealth

with CitedHealth() as api:
    # Check evidence for biotin and hair loss
    evidence = api.evidence(ingredient="biotin", condition="hair-loss")
    for link in evidence["results"]:
        print(f"{link['grade']}: {link['ingredient']['name']} for {link['condition']['name']}")
        print(f"  {link['total_studies']} studies, {link['total_participants']} participants")

Learn more: Evidence Reviews · Grading Methodology

Search PubMed Papers

All papers in Cited Health are indexed from PubMed and enriched with citation data from Semantic Scholar.

from citedhealth.api import CitedHealth

with CitedHealth() as api:
    # Search papers by title
    papers = api.papers(q="melatonin sleep quality")

    # Filter by publication year
    recent = api.papers(q="biotin", year=2024)
    for paper in recent["results"]:
        print(f"[PMID {paper['pmid']}] {paper['title']}")

Learn more: Browse Papers · OpenAPI Spec

Embed Evidence Badges

Get badge data to display evidence grades on external sites. Each badge shows the grade, study count, and links back to the full evidence review.

from citedhealth.api import CitedHealth

with CitedHealth() as api:
    badge = api.badge_data("biotin", "hair-loss")
    print(f"Grade: {badge['grade']} ({badge['grade_label']})")
    print(f"Studies: {badge['studies']}, Participants: {badge['participants']}")
    print(f"Evidence page: {badge['url']}")

Or embed directly with a script tag:

<script src="https://citedhealth.com/embed/biotin/for/hair-loss/badge.js"></script>

Command-Line Interface

# Search ingredients
citedhealth ingredients --query biotin

# Check evidence links
citedhealth evidence --ingredient biotin --condition hair-loss

# Search papers
citedhealth papers --query "melatonin sleep" --year 2024

# Get badge data
citedhealth badge biotin hair-loss

MCP Server (Claude, Cursor, Windsurf)

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "citedhealth": {
            "command": "uvx",
            "args": ["--from", "citedhealth[mcp]", "python", "-m", "citedhealth.mcp_server"]
        }
    }
}

Available tools:

• search_ingredients — Search supplement ingredients
• check_evidence — Check evidence grade for a supplement-condition pair
• search_papers — Search PubMed-indexed papers

API Reference

Method	Description	Parameters
ingredients()	List/search ingredients	q, category, page, page_size
papers()	List/search papers	q, year, page, page_size
evidence()	List evidence links	ingredient, condition, page, page_size
badge_data()	Get embed badge data	ingredient_slug, condition_slug
openapi_spec()	Get OpenAPI 3.1.0 spec	—

Learn More About Evidence-Based Supplements

• API: REST API Documentation · OpenAPI 3.1.0 Spec
• Browse: Ingredients · Evidence Reviews · Papers
• Guides: Editorial Policy · Medical Disclaimer
• Embed: Badge Widget · Citation Formats

License

MIT — see LICENSE.