Editorial Standards
Healthy Mainer publishes health information for people in Maine and New Hampshire. Health writing carries a duty that most writing does not, because a reader may act on it. This page sets out how we work, what we will not do, and how to tell us we got something wrong.
Who writes this
Articles are researched, written and edited by the Healthy Mainer editorial team. We publish under a team byline rather than an individual one, and we would rather say that plainly than invent a persona. We are not physicians. Nothing here is a diagnosis, and nothing here is a substitute for a conversation with your own clinician.
Where our facts come from
Every health claim in an article traces to a named source, and we rank sources in a deliberate order.
- State agencies first. Maine CDC, Maine DEP, the Maine Forest Service, Maine Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, NH DHHS, NH DES and NH Fish and Game. Regional guidance is the reason this publication exists, and a national health site will not carry it.
- Federal agencies. The US CDC, EPA, NIH and its institutes, USGS and FDA.
- Peer-reviewed research for anything physiological, cited to the specific study rather than to coverage of it.
- Universities, Cooperative Extension services and named specialty bodies such as ACOG, the Menopause Society, the American College of Rheumatology and the American Heart Association.
We do not cite content farms, supplement retailers, or AI-generated health aggregators, and we keep a list of specific domains we have found publishing fabricated research.
How we check it
Sources are verified mechanically before an article publishes, not trusted because a link opens. Every URL in a Sources list is fetched and must resolve. Every study we cite is confirmed against the National Library of Medicine’s records, so a citation that looks real but describes a study that does not exist gets caught. We have found and removed fabricated citations this way, and we would rather tell you that than pretend it never happens.
When a source gives a range, we give the range. When state guidance differs from federal guidance, we say so instead of picking the tidier number. When something is widely repeated but we cannot source it, we leave it out.
What we will not publish
- No dosages, prescriptions or treatment protocols. We describe what research and clinical guidance say. We do not tell you what to take or how much.
- No fear as a hook. We do not open articles with symptom lists designed to worry you into reading further.
- Nothing for sale. No affiliate links, no sponsored posts, no advertising relationships with anything we review. When we cover a supplement, we say plainly where the evidence is weak.
- No clinic affiliations. Healthy Mainer is editorially independent and is not owned by, funded by or written on behalf of any medical practice.
Dates, updates and corrections
Each article shows its publication date. Health guidance changes, and an article that was accurate when written can drift, so treat the date as part of the information.
If you find an error, tell us and we will fix it. Corrections to a factual claim are made in the article itself rather than quietly deleted. If you believe we have misread a study or missed newer guidance, that is worth an email, and we would rather hear it from a reader than leave it standing.
When to see someone
Nothing on this site is medical advice. If you have a symptom that worries you, a health information line and a clinician are better sources than any article, including ours. In a medical emergency, call 911. For a suspected poisoning anywhere in Maine or New Hampshire, the Northern New England Poison Center is at 1-800-222-1222.