Author: Joseph Mercola

By Dr. Mercola Heart disease is one of the most common chronic health problems in the United States, and we’re wasting tens of billions of dollars on ineffective treatments and surgical procedures. In this interview, Dr. Thomas Cowan, a practicing physician and founding board member of the Weston A. Price Foundation, shares recently published data1,2 showing the ineffectiveness of stents — a commonly performed surgical procedure used to remediate damage from coronary artery disease. Stents Were Never Indicated for Anything but Angina Relief There are a number of parameters that are crucial for evaluating the efficacy of a treatment for heart disease. For … Continue reading →

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By Dr. Mercola Wintertime is commonly a time when darker moods tend to creep in; a phenomenon linked to a decline in sunlight. Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) affects an estimated 6 percent of the U.S. population, while a milder form, known as the “winter blues,” affects about 14 percent.1 As noted in the Evening Standard:2 “According to the DSM [diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders], people who have SAD are excessively fatigued, lose interest in their hobbies, tend to crave more starches and sweets, may gain seasonal weight, and have difficulty concentrating during darker months.” That said, longer, darker days … Continue reading →

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By Dr. Mercola N-acetylcysteine (NAC) — a precursor which is needed for glutathione biosynthesis — is an incredibly useful supplement that few people have even heard of. Many of its benefits relate back to the fact that it helps boost production of glutathione, an important antioxidant your body produces naturally that helps reduce free radical damage and plays a role in the detoxification of heavy metals and other harmful substances. NAC is both safe and inexpensive, and has been commercially available for a long time. It’s also generally well-tolerated and has no known serious side effects. Considering its wide array of health benefits, it’s … Continue reading →

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By Dr. Mercola After taking GlaxoSmithKline’s Paxil for just two days, retired oilman Don Schell brutally murdered his wife, daughter and 10-month-old granddaughter in the middle of the night before turning the gun on himself. The murders, which took place in 1998 in Gillette, Wyoming, shocked neighbors who couldn’t understand why Schell, who had no history of violence, appeared to have spontaneously killed the people in his life he loved the most.1 The bodies were discovered the following afternoon by Tim Tobin, the husband of Schell’s daughter Deb. After overcoming the shock of discovering such a gruesome scene, Tobin and … Continue reading →

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By Dr. Mercola The overprescription of powerful opioid drugs to treat everything from back pain to arthritis has resulted in an unprecedented crisis of overdose and death in the U.S. Even when taken as directed, prescription opioids can lead to addiction as well as tolerance, which means you need an increasingly stronger dose to get the pain-relieving effects. Physical dependence, in which you suffer withdrawal symptoms if you stop taking the drugs, is common.1 In fact, more than 91 Americans fatally overdose on opioids every day.2 The statistic includes prescription opioids, heroin and fentanyl, but many of the deaths stem from prescription drug use. Of … Continue reading →

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By Dr. Mercola Is salt really bad for your blood pressure? James DiNicolantonio, Pharm.D., answers this and many other questions relating to salt in his book, “The Salt Fix: Why the Experts Got It All Wrong — and How Eating More Might Save Your Life.” DiNicolantonio is a doctor of pharmacy, and it was during his work as a community pharmacist that his interest in this culinary staple emerged. “[P]atients … were put on this low-salt diet and were having all these symptoms like muscle fatigue, muscle spasms, cramps and heart palpitations. They said their doctors ordered them to not add … Continue reading →

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By Dr. Mercola “Anti-Vaxxers Have Found a Way Around California’s Strict New Immunization Law. They Need to Be Stopped.” This hostile and derogatory headline was published in the Los Angeles Times November 8.1 The “loophole” they’re referring to is the use of medical vaccine exemptions written by physicians. According to this editorial, no more than 3 percent of children “should reasonably” qualify for a medical exemption to avoid vaccination, yet parents of more than 10 percent of school-aged children enrolled at 58 California schools in the fall of 2016 had obtained a medical exemption written by a physician, allowing their children … Continue reading →

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By Dr. Mercola There are plenty of medical practitioners who will repeat that eating “too much salt” will increase your likelihood of developing high blood pressure. There’s a lot of new information on that from a growing number of scientists, and it’s a salty debate; in fact, Dr. Sean C. Lucan of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine refuted the premise behind then-New York City health czar, Dr. Thomas Farley’s “war on salt” campaign as far back as 2010, calling it “misguided” and asserting: “We do not know that reducing mean population sodium intake would decrease the risk of cardiovascular … Continue reading →

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By Dr. Mercola Algae are tiny aquatic organisms that, similar to plants on land, produce oxygen from photosynthesis. They’re a common part of fresh and saltwater environments; most people have seen green “pond scum” at one point or another. Algae is not inherently bad, either. In fact, when in the proper balance with their environment, algae provide food and oxygen to marine life, such as fish. However, when provided with an excess of nutrients, such as occurs when fertilizer runoff from farms contaminates waterways, algae can quickly grow out of control, causing environmental destruction along the way. As the U.S. National Oceanic … Continue reading →

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By Dr. Mercola Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a form of depression that occurs seasonally, typically ramping up in the fall and winter months and disappearing come spring (although it may occur during other seasons as well, albeit less often). It’s quite common for people to notice changes in their mood, energy levels and food cravings when the weather turns colder and the days get shorter, but this slump, known as “winter blues,” is different from true SAD. In the case of SAD, symptoms are so severe that they interfere with daily life. “I feel myself wanting to cry for no reason; … Continue reading →

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By Dr. Mercola The U.S. has a massive opioid addiction problem. According to the U.S. surgeon general, more Americans now use prescription opioidsthan smoke cigarettes,1 and addiction to narcotic pain relievers now costs the U.S. more than $193 billion each year. The Manchester, New Hampshire, fire department recently said it now responds to more calls for drug overdoses than fires.2 That’s not so surprising when you consider that opioids are now the leading cause of death among Americans under the age of 50.3 The following graph by the National Institute on Drug Abuse shows the progressive incline in overdose deaths related to opioid pain relievers … Continue reading →

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By Dr. Mercola Hospitals are typically thought of as places where lives are saved, but statistics show they’re actually one of the most dangerous places you could possibly enter.1,2 Each day, more than 40,000 harmful and/or lethal medical errors occur, placing the patient in a worse situation than what they came in with.3 According to a 2013 study,4,5 preventable medical errors kill around 440,000 patients each year — more than 10 times the number of deaths caused by motor vehicle crashes. A 2016 study6 calculated the annual death toll to be around 250,000. Medical Mistakes Are the Third Leading Cause of Death in … Continue reading →

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By Dr. Mercola While living in a climate-controlled environment has its benefits in terms of keeping us comfortable, it can actually have surprising impacts on health. There’s a compelling body of evidence showing exposure to harsh conditions can be highly beneficial. In fact, extreme temperature variations appear to help optimize many biological functions. This is the time of the year, as we transition into winter, when you can take full advantage of the many magnificent benefits that regular cold exposure can have to improve your health. One of the mechanisms by which cold exposure or cold thermogenesis aids weight loss … Continue reading →

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By Dr. Mercola It’s that time again. Flu season. And with it, a constant barrage of reminders to get your annual flu shot. Interestingly enough, what you’re being told about the influenza vaccine’s effectiveness and the reality are two very different stories. In January 2015, U.S. government officials admitted that, in most years, flu shots are — at best — 50 to 60 percent effective at preventing lab confirmed type A or B influenza requiring medical care.1 At the end of that same year, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) analysis2 of flu vaccine effectiveness revealed that, between 2005 and 2015, … Continue reading →

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By Dr. Mercola Iodine is essential to your health. Unfortunately, data collected by the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey has revealed a significant drop in median urine iodine values.1 The median iodine level measured in urine samples was 320 micrograms per liter (mcg/L) between 1971 and 1974. By 1988, it dropped to 145 mcg/L. Surveys taken in the years since show levels have stabilized, except in pregnant women whose median urine level dropped further to 125 mcg/L. Many people don’t know they need to consume a little iodine each day to maintain healthy levels of this essential micronutrient. Your … Continue reading →

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