sarah_TO said:

The pattern that distinguishes a bad batch from an exit is behaviour rather than product.

Bookmarking. The distinction being drawn above is the one nobody else makes. Taking it to my next appointment.

Clinical perspective, offered as context rather than as advice. The distinction that resolves most of these threads is between what is true on average and what is true for one person. Both are real; they answer different questions and get quoted as if they were the same one.

I would rather be corrected than agreed with, if it comes to it.

pete_nash said:

Vendor reputation tracking for vendor vetting: I maintain a personal spreadsheet with every order I've placed — date, vendor, batch number, Janoshik…

I read this differently. The confidence in this thread is running ahead of the evidence, and I would rather the uncertainty were stated than smoothed over because it is unsatisfying.

The figures, for anyone assembling their own picture. Worth stating the units and the reference range whenever you post a number here. A large fraction of the apparent disagreement in these threads is two people using different units and both being right.

If somebody has the primary source to hand I would rather cite it than paraphrase it.

Moderator note: the sourcing question belongs in the vendor section and has been split out. Report rather than reply if it drifts again.