Joseph Mercola

Joseph Mercola is an osteopathic physician practicing near Schaumburg, Illinois. He is best known for running a very popular natural health website which, as of January 2006, was ranked the most visited 'natural health' hospital in the country , and is one of the top visited health-related sites overall. In addition to health articles, he has added a weekly Google video of his live talking to newsletter readers found here. He has authored sixteen health books, two currently published, has published many alternative medicine related articles on his website, and is a member of several alternative medicine related organizations. He has authored or co-authored articles and columns in alternative medical publications, as well as several articles in conventional journals; many of his citations are letters to journals. In general, he promotes dietary and lifestyle changes to prevent and treat diseases, especially chronic diseases. Based on his analysis of a variety of evidence and experience, he criticizes many of the practices of conventional medicine, particularly vaccinations and the frequent use of prescription drugs and surgery to treat most diseases.

Diet

Mercola strongly advocates dietary changes to improve health, which he considers to be among the most important lifestyle changes for enhancing well being and longevity. Overall, he believes a well balanced diet should include mostly natural, unprocessed foods, while excluding processed and artificial foods. He sees value in paleolithic diets, and advocates tailoring food consumption to the metabolic typing, developed by William Wolcott, which Mercola offers more information on, in his book on the subject. He encourages using water filters or reverse osmosis to purify water content, and is against water chlorination and fluoridation.

Examples of foods he recommends include fresh vegetables and vegetable juice, wild salmon, fish oil, (cod liver oil in winter), fermented foods like kefir, raw foods including raw milk products, raw eggs, grass fed beef, ostrich meat and traditionally used fats such as virgin olive oil and coconut oil.

Foods he recommends avoiding include pasteurized milk, most fish (due to mercury content), trans fats, certain processed vegetable fats (such as corn and canola oil), soy products, artificial sweeteners, sugar, starches, all grain products (including "even whole unprocessed grains, and alternative grains like quinoa, amaranth, millet and teff"), fruit juices, and canned, packaged or artificial foods. This is very similar to what is often called the Paleolithic diet and the diet promoted by the Weston A. Price Foundation.

Drugs and supplements

Joseph Mercola advises elimination of most prescription drugs and immunizations for treatment, and favors dietary supplements, natural food choices, lifestyle modifications and energy psychology tools to address emotional challenges. He views these as safer and more effective options, because they address what he believes to be the 'root causes' of disease rather than simply treating symptoms by palliative means. He states that drug companies profoundly influence both government health agencies and the mainstream medical community, which in turn promote medical practices that are beneficial to drug companies but harmful to the patient. Typical supplements he promotes are krill oil, fish oil or cod liver oil, products containing vitamins such as vitamin D (when lacking adequate sun exposure) and vitamin K, probiotics, and anti-oxidant supplements.

Controversial dietary advice

Joseph Mercola's dietary recommendations often put him at odds with mainstream dietary advice. The elimination of processed grains from diets is considered nutritionally risky in light of grains being the foundation of the USDA food pyramid. Mercola, however, points to theories on food allergies involving gluten, such as wheat allergy, and the relatively new introduction of grains into the human diet and theories that sugar and starch are associated with hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance .

Some dietary fats he promotes, including unrefined coconut oil, are also high in saturated fat which is believed by some mainstream dietary experts to contribute to heart disease when consumed in large quantities.

Alternative medicine

Mercola promotes treatments based upon methods that have not been proven scientifically nor accepted by the conventional medical community, such as metabolic typing, the traditional Chinese medicine originated acupressure-based Emotional Freedom Technique, herbalism, naturopathy and chiropractic. He is a promoter of the concept of vitalism, a similarly idealistic view not well supported by any science. Vitalism (over)emphasizes the healing reactions in the human body and other living organisms, often including spiritual or energetic beliefs, and may give people an unrealistic view of their potential optimal health and healing capabilities. While stating that he believes in the scientific method, he distrusts many commercial and institutional applications of it in medical studies. He has stated that the only value he finds in mainstream medicine is emergency accident survival. Jumping on unethical scientists who succumb to corporate corruption, he paints a tendentious picture of the pharmaceutical industry, scientific medical research community, and medical doctors as being solely self-interested, corrupt, brain-washed or misled and not interested or capable of serving the patient's or public health's interests.

Water fluoridation

On the issue of water fluoridation controversy, Mercola is against water fluoridation and has published several articles on it. He relies on external anti-fluoridation organizations for his opinions.

Vaccination

Among Mercola's most controversial recommendations are his expressed concerns that too many vaccines are used too soon during infancy despite immune system developement being more dynamic and critical at that point in development. He believes that some subpopulations (e.g. neonates, elderly, chronically ill) may be less suitable for certain vaccines, and that flu vaccines are still formulated with thimerosal and other undesirable adjuvants, the slow phasedown for millions of existing doses of childhood vaccines he says is against the public's greater interests.

Mercola hosts vaccine critics in his webpages, advocates preventive measures as part of an alternative immunization schedule and strongly criticizes flu vaccines . He questions the projected epidemic threat and severity of influenza, the flu vaccines' claimed safety and efficacy , and the possibility of harm to an individual's immune system .

Mercola claims that some chemicals used to control fungi and bacteria within certain vaccines are toxic to infants and can harm young children if too many shots containing mercury-containing Thimerosal are given within a period of time. He also expresses concern about potentially cancer linked components in vaccines such as thimersol, and historically, SV40 virus contaminating early polio vaccines. Medical research and views in this area are contentious. Thimerosal is an organic compound used as an antiseptic and antifungal agent in vaccines, containing mercury which is classified as a poison in its pure form, and is used in small amounts as a preservative in vaccines. Thimerosal is no longer recommended in vaccines given to young children in the USA, though it is still present in US-made vaccines exported to other countries.

With his coming book The Great Bird Flu Hoax he appears to take a stronger anti-pharmaceutical industry stance by accusing them of a fear-mongering marketing campaign against the public, as allegedly occurred with the Swine Flu scare of the 1970's.

Pharmaceutical industry criticism

"I am quite confident that if gravity had to be approved by the FDA it would clearly meet strong resistance from the multi-national drug corporations." -Joseph Mercola

Mercola is especially critical of new drugs, as well as the economic and political powers which might influence their acceptance. His early drug warnings, FDA criticism and related concerns have sometimes been confirmed by drugs later withdrawn from the market after substantial adverse experience. He dismisses many conventional health concerns and medications as useless, prescribing exercise, good diet, good sleep, specially filtered water, chlorella, omega-3 fats focusing on fish oils, and unproven energy psychology tools like Emotional Freedom Techniques as cures for most ills. While not discounting all medication, the suspicion he casts on the pharmaceutical industry and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) may discourage people from trusting FDA approved medicines prescribed by their medical doctors, and influence patients to choose alternative medical practices, of which he is seldom critical.

Religious zeal

Mercola was raised a Catholic and later switched to evangelical Christianity, but now claims to be spiritual rather than religious. Despite this, he is a member of the Christian Medical Association, and promotes questionable evidence of the supposed health benefits of religion and power of prayer, as well as having many articles submitted by other members who are more zealous in their preaching of accepting religious and spiritual views (often regarding consulting angels in conversation), and often making it a necessity in their treatments.

Commercialism

Mercola is also sometimes criticized for being too commercial , since the web site, free articles and newsletters he writes constantly promote food, mechanical and information products sold from the site. He claims that all income goes towards maintenance of the site, but this statement has not been supported. He sells meditation tapes which he claims reduce "the number one cause of illness" (and in his newsletter, disease) -stress implying that buying his tapes is the best lifestyle change anyone could perform for their health. He also claims without support that they increase energy and focus .

FDA

On 16 Feb 2005, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sent Mercola warnings on multiple products for: Living Fuel Rx, Tropical Traditions Virgin Coconut Oil, and Chlorella about misleading claims for products that he advertised on his website. It was later resolved when Mercola removed the claims for the products in question. In defence, Dr. Mercola claimed to have hired a Washington DC law firm to proactively review the claims for his products six months prior to the FDA letter, and that the firm never worked on his request due to their internal miscommunication . He claimed to be unaware of their failure to review his website for statements until he received the letter from the FDA.

Criticisms of Mercola

The criticism of Joseph Mercola is similar to criticism made against non-mainstream and alternative medicine in general. Mercola is often viewed in this light by his promotion and marketing of non-pharmaceutical approaches. Many who practice conventional (mainstream) medicine say that such methods are unproven, possibly useless, and possibly dangerous.

• In October 2000, Stephen Barrett, operator of Quackwatch, filed a lawsuit in Pennsylvania against Mercola (a resident of Illinois) for libel . In June 2001, Barrett withdrew the suit on jurisdictional grounds and refiled it in Illinois on July 30, 2001 at Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois. On April 17, 2003 the suit was dismissed by mutual agreement.
• In May 2006 BusinessWeek published an article about Mercola's aptitude as an online health and medical entrepreneur . Columnist David Gumpert writes: ' Mercola gives the lie to the notion that holistic practitioners tend to be so absorbed in treating patients that they aren't effective businesspeople. While Mercola on his site seeks to identify with this image by distinguishing himself from "all the greed-motivated hype out there in health-care land", he is a master promoter, using every trick of traditional and Internet direct marketing to grow his business '

Current publications

• 2005, Dr. Mercola's Total Health Program: The Proven Plan to Prevent Disease and Premature Aging, Optimize Weight and Live Longer , with Brian Vaszily, Dr. Kendra Pearsall and Nancy Lee Bentley, ISBN 0-9705574-6-9
• The No-Grain Diet, with Alison Levy, Plume, ISBN 0-452-28508-9
• Great Bird Flu Hoax, to be published Fall 2006 by Nelson
• Sweet Deception, Why Splenda®, NutraSweet®, and the FDA May Be Hazardous to Your Health, to be published Fall 2006 by Nelson

Affiliates and friends

Mercola employs a variety of alternative medicine practitioners in his website, the Optimal Wellness Center . He hosts physicians who employ contested treatments such as chelation therapy, acupuncture, auriculotherapy, and cranial osteopathy. His literature covers alternative nutritionists, some of whom also support the controversial practises of homeopathy and laser-assisted detoxing. He similarly consults alternative psychotherapists who promote Emotional Freedom Technique (which he sells tapes for) or a variety of other dubious concepts like bioenergy systems and energy medicine. Friendly relations have been formed with others in the alternative natural health industry who also maintain their own websites. The growing list is:

Nancy Lee Bently, Tim Bolen, Gary Craig, Chet Day, Lina Garcia, Darcy Langdon, Ben Lerner, Jim Marlowe, Michael Masterson, Judy Nicassio, Kendra Pearsall, Fred Rosner, Julie Schiffman, Marcie Shumaker, David Stevens, Jody Stevens, Betty Sy Go, Elsa Turnbull, Patty Smith, Carol Tuttle, Brian Vaszily, Jordan Rubin, Steve Wells, Bill Wolcott/William Wolcott and Lynn Young.

Trivia

• One curious oddity is that Mercola's name can be a portmanteau of the pharmaceutical company Merck (or mercury), and cola products, both/all of which he is highly focused at criticizing before other things.

• The state of Illinois issued physician's license 36066597 to Joseph M. Mercola, DO, on June 1, 1983. Mercola's address is given as Schaumburg, Illinois. The current license comes due for renewal on July 31, 2008.

• Mercola's biography states he is a 1982 graduate of the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine.

• One website lists his address, not as Schaumburg, Illinois, but as South Barrington, Illinois

External links

• Mercola.com - Mercola's homepage, which he titles "The Best Natural Health Information Web Site and Newsletter"
• CaseWatch.org - Warning Letter issued to Mercola for promoting products on his website "for conditions that cause these products to be drugs", violating the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act), Public Health Service of the FDA (February 16, 2005)