by Bob McCauley, CNC, MH
What Dr. Mercola is great at is disseminating information about the medical industry and exposing medical/health myths. If you want to find out if soy is good for you or not, Mercola’s website is a good place to start looking. He has no problem exposing fraud or hypocrisy when he sees it in the medical/health world. But when it comes to offering real health advice and backing them up with true products his record is terrible. His “me too” line of health products are pretty much what you can find anywhere else from people who are in the health product business because they see opportunity in it, not because they want to make people healthier. Mercola’s health products are pedestrian, unimaginative, same old same old and most importantly they do not encourage the basic kind of lifestyle changes that are necessary to be health. In short, they are crutches, and Mercola is the enabler.
Mercola sells chlorella, but states “it has a lot, a lot of iron and that is a problem for menopausal women.” Well, since chlorella might be a problem for aging women let’s all use extreme caution when consuming the world’s healthiest food. By the way, the iron in both Chlorella and Spirulina (much higher than Chlorella) is bio-available and will NOT be a problem to menopausal women, as if older women simply stop needing iron like the rest of humanity. In fact, all raw foods with iron are good for anyone, including elderly women.
Dr. Mercola regularly promotes health products that are essentially unhealthy. Krill oil is a good example of the kind of product that Mercola sells that is boring and misleading. All the fatty acids, EFA’s, can be found in the plant world and do not need to be extracted from fish for us to get them. Where do you think fish get them? Fish get them from plant world, in particular algae. However, Mercola is anti-vegetarian and has been involved in a nasty argument with Dr. T. Colin Campbell, author of The China Study which supports vegetarianism through hard science. He is a big promoter of whey protein, which has been promoted and marketed to death in the bodybuilding world for decades now. Whey protein is a health disaster, which is one of the reasons why bodybuilders have so many health problems. Like all animal protein, processed milk protein, whey, is dangerous for our health.
The problem with animal protein is that it is a pre-formed protein chain of amino acids that are then brought to high temperatures during the cooking process. The higher the temperature and the longer the animal protein is cooked at these temperatures, the more harmful the animal protein becomes to our health. Although it is not desirable, exposing plant proteins (unstructured amino acids) to high temperatures does not have the same deleterious effects on our health.
The products sold at the Watershed Wellness Center reflect my lifestyle. I sell what I use and use what I sell. What I promote is nature and only through nature can we obtain health. I sell wholefoods such as chlorella and spirulina. I sell herbal extracts because we can get huge benefit from a small dosage of an herb such as mucuna, ginkgo or turmeric for example. These are incredibly powerful foods that can help solve a person’s health issues if used correctly.
However, Vitamin B-12, Vitamin D, Co-Q10, CLA, Vitamin E, krill oil, etc. do not lead to health, they mislead people about what true health is really all about: Nature.
I’ve just found your blog after watching the documentary, “Food Matters” and googling spirulina and chlorella. Interesting stuff! I’ve also read many articles over the years from Dr. Mercola and have found them to be (minus some of the sensationalism) very informative.
So I’m interested Bob, when you say….”when it comes to offering real health advice and backing them up with true products his record is terrible”. Are you saying that the spirulina and chlorella that Dr. Mercola sells is inferior to the products that you sell? And if so, why? Thanks.
You probably want to check your first sentence, you appear to me missing a second “is”.
You said: “The problem with animal protein is that it is a pre-formed protein chain of amino acids that are then brought to high temperatures during the cooking process.” I am quite confident Mercola likes his eggs and milk raw. I don’t know about his beef choices, but I am certain about his dairy and egg choices.
I have found non-denatured whey protein that isn’t heat-processed. Is this OK?
You seem to have it in for DR. Mercola, but your credentials don’t quite measure up! Be that as it may I think you are on the right track except that when you criticize please explain further. For instance yes your discription of Krill Oil, yes krill get EFAs fron plants however you would have to eat a lot of plant’s in your diet to get the benefit. Let’s be practical about these things. What is wrong about, (me to), if it works why not offer it? Vitamin B-12, Vitamin D, Co-Q10, CLA, Vitamin E, krill oil, etc are all necessary for a good life and are products that are helpful and the science is there, that supports this. Mercola does support a healthful way of life but as a practical man he knows that most people do not follow an healthful life style nor will they, so it is helpful to offer supplements. What is not helpful is attacking others that are trying to help. All that being said I support your view on your products which I use, but please use the science available to tout your products as proof which would be a more reasonable approch to changing peoples minds.
Very disingenuous of you to target clearly a competitor who is in fact a qualified doctor,
When you have the credentials then maybe someone might take you seriously.
Your pop science really is quite dangerous.
How is my “pop science” dangerous exactly?
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Mercola seems to be on top of some things, but pushes other things I don’t agree with. I’ll stick with natural news, and that community. My opinion on others has been turned way down, since switching to a mostly raw diet. I’m more than content focusing on myself, and being mostly quiet. It’s very satisfying knowing who you are, and not caring about money or spreading any sort of lifestyle to anyone, for any reason. Just being kind is my approach these days.
Although everyone has a piece of the puzzle, you missed the number one reason why Dr. Mercola recommends Krill Oil. It is the antaxanthin, a great antioxidant. Antaxathin is available in smaller amounts, but is plentiful in krill. Also, krill is harvested from rather pristine waters. I value Dr. Mercola’s research and why he recommends the products. His interviews with leading professionals is great, like Dr. N. Gonzalez and Dr. Klinghardt. As to his support of animal products, a lot of health professionals follow the Price-Potter approach, but Mercola does use metabolic typing in determining that there is not one diet for everyone. I guess criticizing someone successful has benefits.
Everyone thinks I’m out to get Mercola, but the guy is no. 1 and I disagree sometimes with him. Some are important and contrary to my health protocol. On balance, I like Mercola and he does a good job, but he differs a lot from my health protocol. Therefore, I point those differences out.
I am against fish oil because there are better sources of astaxanthin found in algae in my opinion. Fat is difficult and expensive to extract, and it contains more toxins than any other part of the body. Therefore, I recommend you avoid fat derived from the animal world.