Editorial policy

This site publishes traditional remedies. That is a subject where it is easy to promise too much, so we have written down the rules we hold ourselves to.

Describing a practice is not claiming it works

We describe what French families did, how they did it, and with what. That is history and it is honest. Stating that a remedy acts on the body is a different claim entirely, and it requires a source. When we cannot source a mechanism, we do not assert it. You will often read here that something was traditionally used for a purpose, without a promise attached, and that is deliberate.

We never present a remedy as a treatment, a cure, or a substitute for care.

The sources we use

For anything touching health, our first references are the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), part of the National Institutes of Health, and MedlinePlus, the consumer health service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

When no reliable source supports a remedy, we say that too, rather than borrowing authority from a study that does not say what we would like it to say. Several articles on this site state plainly that the evidence is thin.

What we will not publish

• A remedy that could delay necessary care, without saying so clearly.
• A dose or a duration we cannot support.
• Aggressive household chemicals as a recommendation. This site is about simple ingredients, and where we mention a harsh product it is to warn against it.
• A health claim dressed up as a description.

Every health article says when to stop

The real risk with a home remedy is rarely the remedy. It is the time it can occupy while something else goes unattended. Our health articles therefore carry the point at which you should stop and see someone, and our safety notices carry the emergency numbers for the United States: see Notices.

Who writes here

Articles are signed. The author of this section is Virginie Verglas, journalist, author, and founder of the site. Where an article draws on her book, it says so.

Corrections

We correct rather than defend. If you find an error, an outdated claim, or something that reads as riskier than we intended, write to contact@grands-meres.net. Articles carry a publication date, and an update date when they have been revised in substance, so you can see how fresh what you are reading is.

Advertising and affiliate links

This site carries advertising, and some pages contain affiliate links. Neither of them decides what we publish, and neither of them changes a safety warning. The detail is on our affiliate disclosure page.