Josh Axe

From RationalWiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Josh Axe
Against allopathy
Alternative medicine
Icon alt med alt.svg
Clinically unproven
Woo-meisters
v - t - e
Style over substance
Pseudoscience
Icon pseudoscience.svg
Popular pseudosciences
Random examples
v - t - e

Joshua Lee Axe practices quackery,[1] chiropractic and naturopathic medicine in Tennessee.[2] He has doctorates in chiropractic[3] and naturopathic medicine; he is not a medical doctor.[2] He is also a Certified Nutrition Specialist.[4] He promotes discredited and unproven cancer treatments.[5] Allegedly his DrAxe website receives over 100 million visits per year.[6] Assuming this is true, his website receives more visitors than Doctor Oz, Dr. Mercola or NaturalNews.[7]

In 2019, Dr. Axe jumped on the keto diet bandwagon and promotes other low-carb quackery.[8]

Medical woo[edit]

Dr. Axe pushes[9] a range of natural health-products, including the classics: apple cider vinegar,[10] Himalayan pink salt,[11] and colloidal silver.[12]

He has written a book called Eat Shit & Die Eat Dirt,[13] whose title is intended to be taken literally.[14] He is a fan of low-carb dieting and promotes the ketogenic diet.[15] Dr. Axe sells keto supplements for $59.95.[16]

Dr. Axe makes money by selling dirt sandwiches nutritional supplements that contain — among other things — a "Soil and Plant based probiotic and prebiotic blend with 5 billion cfu…[note 1] Saccharomyces boulardii, Bacillus clausii, Bacillus coagulans, Bacillus sbutilis, Bacteriophage[note 2] Blend (Myoviridae T4, Myoviridae LH01, Myoviridae LL12, Siphoviridae LL5)".[17]

Dr. Axe is a proponent of curing leaky gut syndromeWikipedia which he describes as a "rapidly growing condition that millions of people are struggling with and don’t even know it."[18][19] In reality, leaky gut syndrome is not a recognized medical condition and is only found in alternative medicine literature.[20][21] The NHS has written that "there is currently little evidence to support the theory that a porous bowel is the direct cause of any significant, widespread problems."[22]

He is supportive of dangerous and unproven alternative cancer treatments such as Gerson therapy.[5]

I wanna get off Dr. Axe's wild ride[edit]

See the main article on this topic: Fractal wrongness

Dr. Axe warns customers against consuming heavy metals, whilst simultaneously pushing bentonite clay,[23] a quack-treatment which contains potentially hazardous levels of the toxic heavy metalsWikipedia arsenic, cadmium, chromium, and lead.[24][25]

He compares (confuses) ionizing radiation from a (Fukushima) nuclear reactor with non-ionizing radio waves from a microwave oven.[26][27]

Dr. Axe recommends chelation as a treatment for autism, despite the fact it has not been shown to work, and can be hazardous to the patient.[28]

Dr. Axe promotes coffee enemas,[29] which have no known medical benefit but have numerous risks (burning, rectal perforation, infection and electrolyte imbalance).

Dr. Axe states he is a creationist.[30] This declaration could endear him to the only sector of the market who would buy his shtick, i.e., those who don't ask for evidence.

If you are having trouble swallowing his bullshit, Dr. Axe has a treatment for your dysphagiaWikipedia: acupuncture.[31]

Publications[edit]

  • Eat Dirt: Why Leaky Gut May Be the Root Cause of Your Health Problems and 5 Surprising Steps to Cure It (Harper Wave, 2017) ISBN 978-0062433671
  • Keto Diet: Your 30-Day Plan to Lose Weight, Balance Hormones, Boost Brain Health, and Reverse Disease (Little, Brown Spark, 2019) ISBN 978-0316529587

External links[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ↑ "CFU" is Colony-forming unit, or the number of units that are able to multiply via binary fission under the controlled conditions.
  2. ↑ Bacteriophages are viruses that target bacteria

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Dr. Axe by D. Van Zandt (10/26/2017; Updated 11/30/2018) Media Bias/Fact Check.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 About Dr. Axe Dr. Axe.
  3. ↑ Apparently Dr Axe's chiropractor-license expired in 2013.
  4. ↑ Where To Get Professional Nutrition Advice by Stephen Barrett. Quackwatch.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 10 Natural Cancer Treatments Revealed. Josh Axe.
  6. ↑ "www.DrAxe.com ... has over 11 Million visitors a month." says "PaleoFx.com".
  7. ↑ 2017 comparison of "Dr. Axe.com" with competing websites,
    (the "SE traffic" figures are monthly visitors via Google Search Engine).
  8. ↑ Dr. Josh Axe on the Keto Diet
  9. ↑ Affiliate Disclosure Dr. Axe. In the small-print Dr. Axe states he's on-commission. Archived from the original on February 11, 2021.
  10. ↑ 20 Unique Apple Cider Vinegar Uses and Benefits Dr. Axe
  11. ↑ Pink Himalayan Salt Benefits that Make It Superior to Table Salt Dr. Axe
  12. ↑ 8 Proven Colloidal Silver Benefits, Uses and Side Effects Dr. Axe
  13. ↑ Eat Dirt: Why Leaky Gut May Be the Root Cause of Your Health Problems and 5 Surprising Steps to Cure It by Josh Axe (2016). Harper Wave. ISBN 0062433644.
  14. ↑ Book summary on Google Books. Dr. Axe offers simple ways to get these needed microbes, from incorporating local honey and bee pollen into your diet to forgoing hand sanitizers and even ingesting a little probiotic-rich soil.
  15. ↑ Dr. Axe’s Keto Diet Book. Josh Axe.
  16. ↑ Keto Supplements. Josh Axe.
  17. ↑ Compare: Probiome RX Adrenal Restore Dr. Axe. "Contains Rhodiola rosea, Holy Basil and Schizandra [...] INGREDIENTS: 5 Billion CFUs* per serving, Plant- and Soil-Based Organisms, Prebiotics, 10 Adaptogen Superfoods and Herbs"
  18. ↑ The Leaky Gut Diet and Treatment Plan, Including Top Gut Foods. Josh Axe.
  19. ↑ Leaky Gut Syndrome: 7 Signs You May Have It. Josh Axe.
  20. ↑ Leaky Brain, Leaky Gut: Are They Real?. Science-Based Medicine.
  21. ↑ Leaky gut syndrome is not real | What's really happening in your gut
  22. ↑ Leaky gut syndrome. NHS.
  23. ↑ 10 Proven Bentonite Clay Benefits and Uses Dr. Axe
  24. ↑ Best Bentonite Clay by Best Bentonite: FDA Alert — Risk of Lead Poisoning (03/23/2016) U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Archived from the original on November 15, 2017.
  25. ↑ Bentonite Clay Nutrition Dr. Axe (archived from February 17, 2017). A table from Dr. Axe acknowledging that bentonite clay contains lead and other toxic metals.
  26. ↑ With a sunburned face, Dr. Axe has the cheek to lecture his audience about protection from radiation.
  27. ↑ YouTube where Dr. Axe tells his audience microwave ovens & cellphones cause cancer.
  28. ↑ "autism-natural-treatment", from Dr. Axe.
  29. ↑ Fight Cancer & Detoxify with a Coffee Enema Dr. Axe. Archived from the original on September 16, 2018.
  30. ↑ Why I DON’T Eat a Paleo Diet… But Close Dr. Axe writes "I personally am a creationist." (archived from February 17, 2017)
  31. ↑ Graphic from Dr. Axe, at bottom right he recommends acupuncture for dysphagia.
Retrieved from "https://rationalwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Josh_Axe&oldid=2559055"