Dr. Joseph Mercola - Take Control of Your Health
Listen to Dr. Mercola's Weekly Podcast, as the legendary natural health pioneer continues to lead you on your journey towards optimal health.
Episodes
February 18, 2026 • 19 mins
- Tramadol is widely prescribed for chronic pain because it's perceived as "safer" than other opioids but more effective than other over-the-counter pain relievers, yet newer evidence challenges both its effectiveness and long-term safety
- A 2025 BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine analysis found tramadol reduced pain by less than one point on a 10-point scale, ...
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February 17, 2026 • 16 mins
- Researchers analyzing breast milk found traces of plastics, disinfectants, pesticides, and other industrial chemicals, showing that breast milk reflects everyday environmental exposure
- Five separate studies using advanced testing methods identified chemicals that routine screening often misses, including newer plastic substitutes and personal care pre...
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February 17, 2026 • 14 mins
- Chronic stress keeps cortisol elevated, which disrupts sleep, slows physical recovery, blunts training progress, and prevents your body from fully resetting day to day
- Clinical research shows ashwagandha consistently lowers cortisol, helping shift your body out of constant defense mode and back into repair and recovery
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February 17, 2026 • 17 mins
- Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) is central to cellular energy and mitochondrial health, driving redox reactions that produce ATP. Declining levels are linked to metabolic disorders, sarcopenia, and diabetes
- Alzheimer's disease has strongly associated with disrupted NAD+ balance, and research suggests restoring intake can reverse cognitive dec...
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February 16, 2026 • 12 mins
- A mini-review published in Frontiers in Neurology suggests that acupuncture may assist ICU patients in recovering more quickly by relieving pain, lowering sedative use, shortening ventilator dependency, enhancing strength, and increasing days free from delirium
- Acupuncture may help calm inflammation, boost immunity, and improve blood flow in sepsis pa...
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February 16, 2026 • 16 mins
- My paper, Seed Oils as a Hypothesized Contributor to Heart Disease: A Narrative Synthesis, explains that heart disease was rare before the 20th century and surged only after industrial seed oils became a dominant part of the food supply, pointing to a long-term dietary driver rather than sudden biological failure
- Linoleic acid (LA) from seed oils accu...
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February 14, 2026 • 7 mins
- Forceful abdominal exhalations activate a brainstem circuit that tightens blood vessels and raises blood pressure, even in the absence of stress or exercise
- Slow, calm breathing quiets the nervous system signals that drive blood pressure higher, making it a powerful daily tool for regulation
- Long-term high blo...
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February 14, 2026 • 8 mins
- The quality of your closest relationships influences heart health as strongly as conventional risk factors by shaping daily stress levels, recovery capacity, and long-term resilience
- Couples who approach heart health together exercise more consistently, reduce smoking more effectively, and follow treatment plans better than people working alone ...
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February 14, 2026 • 8 mins
- Photobiomodulation (PBM) is a light-based therapy that uses specific wavelengths to interact with body tissues, influencing cellular activity without heat and supporting recovery across both medical and general wellness settings
- Europe recently released its first formal clinical guide for PBM in oncology, marking a shift toward standardized use of lig...
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February 13, 2026 • 7 mins
- Antibiotic use has been linked to higher anxiety and depression risk by disrupting gut bacteria that regulate brain chemistry and stress response
- Human studies show antibiotics lower key calming neurotransmitters and activate inflammatory brain cells tied to anxious behavior
- Repeated or early-life antibiotic e...
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February 13, 2026 • 7 mins
- Fermented foods are biologically active whole foods that reshape digestion and immune signaling by delivering microbes, enzymes, and microbial byproducts together, not isolated nutrients
- Most benefits from fermented foods come from changes in gut chemistry and microbial signaling rather than permanent colonization, which explains why you can see resul...
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February 13, 2026 • 8 mins
- Despite decades of statin use costing approximately $25 billion annually in America alone, heart disease remains the leading cause of death, suggesting the cholesterol hypothesis that drives statin prescriptions is fundamentally flawed
- Studies show that lowering cholesterol with statins does not reduce heart disease, and yet these findings are ignored...
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February 12, 2026 • 4 mins
- Repeated or aggressive antibiotic use disrupts gut microbes that regulate brain chemicals, which raises your risk of anxiety, low mood, poor sleep, and emotional instability
- Research shows that antibiotics lower acetylcholine, a key neurotransmitter that supports calm focus, memory, and stress tolerance, explaining why many people feel anxious, foggy,...
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February 12, 2026 • 5 mins
- Extra body fat interferes with how vitamin D works after it enters your body, which explains why low levels often persist despite supplements or sun exposure
- Vitamin D can become trapped in fat tissue and fail to convert into its usable form, leaving blood tests low even when intake appears sufficient
- Deep bel...
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February 12, 2026 • 7 mins
- Fatty liver disease affects a large portion of adults worldwide and often develops silently, increasing the risk of liver damage, heart disease and shortened life expectancy if metabolic health isn't improved
- Consistent exercise reduces liver fat even without weight loss, improving blood sugar control, cardiovascular fitness and overall metabolic func...
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February 11, 2026 • 7 mins
- Type 2 diabetes management is influenced not only by diet and medication but also by environmental factors, including the type and timing of light exposure during typical indoor workdays
- A Cell Metabolism study found that participants exposed to natural daylight spent more time within a healthy glucose range than those exposed to standard office light...
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February 11, 2026 • 7 mins
- Your cardiovascular risk score reflects how well blood flows through your smallest vessels, and those same vessels determine whether your retina and optic nerve stay healthy as you age
- People with higher heart risk scores face a much greater chance of developing serious eye diseases years before vision problems become noticeable
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February 11, 2026 • 7 mins
- Heavy short-form video use trains your brain to favor speed and novelty, which weakens sustained focus and makes everyday tasks feel harder to finish
- Attention loss linked to scrolling reflects learned brain adaptation, not a lack of intelligence, motivation, or discipline
- Endless feeds strain self-control sys...
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February 10, 2026 • 7 mins
- The bowel prep used before a colonoscopy does more than empty your colon; it strips protective mucus, wipes out beneficial gut bacteria, and weakens your gut's natural defenses right when they are needed most
- Research shows nearly half of people experience bloating, abdominal pain, or digestive distress for weeks after a colonoscopy, and these symptom...
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February 10, 2026 • 8 mins
- A review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) identified 51 PFAS in 1,744 cosmetic products. Among the 25 most-used PFAS, 19 lacked sufficient safety data for assessment
- The most common PFAS in European makeup were polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) in 26% of PFAS-positive products and perfluorodecalin in 22%, both used to soften skin
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