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.
Dr. Bob’s Blog is not intended as medical advice. The writings and statements on this website have not reviewed and/or approved by the FDA. Our products are not meant to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Rather they are meant to demonstrate that aging can be slowed and even reversed and that Great Health achieved when the most fundamental nutritional needs of the human body are met. Always consult a medical doctor or other medical professional when you consider it necessary.
Dr. Bob’s Blog is covered under (47 U.S.C. § 230): “No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider”.
About Bob McCauley
Bob McCauley, ND (Robert F., Jr.) was raised in Lansing, Michigan and attended Michigan State University (BA, 1980 in Journalism). He is a naturopathic doctor, Master Herbalist and a Certified Nutritional Consultant. He has traveled extensively, both domestically and abroad, visiting over 32 countries. He published Confessions of a Body Builder: Rejuvenating the Body with Spirulina, Chlorella, Raw Foods and Ionized Water (2000), Achieving Great Health (2005), The Miraculous Properties of Ionized Water, (2006) which is the only book on the market that exclusively addresses Ionized Water, Twelve (Fiction, 2007) and Honoring the Temple of God (2008). He considers himself a Naturalist, meaning he pursues health in the most natural way possible. He studies and promotes nature as the only way to true health.
From 2002-2004 he hosted the radio program Achieving Great Health, which was heard by thousands of people each day. His guests included some of the most well-known and respected names in the natural health world.
With the help of his father, Dr. Robert F. McCauley, Sr. (Doctorate in Environmental Engineering, MIT, 1953) they started Spartan Water Company in 1992, which sold vended water machines in supermarkets. Robert Jr. founded Spartan Enterprises, Inc. in 1993. He is a Certified Water Technician with the State of Michigan. He is also a Type II Public Water Supply Specialist and has the certifications of S-5 and D-5. The McCauley family has a long history in the water industry. Bob's father pioneered environmental issues regarding ground water and drinking water quality. He received his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1953 for his thesis on removing radioactive strontium from water. He earned his doctorate in Environmental Engineering in less than 2 years, one of the shortest doctoral studies in the history of MIT. He taught civil, sanitary and environmental engineering at Michigan State University for 18 years before retiring to run Wolverine Engineers & Surveyors of Mason, Michigan, for 17 years. His reputation throughout Michigan as a water quality expert was legendary. Bob worked for his father's company for 12 years learning the water business, which dealt primarily with municipalities, including water quality and sanitary sewer issues.
After apprenticing with his father, Bob moved on to the bottled water business. He established greater Michigan's biggest selling bottled water: Michigan Mineral – Premium Natural Water. He was introduced to Ionized Water in 1995 and has done more to promote Ionized Water than anyone else in the industry. Bob often lectures and offers seminars on his Seven Component Natural Health Protocol .
Bob is a Certified Nutritional Consultant and a Certified Master Herbalist. He is also a 3rd Degree Black Belt and Certified Instructor of Songahm Taekwondo (American Taekwondo Association).
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.
The whey protein that is available on Dr. Mercola’s site is “cold processed, and never processed with acid chemicals, thereby retaining all its natural goodness”, therefore the issues that you addressed regarding , “The problem with animal protein (whey powder) 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.”, does not apply to Dr. Mercola’s product. Please do your research!
I reached this website via a google search for MERCOLA HYPOCRISY. In my opinion, mercola himself can be hypocritical. On his website he states at the the bottom of the home page:
“{Dr. Mercola encourages you to make your own health care decisions based upon your research and in partnership with a qualified health care professional.}”
But, woe unto you if you disagree! I have had three posts in which I said I was in favor of vaccinations deleted. Admittedly, the first two may have been a bit sarcastic– The article was about a nurse getting fired for refusing vaccinations, so I asked if I would be fired if I worked for mercola and advocated vaccinations? Turnabout is fair play. Well, I was answered by one guy that said ‘I would assume not because people don’t think the nurse should have been fired’, but the deletion of my post kind of made me think that guy was wrong.
The next deleted post quoted the ‘encourages you..’ quote from mercola (see above) and I simply said that in my opinion people are making a BIG mistake my not getting themselves or their children vaccinated, though I would try to respect their anti vaccine decision. (In fairness to Mercola, my post about ‘government is not out to get you’ was not deleted. )
Another thing that shows [in my opinion] hypocrisy on mercola’s part is the point system he has, that discourages people from disagreeing. When I was in second grade, we would get gold stars on our forehead if we did well. Likewise, Mercola has ranks and points for commenters-expert, novice, etc. Needless to say, the only experts are those who mainly agree with Mercola and his disciples.
Mercola, if you really want people to think for themselves you should allow them to do so without fear of reprisal. You should have the courage and integrity to allow dissenting opinions on your website! Or you should change your motto!
Update to last comment: I unsubscribed from Mercola’s site because I can’t in good conscience expect any respect from someone whom I cannot respect; and I found three more good reasons not to respect Mercola. I am only listing two because I don’t want him to delete the content from his website, as he does when he is caught with his pants down.
1). Plagiarism. According to this guy, Mercola asked for permission to put his diet on Mercola’s site, modified it, and then gave the guy no credit whatsoever! When supporters of the guy complained to Mercola, he deleted their posts and cleaned up his site.
http://www.bulletproofexec.com/its-official-dr-mercola-just-copied-the-bulletproof-diet/
2). Arrogant and a lousy doctor. Reviews on ratemds.com indicate that he is an arrogant person and a lousy doctor: http://www.ratemds.com/doctor-ratings/1587/Dr-Joseph-Mercola-Hoffman+Estates-IL.html
Interesting. A Dr. Joseph Mercola in Illinois was sued for prescribing a woman prozac in 1997:
http://caselaw.findlaw.com/il-court-of-appeals/1200858.html
Could this be the same Dr. Joseph Mercola who preaches against prozac?
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/02/25/legal-system-rules-antidepressants-cause-kids-to-kill.aspx
I should qualify my last post where I made negative comments about mercola by emphasizing that those comments were based upon the comments I linked to.
It isn’t really right to spread negative comments around unless you know them for a fact to be true.
Nevertheless, we must make a decision whether to trust our doctor, and our plumber. If our neighbor tells us that his faucet leaked worse than ever after his plumber visited, we would probably not call that plumber, unless we knew that our neighbor was a liar.
hi there
i’d like to know how you get your b12 then
i ask that cause i’m a vegetarian going vegan and i’d like to understand why you are against b12 supplementing
also, if it’s not too much to ask, could you tell me where you get your d3 from
thank you very much 🙂