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A New Series of Health Insights Is on the Way

BELANGRIJK

A New Series of Health Insights Is on the Way
Our team has been working behind the scenes to prepare new research and practical health strategies for our readers. While we finish preparing what’s coming next, we invite you to explore one of the most-read articles from our library below. See exactly what’s changing →

The role of sun exposure for your well-being is a topic that’s close to my heart, and for more than two decades it’s one of the top recommendations that I stand firm on. One of the benefits, of course, is that it allows you to optimize your vitamin D levels — however, the benefits far surpass that, as it actually awakens the essence of your biology.

In this podcast, I go into the details on why getting optimal sun exposure is one of the cornerstones of health, particularly the role it plays in optimizing your cellular energy. I encourage you to listen to it in its entirety as it will help you understand this groundbreaking information that will help you reach optimal health.

Just Like Plants, You Cannot Thrive Without Sunlight

There’s no question that the sun powers every form of life on the planet. Plants, for example, cannot survive without sunlight, as they need it for photosynthesis. When the sun’s rays shine on a plant, the electrons in the chloroplasts, a sac-like organelle that contains chlorophyll molecules, convert the solar energy to structural energy in the form of glucose. This then fuels the biological processes in the plant.

You, on the other hand, mostly rely on the foods you eat as an energy source. Take note that I said “mostly,” because did you know that you also have the capacity to use sunlight to produce cellular energy?

In low light, a plant can survive for a time. However, it will not thrive — its leaves will not become green and lush, it will not produce beautiful flowers, and its growth will be stunted. The same can happen to humans. You cannot reach your full health potential unless you’re getting regular sun exposure.

There is one caveat to this, however. If you’ve been eating a diet high in vegetable oils or seed oils, you need to approach sun exposure with caution, as these oils increase your risk of sunburn. That’s why I recommend avoiding high-intensity sun exposure unless you’ve been off these oils for at least four to six months. I’ll explain why further below.

Sunlight Is the Unrecognized Nutrient You Cannot Live Without

Just like plants, you need sunlight to thrive, as there’s a biological mechanism in your body that transforms sunlight into cellular energy. I’m actually in the process of doing some experiments and have set up a mitochondrial research lab to study this theory more closely.

But basically, here’s how it works — your body, when exposed to the sun, collects electrons from solar energy that are used for mitochondrial energy production. This is why failing to get enough sun exposure can have severe consequences for your health.

Your body primarily gets its energy from the foods you eat. When you digest food in your intestine, it is ultimately metabolized to tiny molecules called acetyl-Coenzyme A.

As acetyl-Coenzyme A enters the mitochondria and goes through the Krebs cycle, it is converted into electrons, which are then carried by NADH and FADH2 into the electron transport chain (ETC). This final stage of cellular respiration is where the electrons are transformed by your body into adenosine triphosphate (ATP) — the fuel on which your body runs. To help you understand, here’s an illustration of how cellular energy is created.

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A New Series of Health Insights Is on the Way

BELANGRIJK

A New Series of Health Insights Is on the Way
Our team has been working behind the scenes to prepare new research and practical health strategies for our readers. While we finish preparing what’s coming next, we invite you to explore one of the most-read articles from our library below. See exactly what’s changing →

DMSO is a remarkable naturally occurring substance that (provided it’s used correctly1) safely and rapidly improves a variety of conditions medicine struggles with — particularly chronic pain. For example, thousands of studies show DMSO treats a wide range of:

• Injuries such as sprains, concussions, burns, surgical incisions, and spinal cord injuries (discussed here).

• Strokes, paralysis, many neurological disorders (e.g., Down syndrome and dementia), and numerous circulatory disorders (e.g., Raynaud’s, varicose veins or hemorrhoids), which were discussed here.

• Chronic pain (e.g., from a bad disc, bursitis, arthritis, or complex regional pain syndrome), which was discussed here.

• Many autoimmune, protein, and contractile disorders such as scleroderma, amyloidosis, and interstitial cystitis (discussed here).

• Head conditions, such as tinnitus, vision loss, dental problems, and sinusitis (discussed here).

• Internal organ diseases such as pancreatitis, infertility, liver cirrhosis, and endometriosis (discussed here).

• A wide range of skin conditions such as burns, varicose veins, acne, hair loss, ulcers, skin cancer, and many autoimmune dermatologic diseases (discussed here).

Many challenging infections such as shingles, herpes, chronic ear or dental infections, and osteomyelitis (discussed here). In turn, since I started this series, it struck a chord, and I have received over 2000 reports of remarkable responses to DMSO, and many readers have had for a variety of “incurable conditions.”

This begs an obvious question — if a substance capable of doing all of that exists, why does almost no one know about it? Simply put, like many other promising therapies, it fell victim to a pernicious campaign by the FDA, which kept it away from America despite decades of scientific research, congressional protest, and thousands of people pleading for the FDA to reconsider its actions. Consider for example, this 60 Minutes program about DMSO that aired on March 23, 1980:

In the 1960s a miraculous treatment for chronic pain, traumatic injury, strokes and spinal cord paralysis was discovered that spread across America like wildfire—until the FDA buried it.Here, 60 Minutes exposed the FDA using the same playbook they used throughout COVID-19. A🧵 pic.twitter.com/Bh0dcjNk5w— A Midwestern Doctor (@MidwesternDoc) October 14, 2024
Video Link

DMSO and Cancer

Since there is a longstanding tendency for any “unproven cancer therapy” to be targeted by the medical industry, once the pioneers of DMSO realized early research showed DMSO was also remarkable for cancer, a decision was made not to focus on that research as a justifiable fear existed that doing so would bury DMSO (particularly since DMSO was already in a precarious position with the FDA). As a result, there is very little knowledge of how DMSO changes the cancer paradigm. For example:

• There are hundreds of studies showing DMSO routinely transforms cancerous cells into noncancerous ones.

• DMSO directly inhibits the growth of a wide range of cancers.

• DMSO allows the immune system to regain the ability to target cancerous cells that have evaded the immune system,2 which not only eliminates cancer but also can create permanent immunity to cancers.

• DMSO makes many conventional cancer therapies much more potent, both making a cure more likely and a far lower (and thus less toxic dose) dose needed to achieve it.

• Many natural therapies become dramatically more potent when combined with DMSO (e.g., one DMSO combination ranks amongst the most effective cancer treatments I’ve ever encountered).

Furthermore, in addition to directly eliminating cancers, DMSO’s remarkable ability to heal and protect the body can also make challenging cancers far more manageable. In my eyes, the suppression of DMSO’s uses as an adjunctive cancer therapy represents the most egregious aspect of this story as in those instances, it’s not even competing with cancer treatments — it’s just reducing the suffering they cause (which if anything should be good for the cancer business).

DMSO and Radiation Therapy

Many of DMSO’s remarkable properties result from it effectively protecting cells from a variety of otherwise lethal stressors (e.g., burns,3 freezing,4 blood loss,5 asphyxiation,6 UV light,7 and soundwaves8) and it significantly accelerates healing from injuries (e.g., sprains9 or burns10).

In addition to protecting cells from other sources of injury, as early as 1961,11 DMSO was also recognized to protect cells and tissues from radiation exposure, and by 1967,12 to protect the skin. This is because DMSO prevents radiation from:

• Breaking apart chromosomes,13 DNA, RNA, proteins,14 and the mitochondria.15

• Creating damaging oxygen species16 and free radicals.17

• Triggering an immune response (e.g., by reducing IL-1, IL-6, TNF-α, and TGF-β18), chronic inflammation, fibrosis, and adhesions.

• Putting cells into senescence19 (a state of permanent growth arrest).

• Causing normal cells in the vicinity of the affected ones to die as well (e.g., when only 1% of cells are exposed to radiation, approximately 30% of non-irradiated cells will exhibit similar toxic effects too20), a fascinating phenomenon I believe is mediated through mitogenic radiation emissions.

Since cancer radiation therapy frequently creates a variety of acute and chronic injuries such as burns, fibrosis, and internal tissue adhesions (all of which DMSO treats), DMSO is incredibly valuable for cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy — particularly since DMSO not only prevents radiation damage but also rapidly heals the injuries radiation creates.21,22

Most importantly, DMSO’s protective effects are specific to normal cells. In contrast, many studies show it increases cancer cells’ susceptibility to radiation.23

Note: I believe our focus on radiation therapy ultimately resulted from mining magnate James Douglas devising a way to produce cheap radium and then giving a large donation (along with subsequent donations) to America’s premier cancer institute to create a program for developing cancer radiation therapy that then spread across the world.24,25

Radiation Exposure Studies

Studies have repeatedly shown that DMSO protects cells26 (particularly when given prophylactically27) from being damaged by (often otherwise fatal28) radiation. For example, DMSO was shown to protect skin cells from dying after exposure to gamma radiation29 and make hamster cells four times as resistant to radiation.30

These same protective properties have also been found in plants31,32,33 and many animals (e.g., mice,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43 rats,44,45,46,47,48,49 rabbits,50 newts,51 and fruit flies52).

In animals, DMSO was repeatedly found to protect them from otherwise lethal radiation exposures53,54,55 and protect their skin,56 tails,57 oral mucosa,58 eyes,59 kidneys,60 intestines61 (which are particularly vulnerable to radiation damage), and testicles62 from radiation damage, along with protecting sperm from mutations63 and to accelerate tissue cellular regeneration following an injury.64

Finally, DMSO was shown to prevent the psychological trauma and behavioral changes rats typically experienced from radiation injuries (presumably by preventing radiation from causing injury65).

DMSO also has a remarkable ability to protect and heal the skin from injury,66 and since 1966,67 numerous Russian, German, and Japanese studies have demonstrated DMSO’s impressive ability to protect human skin (along with its collagen and mucopolysaccharides) from radiation.68,69,70,71,72,73,74,75,76,77,78,79,80

For example, DMSO has been shown to treat radiation fibrosis,81,82 radiation dermatitis,83 radiation injuries84 and other local radiation complications.85

Note: While DMSO can treat radiation injuries, it is the most effective if given immediately beforehand to prevent radiation injuries.86

DMSO has also been shown to protect tissues besides the skin. For example:

• In 80 patients who’d developed late local radiation complications (induration, ulcers) from the treatment of breast or genital cancer (or a noncancerous disease) DMSO resulted in both a high efficacy of treatment with no side effects.87

• In 22 patients with cervical cancer topical found DMSO prior to internal gamma-ray radiation therapy prevented the normally expected radiation burns and other toxic reactions to the treatment (e.g., in the bladder and rectum) seen in 59 controls and that DMSO did not protect cancerous tissue.88

• In 807 patients with cervical uterine cancer, putting 10% DMSO into the bladders an hour before receiving weekly internal irradiation therapy, dropped the radiation damage to the rectum from 19.0% to 9.5% and to the bladder from 8.8% to 7.1% (both of which dropped to 1.7% if metronidazole was also used).89

• In another study, DMSO had a 50% success rate in treating patients which chronic radiation cystitis (e.g., from prostate cancer therapy).90 Likewise, a 1979 study also used DMSO to treat radiation cystitis.91

• In 22 breast and cervical cancer patients, DMSO protected them against radiation dermatitis (e.g., erosion, blistering, itching, and pain) while also enhancing cancer sensitivity to radiation (as the DMSO treated areas showed skin reddening and exfoliation earlier) and accelerating the regrowth of normal tissues.

Additionally, when DMSO was only applied to one side, the non-applied side did worse, the hyperpigmentation that follows radiation therapy was greater in DMSO treated patients, and that only one of the 22 patients had to stop DMSO (due to having a skin eruption which may have been linked to DMSO).92

• This author detailed a case of a patient with lung cancer that was treated with three months of radiation therapy but severely damaged her lungs (making her require oxygen and leaving her unsure if she’d survive) — but after topical and oral DMSO, she had a rapid recovery.

Likewise, he also shared a case of another woman with lung cancer who was expected to have significant lung complications from the treatment (as she required a borderline lethal dose), but took topical DMSO prior to each treatment and instead had no complications and was fully healthy three years later.93

It is thus quite remarkable that all of this remains unknown. To quote the author of a 2022 study94 which found DMSO prevented testicular damage (and loss of hormonal function or fertility) following radiation therapy:

“Currently, there is no approved agent for the prevention or treatment of radiation-induced testicular injury … In summary, our findings demonstrate the radioprotective efficacy of DMSO on the male reproductive system, which warrants further studies for future application in the preservation of male fertility during conventional radiotherapy and nuclear accidents.”

Similarly, in addition to the higher doses experienced from radiation therapy, diagnostic radiation, specifically CT scans (which expose the body to much higher radiation doses than X-rays) also pose a cancer risk — particularly since the dose of radiation with CT scans can have over a 10-fold variation.95

In turn, a CT scan was found to make you 17% to 24% more likely to develop cancer,96 with the risk increasing97 the younger you were at the time of the scan and is much higher for certain types of cancers.98,99,100,101,102 A 2009 study estimated 29,000 cancers were caused by the CT scans performed in America in 2007.103

As such, I avoid CT scans, which I do not feel are essential (particularly since a detailed physical exam frequently provides more actionable information). It is my sincere hope at some point in the future, DMSO will be given in conjunction with CT scans (but unfortunately their use keeps going up, and they are viewed as a highly lucrative growth market104).

Tumor Surgery

Since DMSO rapidly accelerates the healing of tissue and addresses the neurological components of pain, many studies have found that DMSO greatly facilitates surgical recovery (e.g., by accelerating healing, improving the strength of the final scar, reducing surgical site pain and eliminating fibrosis, enlarged scars, or tissue adhesions).

As cancers are frequently treated with surgical removal, DMSO can also greatly aid the recovery from these surgeries (e.g., in dogs that required a unilateral mastectomy, giving IV DMSO 15 minutes before the surgery’s conclusion significantly reduced post-surgical inflammation105).

Likewise, studies such as a 1992 trial106 of 198 patients with Stage III colon cancer, and a 1992 trial107 of 228 patients with stomach cancer found DMSO significantly reduced the chance that those cancers would relapse.

Extravasation Injuries

Since the medical field has been extremely reluctant to consider any alternative cancer treatment that could threaten its bottom line (regardless of how much data is behind it), DMSO has essentially not been utilized in the treatment of cancer. However, there is one exception to this rule, as DMSO is able to address a challenging issue encountered with chemotherapy without threatening the existing market.

Since many chemotherapy drugs are quite toxic, they have to be administered in a tightly controlled manner. Unfortunately, in many cases however, the drug gets through the injected vein (extravasates) and leaks into the surrounding tissue.

Note: Since extravasations are often not reported, estimates widely vary on how common they are (e.g., according to one study, in 0.1% to 6% of adults who receive chemotherapy108 while another made a compelling case extravasations occur in 39% of patients109).

Due to how toxic some of the chemotherapy drugs are (particularly the anthracyclines), when that leakage occurs and the drugs concentrate in one area, it can often cause significant damage to the surrounding tissues and lead to ulceration or necrosis (tissue death).

Since the existing treatments don’t always give satisfactory results and DMSO is extremely effective at healing a wide range of tissue injuries, it eventually got used as a treatment for these injuries and quickly caught on. For example:

• A 1981 rat study of doxorubicin extravasations showed that daily topical applications of 1 ml 90% DMSO with 10% α-tocopherol significantly reduced ulcer diameter.110

• A 1982111 and 1986112 study tested numerous agents on ulcers created by applying intradermal doxorubicin to pigs and rats and found DMSO was the only agent that prevented or healed those ulcers.

• A 1984,113 1987,114 and 1994115 pig study along with a 2007 rat study116 also found DMSO treated or prevented extravasation injuries.

Likewise, in humans:

• A 1983117 case report, another 1983 case report,118 a 1989 series119 of 4 patients, a 1991 series120 of two patients, a 1994 series of two patients121 and a 2001 case report122 reported that DMSO prevented extravasations from causing ulcerations of tissue death or healed existing injuries (e.g., with “striking” improvement).

• A 1988 study gave topical DMSO for anthracycline extravasations every 6 hours for 14 days to 20 patients, which prevented all of them from developing ulcerations. In the 14 who were evaluated at 3 months, there was no sign of residual damage in six patients, while a pigmented indurated area remained in ten.123

• A 1995 study gave topical DMSO (for 8 hours a day over 7 days) alongside 3 days of intermittent cooling to every patient who experienced an extravasation over a 3.5 year period (which was either from doxorubicin, epirubicin, mitomycin, mitoxantrone, cisplatin, carboplatin, ifosfamide, or fluorouracil).

Of those 144 patients, 127 could be evaluated, of whom only 1 ultimately developed an ulceration from the extravasation, and none experienced side effects from DMSO (beyond temporary skin irritation and a breath odor).124

• A 1996 study of ten successive patients who experienced extravasation from chemotherapy were given DMSO and alpha-tocopherol, all of whom avoided ulceration or tissue death.125

• A 2004 study of 147 patients with extravasations of anthracyclines (which typically leads to 28% developing ulcerations), found 99% DMSO caused only 1% to 2% of them to develop ulcers.126

• A 2007 study explored applying DMSO and α-tocopherol as a gel rather than a liquid solution to treat extravasation injuries (which appeared to hold promise).127

Chemotherapy Injuries

In addition to addressing extravasation injuries, DMSO has also:

• Been found to prevent doxorubicin cardiac toxicity.128

• Successfully treated palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia resulting from doxorubicin treatment.129

• Prevent the skin death that is often associated with injecting doxorubicin into the eyelid (which is done to treat eye spasms).130

• Protect against birth defects caused by hydroxyurea.131

• Reduce the carcinogenicity of chlorambucil (which often causes a secondary tumor to form after the initial treatment).132

• Decrease the lung injuries (e.g., pulmonary fibrosis) and weight loss caused by bleomycin.133,134,135

DMSO has also been found to improve many other symptoms associated with chemotherapy (e.g., DMSO is frequently used to treat hair loss from a variety of causes, including chemotherapy) since it saves normal cells on the verge of dying following chemotherapy.

Note: We find Ultraviolet Blood Irradiation following chemotherapy to be the most effective option for protecting a patient’s healthy cells from dying.

Cancer Pain

Cancer (and its treatments) are often accompanied by many other debilitating symptoms, including pain — which is so severe that opioids, rather than being restricted, are routinely used to treat it (e.g., fentanyl is often used to treat advanced cancer pain — but in 10% to 20% of patients the pain is severe enough that even the strongest opioids can’t address it136).

Since DMSO has a rather unique mechanism of treating pain, it is often able to treat a wide range of challenging pain conditions nothing else works on (e.g., I’ve now had hundreds of readers share life-changing pain improvements from topical DMSO nothing else they’d tried had ever worked on). As such, many over the years have found it provided incredible relief for metastatic cancer pain.

One of the most well-known examples was Otis Bowen MD (a popular second-term Indiana governor), who “illegally” used topical DMSO to treat his wife’s pain from terminal multiple myeloma and then publicly denounced the FDA’s absurd embargo on it at the AMA’s 1981 national meeting.137

Remarkably, a few years later, Bowen became Reagan’s Secretary of Health and Human Services. Still, even then, with this highly ethical doctor at the helm of the HSS, DMSO was unable to overcome the FDA’s prohibition of it — which helps to highlight the incredible challenge RFK Jr. is now facing (but gradually surmounting). Likewise, a few studies have shown that DMSO can treat cancer pain:

• A 1967 study included two older patients with cancer pain, one of whom had an excellent response to DMSO and one who had a good response.138

• A 1967 study found that of 7 patients with metastatic cancer pain, DMSO gave 2 full and 2 partial remission.139

• A 2011 trial gave DMSO and sodium bicarbonate to 26 patients with advanced cancers who were experiencing significant pain (even with all the available treatment options).140 This greatly improved their pain, their quality of life (e.g., chemotherapy symptoms), their blood counts, and their organ function:

Note: A 2010 paper further discusses DMSO’s ability to treat intractable cancer pain.141 It highlights that this may be due to DMSO’s ability to address membrane hyper-excitability (e.g., through suppressing NMDA and AMPA induced ion fluxes — which are linked to central pain sensitization142,143 and may explain why DMSO also effectively treats complex regional pain syndrome144).

Conclusie

DMSO’s ability to heal the body and restore its normal function transformed the practice of medicine, and had the FDA not buried DMSO sixty years ago; our medical science would be leaps beyond where it is now. In this article, I’ve tried to show how DMSO helps to address one of the most challenging decisions many will face in their lifetimes — is it worth tolerating the immense damage conventional cancer therapies will cause in return for them saving one’s life?

As such, it’s unconscionable that DMSO was never incorporated as an adjunctive therapy for conventional cancer care, particularly in the case of radiation therapy, since a vast body of literature shows simply applying it shortly beforehand can prevent most of the complications from radiation therapy and significantly increase its ability to treat cancer.

However, while it has been immensely painful to watch the unnecessary suffering created by our outdated and pathological medical practices, for the first time in my life, I am simultaneously immensely hopeful. That is because Make America Healthy Again has created the window to spark the momentum to begin revisiting many of our long accepted medical practices and have our society ask if there is actually a better (or more affordable) way to do things.

Author’s Note: This is an abridged version of a longer article that reviews how DMSO also directly treats cancer (e.g., by turning cancer cells back into normal cells or mobilizing the immune system to eliminate them) and how it greatly enhances the effectiveness of both conventional and natural cancer therapies (along with guidance for using DMSO to treat cancer and many other related conditions). That article can be read here.

A Note from Dr. Mercola About the Author

A Midwestern Doctor (AMD) is a board-certified physician from the Midwest and a longtime reader of Mercola.com. I appreciate AMD’s exceptional insight on a wide range of topics and am grateful to share it. I also respect AMD’s desire to remain anonymous since AMD is still on the front lines treating patients. To find more of AMD’s work, be sure to check out The Forgotten Side of Medicine on Substack.

Magnesium sits at the center of cellular survival. It’s the second most abundant mineral inside your cells, required for energy production, nerve signaling, muscle contraction, immune defense, and stable heart rhythm. Without adequate magnesium, your cells struggle to make adenosine triphosphate (ATP) — your body’s energy currency — your nervous system misfires, and calcium floods places it doesn’t belong.

You obtain magnesium from whole foods like fruits, vegetables, dairy, and animal proteins, yet biological need rises sharply during stress, illness, and injury — and it’s difficult to get enough magnesium from food alone. Hypomagnesemia — meaning abnormally low magnesium levels — is characterized by fatigue, muscle spasms, abnormal heart rhythms, confusion, immune instability, and, in severe cases, seizures and cardiovascular failure.

These symptoms rarely appear alone. They overlap with infection, respiratory failure, and electrolyte chaos, which is why magnesium deficiency often goes unnoticed. Most people assume a standard blood test settles the question. It does not. Roughly 99% of your magnesium lives inside bone, muscle, and soft tissue, not in your bloodstream.

That means normal lab values frequently coexist with deep cellular depletion. This disconnect drives treatment delays that raise the risk of sepsis, prolonged ventilation, clotting dysfunction, and death during critical illness. When your body is facing severe illness, magnesium behaves less like a nutrient and more like a control signal.

When it falls out of balance, multiple systems drift at once. Once you understand how central magnesium is to cellular control systems, it becomes clear why researchers focus on its behavior during critical illness and what those findings reveal about survival itself.

Severe Illness Rapidly Destabilizes Magnesium at the Cellular Level

A paper published in Veterinary Clinics of North America: Small Animal Practice analyzed magnesium regulation in critically ill patients and animals, with a focus on why deficiency and excess both raise mortality risk.1 Rather than treating magnesium as a minor electrolyte, the researchers evaluated it as a central regulator of cellular stability, enzyme activity, and electrical signaling during severe stress.

• In critically ill intensive care unit (ICU) populations, magnesium disruption is the norm, not the exception — The paper reports that low magnesium levels appear in up to 65% of human ICU patients and more than half of critically ill dogs, compared to just 6% in general hospital populations. That gap shows magnesium loss tracks directly with illness severity, not diet quality or age alone.

• Low magnesium strongly aligns with worse survival markers in critical care — The paper links hypomagnesemia to higher sepsis rates, longer ICU stays, increased need for mechanical ventilation, and higher death rates. From a practical standpoint, this means magnesium status acts like a risk multiplier. When levels fall, other treatments lose effectiveness, and recovery slows.

The researchers highlight that kidney strain, medications, and metabolic disturbances drive steep magnesium losses. These factors stack together, meaning the sicker someone becomes, the faster magnesium depletion accelerates.

• Blood tests fail to reflect real magnesium status, creating a false sense of security — Since 99% of magnesium lives inside bone, muscle, and soft tissue, serum tests measure only the remaining 1%, which often stays normal even when cells are depleted. This explains why symptoms often persist despite “normal labs.”

• Magnesium acts as a calcium gatekeeper inside cells — One key mechanism described is magnesium’s role as a natural calcium antagonist. In simple terms, magnesium blocks excess calcium from flooding cells.

Without this control, nerves misfire, muscles spasm, blood vessels constrict, and heart rhythm destabilizes. The review also details magnesium’s role as a required cofactor for ATP-generating enzymes. When magnesium drops, energy production falters, leaving cells unable to maintain electrical balance or repair damage.

By regulating calcium flow, enzyme activity, immune signaling, and electrical stability, magnesium determines whether cells adapt or fail under stress. That framing helps explain why its loss predicts deterioration long before outward collapse appears.

• Too much magnesium is also dangerous, especially with kidney impairment — While less common, hypermagnesemia increases mortality when kidney filtration declines. Excess levels depress nerve reflexes, slow heart rate, lower blood pressure, and impair breathing.

Magnesium Acts as a Frontline Stabilizer in Pediatric Critical Care

A comprehensive review published in Cureus analyzed magnesium’s role in pediatric critical care, focusing on clinical impact, therapeutic use, dosing strategies, and safety monitoring rather than basic physiology.2 The goal was to determine how magnesium status affects real-world outcomes in hospitalized children facing life-threatening conditions.

The review addressed children admitted to intensive care with conditions such as sepsis, severe asthma, respiratory failure, cardiac arrhythmias, and neurological emergencies. Across these settings, disrupted magnesium balance consistently aligned with worse clinical trajectories, while correction aligned with measurable improvement.

• Correction of magnesium deficiency led to faster physiologic stabilization — Magnesium supplementation improved markers such as heart rhythm control, respiratory muscle function, and seizure frequency in acute care settings. In sepsis cases, magnesium administration aligned with improved lactate clearance, meaning cells regained the ability to produce energy more efficiently under stress.

Magnesium also helped steady dangerous heart rhythm problems, including sudden chaotic beats and very fast, irregular heart rhythms, reduced bronchospasm during severe asthma attacks, and lowered seizure burden in neurological crises. For parents and caregivers, this translates to fewer emergencies spiraling into multi-organ failure.

• The greatest gains occurred in high-risk pediatric subgroups — Children with sepsis, kidney stress, high diuretic exposure, or respiratory failure showed the clearest improvements after magnesium replacement. These groups experience rapid electrolyte loss, making magnesium restoration a decisive factor in recovery speed.

• Magnesium compared favorably against other supportive interventions — The review notes that magnesium often corrected arrhythmias and neuromuscular instability when potassium or calcium replacement alone failed. This comparison underscores magnesium’s coordinating role rather than acting as a secondary nutrient. The researchers explain that magnesium helps cells keep making energy when oxygen is low and inflammation is high.

Magnesium supplementation also moderated inflammatory signaling during sepsis and respiratory distress, reducing immune overreaction while preserving defense against infection. This balance matters because excessive inflammation often causes more damage than the original infection.

• Another magnesium benefit involves neuromuscular stabilization — By regulating neurotransmitter release at nerve endings, magnesium reduced excessive muscle contraction and airway tightening in asthma and respiratory failure. For a child struggling to breathe, this directly affects survival odds.

• Safety hinged on monitoring rather than avoidance — The review emphasized that adverse effects arose primarily in children with impaired kidney filtration receiving unchecked dosing. With proper monitoring, magnesium therapy remained both effective and controllable in pediatric ICU settings.

Magnesium status functions as a modifiable variable during critical illness rather than an unavoidable consequence. When tracked, adjusted, and individualized, it becomes a stabilizing tool that supports faster recovery and reduces escalation risk.

Why I Recommend Magnesium Supplements Over Food Alone

What researchers see in ICUs reflects a more extreme version of what happens under everyday stress. The same forces that drain magnesium during critical illness — medication use, inflammation, metabolic strain, and impaired absorption — operate more quietly in daily life. Magnesium loss rarely starts with poor choices.

It begins with depleted soil, chronic stress, medication use, and digestive strain that block absorption long before symptoms show up. If you feel foggy, wired at night, sore for no clear reason, or slower to recover, your cells are signaling a power shortfall. Food still matters, but when magnesium demand rises and absorption falls, supplements become the most reliable way to restore balance rather than a shortcut.

1. Start by matching magnesium support to how your body responds, not numbers on paper — If you deal with low mood, shallow sleep, muscle tension, headaches, or mental fatigue, treat those as real-world signals that your nervous system is underpowered. Tracking what you eat rarely tells you anything useful about magnesium status because absorption varies widely and most magnesium doesn’t show up on standard labs.

Instead, pay attention to how your body responds as you adjust magnesium support. Calmer sleep, steadier energy, fewer muscle tight spots, and improved focus are the feedback that tells you you’re moving in the right direction.

2. Stop relying on nuts and seeds even if labels say they’re “high magnesium” — I don’t recommend nuts or seeds because their linoleic acid (LA) content disrupts mitochondria and increases inflammatory stress. When metabolic or gut function is already strained, that stress increases cellular magnesium demand and worsens utilization rather than replenishing it.

Removing nuts and other LA-rich foods, like vegetable oils, reduces a hidden driver of magnesium strain instead of relying on a source that creates competing stress.

3. Identify what drains magnesium from your body every day — If you use acid reflux drugs, water pills, or alcohol, or deal with kidney stress, magnesium loss accelerates. The most effective next step is simply recognizing these drains. Each one you reduce or remove protects your magnesium reserve and steadies energy production without adding a single supplement.

4. Find your personal magnesium threshold before choosing a long-term form — I recommend taking magnesium citrate first because it reveals your limit. You increase the dose gradually until stools loosen, then back off slightly. That point marks your ideal intake. Once you know it, you can switch to better-tolerated forms without guessing on your ideal dose. This step builds confidence because your body gives clear feedback.

5. Choose the magnesium form that targets your biggest complaint — If stress or sleep problems dominate, magnesium glycinate fits best. If fatigue or muscle soreness leads, magnesium malate supports energy recovery. Treat this like matching the right tool to the job so you see results faster.

Magnesium works best when paired with daily movement, consistent sleep, and lower stress. It’s part of a healthy foundation you strengthen day by day, not a crutch you lean on. When your cells regain magnesium balance, everything built on top of that foundation becomes easier to support.

FAQs About Magnesium During Severe Illness

Q: Why does magnesium matter so much during severe illness?
A: Magnesium helps keep your cells stable when your body is under extreme stress. During severe illness, injury, or infection, magnesium demand rises sharply while losses accelerate. When levels fall, multiple systems lose coordination at once, including heart rhythm, immune control, nerve signaling, and energy production, which raises the risk of complications.

Q: Why do standard blood tests often miss magnesium problems?
A: Most of your magnesium is stored inside cells, bone, and soft tissue, not in your bloodstream. A normal blood test only reflects a small fraction of total magnesium and often looks fine even when cells are depleted. This disconnect explains why symptoms persist despite “normal labs.”

Q: Who is at the highest risk for magnesium depletion?
A: Risk rises if you experience chronic stress, inflammation, digestive strain, kidney stress, or use medications like acid reflux drugs or diuretics. In hospitals, the sickest patients lose magnesium the fastest, but the same mechanisms operate more quietly in everyday life.

Q: Why isn’t food alone enough to restore magnesium balance?
A: Modern soil depletion, impaired absorption, and higher metabolic demand make it difficult to meet magnesium needs through food alone. Even a nutrient-dense diet often fails to keep pace when stress or illness increases cellular demand, which is why targeted supplementation becomes necessary.

Q: How do you know if magnesium support is helping you?
A: The most reliable feedback comes from how you feel. Deeper sleep, steadier energy, fewer muscle tight spots, calmer nerves, and clearer thinking signal improved magnesium balance. Your body’s response matters more than tracking food intake or chasing lab numbers.

Test Your Knowledge with Today’s Quiz!

Take today’s quiz to see how much you’ve learned from yesterday’s Mercola.com article.

What happens when a person becomes insulin resistant?

Cells absorb glucose more efficiently than normal
The body produces less insulin over time
Insulin resistance develops when cells become less responsive to insulin over time, making it harder for glucose to enter and forcing the body to raise insulin levels. Learn more.

Cells stop responding well, leading to higher insulin levels
Blood sugar drops too low after meals

Insulin resistance — a metabolic condition characterized by fatigue, abdominal weight gain, brain fog, and unstable blood sugar — now sits at the center of cancer research. Unlike a single blood test result, insulin resistance reflects how your cells respond to insulin over time.

This means glucose struggles to enter cells efficiently. Your mitochondria — the thousands of tiny power plants inside each cell that convert food into usable energy — lose their steady fuel supply, and energy production becomes erratic.

From a clinical perspective, insulin resistance often develops years before diabetes appears, which explains why many people live with symptoms without recognition. When insulin signaling breaks down, chronic inflammation and elevated insulin levels create biological signals that encourage abnormal cell growth and disrupt normal cellular repair.

Now, a large-scale analysis has used machine learning to connect this metabolic dysfunction directly to cancer incidence — revealing which cancers are most affected, why body weight alone misses the real risk, and how insulin resistance acts as an early warning signal across multiple organs.1

AI Model Reveals Insulin Resistance as a Cancer Risk Signal

For a study published in Nature Communications, researchers built a machine-learning model that predicts insulin resistance before diagnosable disease develop.2 Instead of relying on one lab test, the model looked at everyday health data — things like age, blood sugar, and triglycerides.

It calculated whether someone’s Homeostatic Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) score crosses a level that signals meaningful insulin resistance. HOMA-IR is a simple score calculated from fasting blood sugar and insulin levels that estimates how resistant your cells have become to insulin. The model was applied to the UK Biobank, which tracks long-term health data from adults ages 40 to 69.3

Among the 372,395 people who didn’t have cancer at the start, 51,193 were diagnosed during follow-up. Individuals flagged as insulin resistant consistently showed higher rates of diabetes, heart problems, and several cancers. This tells you risk builds years before diagnosis — which means prevention is still possible.

• Certain cancers showed stronger links to insulin resistance — Researchers reported connections to 12 cancer types overall, with the largest increases seen in uterine cancer (about 134% higher risk), kidney cancer (about 56% higher risk) and esophagus cancer (about 46% higher risk).
Pancreatic cancer risk rose roughly 29%, colon cancer 18%, and breast cancer 13% — all in individuals flagged as insulin resistant. Insulin resistance was not tied to one organ — it appeared across multiple systems, shifting it from a blood sugar issue into a whole-body metabolic warning signal.
• Metabolic health mattered more than body weight alone — People with higher body weight but no insulin resistance didn’t show the same risk pattern. Meanwhile, those with insulin resistance did — even when body weight looked similar. This means your metabolic function — how your body handles energy — provides more meaningful information than the number on a scale.
The connection between insulin resistance and cancer showed up in younger adults and older adults alike. The effect also stood out in people with a history of smoking, especially former smokers, where insulin resistance amplified risk. Your past exposures and current metabolic health interact, which explains why risk looks different from one person to another.
• Insulin resistance showed clear early disease timelines — Over several years of follow-up, people flagged as insulin resistant developed diabetes far more often, with more hospital admissions related to metabolic disease. One analysis showed more than seven-fold higher odds of developing diabetes during follow-up. That timeline highlights something important: insulin resistance shows up long before major disease, giving you measurable signals to act on.
• High insulin acts like a growth signal inside your body — When cells stop responding well to insulin, your body releases more of it to compensate. Elevated insulin then interacts with growth pathways that control how cells divide and survive. When that signal stays high for years, it creates conditions where abnormal cells gain an advantage — one of the earliest steps in tumor development.
Specifically, elevated insulin activates the IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor) signaling pathway, which tells cells to grow and divide faster — and suppresses the normal “self-destruct” signals that clear out damaged cells before they become dangerous.
• Ongoing inflammation creates a favorable environment for tumors — Insulin resistance often exists alongside chronic low-grade inflammation. This type of inflammation changes the environment around cells so damaged cells persist longer than they should. Metabolic stress and cancer risk move together because they share the same biological environment.
• Machine learning creates a practical “digital biomarker” for early action — Researchers described the concept of AI-derived insulin resistance as a digital biomarker — a single score that combines multiple metabolic signals into one risk indicator.
Instead of waiting for disease, this approach allows earlier monitoring and more targeted screening. That makes insulin resistance something visible and measurable over time, giving you a clearer way to track improvement rather than guessing about your metabolic health.

How to Remove the Drivers of Insulin Resistance

The research makes the risk clear — but it also reveals something empowering: insulin resistance is measurable and reversible. Insulin resistance develops when your cells struggle to receive glucose and mitochondria — the part of your cells responsible for producing energy — lose steady fuel. The priority is removing what blocks insulin signaling. When cellular energy production recovers, the entire disease trajectory shifts — including cancer risk.

As metabolic function improves, your cells produce more ATP (adenosine triphosphate) — the energy currency that powers virtually every cellular process — inflammatory signals drop and the reinforcing cycle between insulin resistance and mitochondrial dysfunction begins to reverse. The following steps address the root cause.

A New Series of Health Insights Is on the Way

BELANGRIJK

A New Series of Health Insights Is on the Way
Our team has been working behind the scenes to prepare new research and practical health strategies for our readers. While we finish preparing what’s coming next, we invite you to explore one of the most-read articles from our library below. See exactly what’s changing →

Cortisol is built for emergencies, but modern life keeps it switched on 24/7. Designed to help you react fast in moments of danger, this hormone floods your system with energy when you need to fight or flee. But when the stress rarely stops, your cortisol doesn’t either. That’s when the very system meant to protect you begins to do damage.

You’re probably not sprinting from wild animals, but your body reacts the same way to constant deadlines, poor sleep, and emotional stress. Over time, that daily grind trains your body to live in survival mode. You stop recovering properly. Your energy dips. Your digestion slows. You store more fat, especially around your belly, and lose muscle even when you’re trying to stay active.

What makes this worse is how invisible it often is at first. You might feel tired, edgy, or wired at night. But underneath, your body is running on empty while cortisol stays elevated. And the longer that goes on, the more your hormone rhythms, metabolic function, and immune defenses unravel.

This isn’t about managing stress in the abstract — it’s about restoring your body’s ability to reset. If you’re feeling burned out, inflamed, or like your system is stuck in overdrive, there are simple, science-backed ways to flush out the excess and bring things back into balance.

Simple Habits That Help Flush Cortisol Naturally

A featured article in Vogue highlights advice from physician Dr. Liza Osagie-Clouard and registered dietitian Jodie Relf.1 It explores how to support your body’s natural cortisol-clearing processes through lifestyle changes, not medication. Their approach is built around simple tools — breathwork, sleep, movement, and blood sugar balance — that anyone can apply, even if you’re overwhelmed or short on time.

• People dealing with chronic stress symptoms benefit most from these changes — This information is aimed at people who feel “wired but tired,” have trouble sleeping, gain weight around the midsection, or struggle with irritability and sugar cravings. These signs point to cortisol overload, which is often worsened by morning coffee on an empty stomach or overtraining without proper rest.

• Breathwork stands out as a fast, drug-free tool to bring cortisol down — Dr. Osagie-Clouard recommends lengthening your exhale to shift your body into a parasympathetic state — the “rest and digest” mode that opposes stress activation. A quick version of this is the “parasympathetic sigh,” where you inhale, then take a second sip of air before slowly releasing it. This practice gives your nervous system the green light to relax and helps your body flush out excess cortisol naturally.

• Caffeine is a silent contributor to cortisol overload but timing matters — There’s a downside to relying on coffee to get through the morning fog, especially on an empty stomach. “Coffee is a stimulant which will raise cortisol levels,” says Relf. Having it before eating keeps you stuck in the stress cycle. Instead, wait until after breakfast, or reduce intake altogether if you already feel overstimulated. You don’t have to eliminate caffeine entirely, just shift when and how you drink it.

• Gentle exercise like walking reduces cortisol more effectively than high-intensity workouts — Forget marathon gym sessions. Regular, moderate movement helps balance cortisol levels without triggering more stress. The key is consistency, not intensity. People with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) or adrenal imbalances often see the greatest benefit from low-impact activities, which also improve insulin sensitivity and emotional resilience.

Reset Your Hormones by Fixing Sleep, Stabilizing Blood Sugar, and Finding Joy

If you’re tossing and turning at night, your cortisol rhythm is likely reversed — too high in the evening and too low in the morning. The solution isn’t just sleep quantity but bedtime rituals. A consistent sleep-wake time, along with calming wind-down habits like dim lights or reading, help your cortisol follow its natural cycle again.

• Blood sugar swings worsen cortisol imbalances — balanced meals are key — Spiking your glucose leads to more cortisol as your body scrambles to restore balance. Try pairing carbs with healthy fats and protein to slow absorption. Instead of eating fruit alone, combine it with raw, grass fed yogurt to reduce the sugar spike. That simple change lessens the hormonal stress response and leaves you with steadier energy.

• Ashwagandha supports cortisol regulation if used consistently and wisely — As an adaptogen, ashwagandha helps your body become more resilient to stress. Research shows that 250 milligrams (mg) to 800 mg daily for eight weeks led to measurable drops in cortisol.2 But sourcing matters. Look for 100% organic ashwagandha root, free of fillers, additives, and excipients. Unfortunately, adulterated ashwagandha products have been found on the market, so buyer beware.

• Spirituality, laughter, and fun are underrated cortisol detoxifiers — For people with a spiritual practice, prayer has been shown to lower cortisol and increase calm during life stress.3 If you’re not spiritual, the same benefits show up through meditation, community connection, or simple pleasures like laughter.4

Chronically Elevated Cortisol Throws Off Nearly Every Major Body System

Often labeled merely as a stress hormone, cortisol fulfills many other functions within your body. Its main role is to act as a vital defense mechanism, ensuring that your blood glucose levels don’t plummet to hazardous lows. By maintaining these levels, cortisol safeguards you against the severe danger of a hypoglycemic coma.5

Although cortisol’s actions are beneficial in the short term, consistently high levels negatively impact your health. As noted by the Cleveland Clinic, cortisol is a master regulator that affects your metabolism, sleep rhythm, blood pressure, inflammation, and immune defense.6 Chronic high cortisol damages these systems one by one. When left unchecked, the result is often accelerated aging, insulin resistance, and persistent fatigue that no amount of rest can fix.

• This is especially dangerous for people with hormonal imbalances or metabolic issues — Cortisol’s wide-ranging effects become especially harmful when your body’s regulatory loop — managed by your brain and adrenal glands — breaks down. Your hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and adrenal glands work as a team to keep cortisol in balance. But chronic stress overrides this system, causing dysfunction that leads to everything from sleep disruption to hormone depletion.

• Cortisol pushes blood sugar up, then blocks insulin from doing its job — When you’re stressed, cortisol signals your liver to release glucose so you have immediate energy. That part is normal. The problem comes when that stress doesn’t end. Cortisol also suppresses insulin — the hormone that helps move sugar into your cells for fuel. That double action creates blood sugar spikes followed by crashes, which leave you wired, hungry, moody, and ultimately insulin resistant over time.

• Over time, your immune system stops responding to cortisol at all — Short bursts of cortisol help tamp down inflammation, which is how your body prevents overreaction to stress or infection. But with constant elevation, your immune system becomes desensitized to cortisol’s signal. That means more inflammation, more infections, and slower recovery from illness. You feel run down, get sick more often, and take longer to heal, even from minor cuts or colds.

• Cortisol throws off blood pressure regulation and muscle metabolism — Cortisol influences blood pressure, though the exact mechanics aren’t fully understood. What is known is that people with chronically high cortisol often have high blood pressure. Additionally, cortisol breaks down muscle tissue to free up amino acids for emergency energy use. In a prolonged stress state, this leads to muscle wasting, physical weakness, and slower metabolic function.

• Without action, elevated cortisol creates long-term metabolic damage — The longer cortisol remains out of balance, the more entrenched the damage becomes. Chronically high cortisol leads to conditions like Type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, immune dysfunction, and in extreme cases, Cushing’s syndrome — a hormonal disorder marked by fat accumulation in the face and abdomen, muscle loss, and stretch marks.

Enjoyment, Breathwork, and Light Movement Lower Cortisol Fast

You don’t need expensive programs or clinical interventions to reduce cortisol — just daily behaviors that align with how your body naturally resets stress. Fun, healthy food, and movement are among the most underused remedies for stress overload.7

• Breathwork methods like the 4-7-8 technique directly influence the vagus nerve — This technique involves inhaling for four seconds, holding for seven, and exhaling for eight. Doing just a few rounds shifts your nervous system out of the “fight or flight” state and into the relaxation zone. Activating the vagus nerve — your body’s command switch for rest — lowers cortisol almost immediately and helps prevent your brain from getting stuck in stress loops.8

• Spending time with pets lowers stress markers through oxytocin release — Even a few minutes of petting a friendly dog or cat is enough to lower cortisol and increase oxytocin — a hormone linked to bonding, calmness, and trust.9 This is one of the fastest and most accessible ways to buffer cortisol spikes, especially if you feel isolated or overstimulated by daily demands.10

• Blue light exposure after sunset disrupts your body’s hormonal clock — Staring at phones or tablets at night keeps your brain locked in daytime mode. Blue light suppresses melatonin (your sleep hormone) and increases cortisol at exactly the wrong time. Shut off screens at least 60 minutes before bed or use blue-light blocking glasses to minimize the damage. Also opt for warmer, dimmer lighting in your home as it gets dark.

• Even food choices influence your cortisol rhythm — Fermented foods like kimchi, kefir, and sauerkraut are helpful for stress because they support gut health. Gut bacteria are directly linked to your brain’s emotional center, so improving your digestion improves how you process stress. Staying hydrated also helps — dehydration is a common trigger for temporary cortisol spikes, especially in the afternoon slump.

• Doing what you enjoy resets your stress response naturally — Whether it’s gardening, painting, or listening to music, joy acts as a cortisol buffer. Your body isn’t wired to stay in survival mode when you’re actively engaged in something meaningful. Fun isn’t optional — it’s a necessary signal that tells your brain you’re safe again.

Simple Steps to Reset Cortisol and Calm Your Stress System

If your stress feels like it’s running the show, you’re not imagining things — chronically high cortisol throws off everything from your mood to your metabolism. But it’s not permanent. You can reset your body’s stress response by making small, consistent changes that address the root cause: a nervous system stuck in overdrive, poor blood sugar control, and an overloaded lifestyle.

Whether you’re exhausted, wired, or feeling like your body just isn’t recovering like it used to, these are the steps I recommend to restore balance and help your body flush excess cortisol naturally. Here’s how to start:

1. Eat enough healthy carbs to stop cortisol spikes — If you’ve been cutting carbohydrates, your body is stuck in a stress pattern. Cortisol rises every time your blood sugar dips too low, so increasing healthy carbohydrate intake helps lower cortisol levels. Start by aiming for 250 grams of carbs per day, which supports sustained metabolic health and ensures that your mitochondria function efficiently.

Prioritize easy-to-digest options like fruit and white rice. When your gut is ready, meaning no bloating and no irregular bowel movements, gradually add in root vegetables, then legumes, additional vegetables, and well-tolerated whole grains.

2. Cut back on endurance exercise and overtraining — If you’re doing long cardio sessions, distance running, or frequent high-intensity interval training, you’re telling your body it’s constantly under threat. That pushes cortisol higher. Switch to shorter, gentle strength training, walking, dancing, or swimming. If you feel worse after a workout instead of better, that’s your body telling you it’s time to pull back.

3. Reset your nervous system with breathwork and rhythm — Use breathing techniques like the 4-7-8 method or a parasympathetic sigh to shift your body out of fight-or-flight mode. The 4-8 breathing technique — inhale for four seconds, pause, then exhale slowly for eight — also stimulates your vagus nerve and quickly lowers cortisol, guiding your body into a calmer, more restorative state.

This isn’t just mental — it’s physical. The longer your exhale, the more your vagus nerve activates, which tells your whole body, “You’re safe.” Do this before bed, when you’re feeling overwhelmed, or after meals to support digestion and hormone balance.

4. Make sleep non-negotiable — and fix your light exposure — Your cortisol rhythm depends on your circadian clock. That means getting bright morning sunlight and avoiding screens and dimming lights after sunset. Keep your bedtime and wake-up time as consistent as possible. If you’re dragging during the day, don’t depend on coffee — look at your sleep first. Rest is not a luxury. It’s how your body resets and clears out stress hormones.

5. Use natural progesterone to calm your brain and body — Natural progesterone is one of the most effective and affordable ways to bring your stress hormones back under control. Unlike synthetic progestins, natural progesterone is a hormone your body already recognizes and responds to. It acts directly as a cortisol blocker, helping lower the amount of cortisol circulating in your bloodstream and dialing down the stress response at its source.

FAQs About Cortisol

Q: What is cortisol, and why is it harmful when it’s too high for too long?
A: Cortisol is your body’s primary stress hormone. It’s designed to help you respond to immediate danger by raising blood sugar, blood pressure, and alertness. But when cortisol stays high for extended periods — due to ongoing stress, poor sleep, or overtraining — it disrupts nearly every system in your body. Long-term high cortisol contributes to belly fat, blood sugar imbalances, weakened immunity, sleep problems, and even muscle loss.

Q: How do I know if my cortisol is too high?
A: Common signs of chronically high cortisol include feeling wired but tired, difficulty falling asleep, belly fat that won’t budge, sugar and salt cravings, frequent illness, and irritability. You might also notice thinning hair, blood sugar crashes, or anxiety. These symptoms often worsen over time if the underlying stress isn’t addressed.

Q: What lifestyle habits help lower cortisol naturally?
A: Gentle daily habits like walking, breathwork (such as the 4-7-8 method), consistent sleep routines, and eating healthy carbohydrates all help your body reset cortisol levels. Avoiding blue light at night, reducing caffeine, and making time for joy or relaxation — like spending time with pets or enjoying hobbies — are also effective tools to calm your stress response.

Q: Why is sleep so important for cortisol balance?
A: Cortisol follows a daily rhythm — it should be highest in the morning and lowest at night. Poor or irregular sleep reverses that rhythm, making it harder for your body to recover and regulate inflammation. A fixed bedtime, morning sunlight, and avoiding screens at night help restore this natural cycle so cortisol doesn’t stay elevated after dark.

Q: How does natural progesterone help bring stress hormones back into balance?
A: Natural progesterone is a safe, effective, and affordable way to lower excess cortisol. It works as a direct cortisol blocker, reducing the amount of this stress hormone circulating in your system. Unlike synthetic progestins, natural progesterone supports your body’s own hormone rhythms without adding to the burden.

A New Series of Health Insights Is on the Way

BELANGRIJK

A New Series of Health Insights Is on the Way
Our team has been working behind the scenes to prepare new research and practical health strategies for our readers. While we finish preparing what’s coming next, we invite you to explore one of the most-read articles from our library below. See exactly what’s changing →

Occasional itching or peeling between your toes is often the first sign of a fungal infection starting to take hold. Athlete’s foot, or tinea pedis, is one of the most widespread fungal infections worldwide, thriving anywhere warmth and moisture linger — especially inside shoes, gym floors, and shared showers. Fungi multiply where your skin stays moist, whether that’s inside sweaty socks, between your toes after a shower, or in shoes that never fully dry.

Once established, the infection often lingers for weeks or even returns after treatment if the root cause isn’t addressed. Left unchecked, it doesn’t stop at surface irritation. The same fungi that attack your skin spreads to toenails, creating thick, brittle, discolored nails that are far harder to eliminate.

For anyone with diabetes, poor circulation, or compromised immunity, even small cracks in your skin open the door to more serious bacterial infections. Knowing how to interrupt that cycle — and restore your skin’s natural defenses — is the foundation for lasting relief. Recent findings reveal how targeted natural treatments and simple daily habits eliminate athlete’s foot and help you prevent it from coming back.

Natural Remedies Offer Real Relief for Athlete’s Foot Without Harsh Drugs

Athlete’s foot develops when fungi like Trichophyton overgrow on your skin. These organisms live harmlessly on your body until warmth and moisture allow them to multiply. As noted in Medical News Today, these fungi infect the outermost layer of your skin, and without treatment, they spread quickly to other areas.1

• Certain home remedies kill fungi as effectively as over-the-counter creams — Tea tree oil, garlic, hydrogen peroxide with iodine, and baking soda are standout remedies that directly attack fungal growth.2

A clinical study found that 25% and 50% tea tree oil solutions cured the infection in up to 64% of users, compared to only 31% with placebo.3 These results are meaningful for anyone who wants to treat athlete’s foot naturally without resorting to synthetic antifungal creams that often cause skin irritation or resistance.

• Tea tree oil disrupts fungal cell walls and reduces inflammation at the same time — Derived from Melaleuca alternifolia leaves, this essential oil contains a compound that breaks down fungal membranes. Because tea tree oil is potent, applying it with a carrier oil such as coconut oil prevents irritation. This combination works synergistically — tea tree oil fights fungus while coconut oil moisturizes and soothes cracked skin.

• Garlic is another powerful antifungal agent that works through sulfur-based compounds — Crushed garlic releases allicin, a natural antimicrobial that stops fungal replication and kills spores. A simple home remedy involves soaking your feet in warm water mixed with crushed garlic for 30 minutes twice a day.4 While it has a strong smell, garlic’s antifungal action makes it an effective, low-cost remedy that supports your body’s natural healing response.

• Hydrogen peroxide combined with iodine wipes out stubborn fungal colonies on contact — When used together, these two household antiseptics eliminate up to 16 fungal species more effectively than when used separately.5

Hydrogen peroxide releases oxygen that oxidizes fungal cells, while iodine denatures fungal proteins, rendering them inactive. This dual action also prevents secondary bacterial infections, which often occur when scratching opens small wounds on your feet. However, both solutions should always be diluted to avoid skin burns or discoloration.

• Baking soda alters your skin’s pH and reduces fungal survival — Sodium bicarbonate has mild antifungal properties that inhibit fungal enzyme activity.6 A daily 20-minute soak in a baking soda solution raises your skin’s pH to inhibit fungal growth and soothe inflammation. Once finished, feet should be dried completely without rinsing to allow a fine residue of baking soda to remain as protection.

Simple Soaks and Oils Offer Science-Backed Relief for Athlete’s Foot

A report from Health compiled findings from multiple studies evaluating home remedies for athlete’s foot and how they work to reduce fungal growth, itching, and inflammation.7 Ingredients like salt, apple cider vinegar, and natural oils interrupt fungal life cycles and restore your skin’s balance, offering practical steps that don’t rely on harsh over-the-counter creams.

• Foot baths combined with everyday kitchen ingredients act as powerful antifungal treatments — For example, a study published in PLOS One confirmed that salt disrupts fungal metabolism.8 Adding half a cup of salt to warm water and soaking your feet for 15 to 20 minutes, twice a day, helps reduce itching and redness.

• Rubbing alcohol and apple cider vinegar target fungi through dehydration and acidity — Rubbing alcohol — made of water and isopropyl alcohol — kills microbes by dissolving their outer membranes and drying them out.

Meanwhile, apple cider vinegar introduces acetic acid, a compound that lowers surface pH and interrupts fungal growth. Together, these solutions provide an environment hostile to fungal survival. Alternating between alcohol and vinegar soaks every few days keeps fungal colonies from returning.

• Tea tree oil, coconut oil, and neem oil are effective topical treatments for athlete’s foot — Tea tree oil damages fungal membranes, while coconut oil — rich in lauric and caprylic acids — kills microbes and moisturizes cracked skin.

Neem oil, derived from the seeds of the neem tree, contains compounds such as azadirachtin that reduce both fungal growth and inflammation. These oils can be safely diluted and applied two to three times a day, offering both antifungal action and soothing relief from irritation.9

The Hidden Triggers That Make Athlete’s Foot Hard to Heal

A report published by Rupa Health takes an integrative medicine approach, explaining that recurring fungal infections often signal an internal problem — such as blood sugar imbalance, gut dysbiosis, or heavy metal burden — rather than simply poor hygiene.10

While topical treatments remove surface symptoms, identifying and correcting internal imbalances leads to long-term resolution. This view challenges the conventional approach of relying solely on antifungal creams and highlights the connection between your overall metabolic health and how your skin defends itself.

• Underlying metabolic dysfunction makes you more prone to recurring fungal infections — People with blood sugar irregularities — especially insulin resistance or early diabetes — are more likely to develop athlete’s foot. High blood sugar creates an environment where fungi thrive and also weakens immune defense. Testing for fasting glucose, hemoglobin A1c, insulin, and C-peptide helps uncover hidden metabolic issues.

These tests reveal whether your cells are absorbing glucose properly or whether excess sugar is circulating in your bloodstream, feeding fungal growth. Correcting blood sugar through diet and lifestyle changes restores your body’s ability to keep fungi in check naturally.

• Gut and skin microbiome imbalances weaken your natural defense barrier — The health of your gut determines how your immune system responds to fungal invaders. When your gut microbiota — your internal ecosystem of microbes — becomes unbalanced, it increases inflammation and compromises your skin’s ability to resist infections.

Comprehensive stool tests reveal whether harmful bacteria or yeasts have overtaken beneficial microbes. Markers like zonulin, which measures intestinal permeability or “leaky gut,” show how fungal skin infections and digestive issues are often linked. By improving gut health, you improve immune balance and reduce the frequency of skin flare-ups.

• Environmental toxins and heavy metals further suppress immune resilience — Toxic buildup from sources like contaminated water, old dental fillings, or industrial pollution burdens your immune system. This chronic exposure makes it harder for your body to fight off everyday pathogens, including fungi.

Heavy metal testing helps identify whether toxins are contributing to repeated athlete’s foot infections. Once identified, supporting detoxification through nutrients and improved mitochondrial function helps restore immune strength.

• Topical probiotics restore balance to your skin microbiome and reduce relapse — The report highlights emerging research on applying probiotics directly to your skin to restore microbial balance. These beneficial bacteria occupy the same niches that harmful fungi use, preventing reinfection while calming inflammation. For people who experience frequent athlete’s foot flare-ups, this approach supports long-term resilience rather than temporary relief.

• The most successful results come from addressing both the internal and external triggers — Combining functional testing with targeted lifestyle changes gives you control over your recovery. By stabilizing blood sugar, improving gut health, and detoxifying heavy metals — alongside applying natural antifungal and probiotic remedies — you strengthen your body’s defenses from the inside out.

This layered approach turns treatment into a measurable process: as your gut balance improves, your skin clears, and your risk of recurrence drops dramatically.

How to Stop Athlete’s Foot at the Source and Keep It from Coming Back

If you’ve battled athlete’s foot more than once, you know how frustrating it is to treat the itching only to have it return weeks later. The key isn’t just killing the fungus — it’s changing the environment that allows it to thrive. Fungi feed on moisture, dead skin, and a weakened skin barrier. By restoring balance from the inside out and maintaining dry, resilient feet, you break the cycle for good. Here’s what I recommend you do to restore your skin’s defenses and stop athlete’s foot from coming back.

1. Strengthen your body’s defenses from within — If you’ve had repeated fungal infections, your immune or metabolic health needs attention. Elevated blood sugar and poor gut health feed fungal growth. Focus on reducing ultraprocessed foods, including seed oils high in linoleic acid, and increasing healthy carbs and other whole foods.

Carbs are key for giving your cells energy, especially since glucose is what your mitochondria (the powerhouses in your cells) love to use. To keep your gut happy, aim for about 250 grams of carbs a day. This step boosts your energy and supports your gut health.

Start slow with gentler options like white rice or whole fruits to let your gut adjust without causing trouble. Later, add veggies, whole grains, or starches as long as they’re well-tolerated. If your gut’s already struggling, hold off on high-fiber foods at first — too much fiber stirs up harmful toxins in your gut if it’s not healthy.

Once your gut feels better, eat more fiber. Fiber is the primary fuel for your beneficial gut microbes, allowing them to produce short-chain fatty acids like butyrate that strengthen your gut barrier. Also eat more resistant starches like cooked-then-cooled potatoes or green bananas — they fuel butyrate production.

2. Dry your feet completely every time you bathe or sweat — After showering, take an extra minute to dry between your toes with a clean towel or a hair dryer set to low heat. Fungus thrives in moisture, so leaving even a small amount of dampness invites it to return. Once dry, dust your feet with baking soda to absorb sweat and keep your skin cool throughout the day. If your shoes or socks feel damp, change them right away instead of letting them air-dry while you wear them.

3. Use natural antifungal soaks and oils consistently — Natural ingredients work best when used regularly, not just when symptoms flare. Mix half a cup of baking soda or salt into warm water and soak your feet for 20 minutes twice a day. These soaks change your skin’s pH, making it difficult for fungi to survive.

After soaking, apply a blend of diluted tea tree oil and coconut oil to the affected areas. The tea tree oil kills fungal cells, and the coconut oil repairs cracks and strengthens your skin barrier.

4. Try a dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and vinegar solution for stubborn infections — If your infection lingers despite routine care, try a topical solution combining DMSO and vinegar. DMSO helps carry the vinegar’s acetic acid deep into your skin, where the fungus hides, improving absorption and accelerating healing. If you decide to try this, apply it with a cotton pad to clean, dry skin and allow it to air dry completely before putting on socks or shoes.

5. Rotate your shoes and make smart hygiene choices — Fungi hide in the lining of shoes, especially tight or synthetic pairs that trap heat. Rotate your footwear daily to let each pair dry for at least 24 hours before wearing them again. Choose leather, canvas, or mesh shoes, and avoid plastic or rubber styles. Socks made from wool or bamboo pull sweat away from your skin. If you tend to sweat heavily, carry an extra pair of socks to change into mid-day.

Wash your feet nightly, clean your shower floor weekly, and don’t share towels, socks, or shoes. If you swim or use a gym, wear sandals in locker rooms and pool areas to block fungal exposure. By changing both your external environment and internal balance, you remove what the fungus depends on to survive. With these steps, you’ll not only eliminate athlete’s foot — you’ll build lasting resistance against it.

FAQs About Athlete’s Foot

Q: What actually causes athlete’s foot to keep coming back?
A: Fungi thrive in warm, moist environments — like sweaty shoes, damp socks, or areas between your toes that stay wet after bathing. If your skin barrier or immune system is weak, or if you wear tight or synthetic footwear, the fungus easily multiplies and returns even after treatment. Hidden factors such as blood sugar imbalance, gut dysbiosis, or toxin overload also make it harder for your body to keep fungal infections under control.

Q: Which natural remedies work best for treating athlete’s foot?
A: Several natural options are backed by research. Tea tree oil and garlic both destroy fungal membranes and reduce inflammation. Hydrogen peroxide mixed with iodine kills multiple fungal species at once, while baking soda soothes itching and shifts your skin’s pH to make it less hospitable to fungus. Salt and vinegar soaks, rubbing alcohol, and oils such as coconut and neem also help clear infection and restore healthy skin.

Q: How does DMSO with vinegar help stubborn fungal infections?
A: A topical mix of DMSO and food-grade vinegar has been found to be highly effective. This combination works because DMSO carries vinegar’s acetic acid deep into your skin, killing fungus at its root and helping the tissue heal faster.

Q: What lifestyle changes prevent athlete’s foot from returning?
A: Keeping your feet dry is essential. Always dry between your toes after bathing, use baking soda to absorb moisture, and wear breathable socks and shoes. Rotate your footwear to give each pair time to dry, and avoid walking barefoot in public locker rooms or pool areas. Inside your home, clean showers regularly and change socks daily to prevent reinfection.

Q: How does improving gut and metabolic health help stop athlete’s foot?
A: Your skin and gut are connected through your immune system. When your gut microbiome is balanced, your body is better equipped to fight fungal overgrowth naturally. Eating fewer ultraprocessed foods, lowering seed oil intake, and increasing nutrient-dense carbohydrates help stabilize blood sugar and support beneficial gut bacteria. This inside-out approach restores your body’s natural resistance so the fungus has nowhere to thrive.

1 What effect can larger indoor plants have on building spaces?

They trap heat near walls
They dry out the air to reduce humidity
They can make rooms feel cooler
Larger plant systems release water vapor into the air, which can improve humidity and make indoor spaces feel cooler and more comfortable. Learn more.

They block outside light

2 Which condition can trigger an oxygen supply imbalance linked to heart problems in younger women?

Anemia
Anemia can reduce oxygen delivery and help trigger an imbalance that strains the heart, especially during illness or physical stress. Learn more.

Arthritis
Migraines
Eczema

3 Molecular hydrogen helps protect mitochondria from oxidative stress in what way?

By thickening cellular membranes
By helping restore cellular energy
Molecular hydrogen may support mitochondrial function by reducing oxidative stress, which can help cells produce energy more effectively. Learn more.

By blocking all fatigue signals
By raising body temperature

4 What best explains the long-term rise of heart disease in the 20th century?

Seed oils became common first
Heart disease rose years after seed oils became common in the food supply, matching the slow buildup of plaque inside blood vessels over time. Learn more.

Exercise habits changed overnight
Doctors found more cases early
Smoking ended in most homes

5 What is the main reason health care spending keeps rising?

More medical services are used
Increased use of medical services is the biggest driver. Daily choices around food, sleep, and activity can also shape how often care is needed. Learn more.

Doctors are working fewer hours
Fewer people have insurance
Hospital buildings are older

6 What kind of diet may shorten your Peakspan?

A high-protein diet
A low-carb diet
Low-carb eating can limit the body’s main energy source. The guidance here suggests about 250 grams of healthy carbohydrates daily, adjusted higher for active people. Learn more.

A fruit-based diet
A low-salt diet

Test Your Knowledge with
The Master Level Quiz

1 Around which decade was Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) first discovered?

1960s
Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) was discovered in the 1960s and quickly drew major attention because of its reported use across many hard-to-treat conditions. Learn more.

1970s
1980s
1990s

2 Which of these does not worsen breathing problems like asthma?

Cigarette smoke
Household mold
Rodent exposure
Vapor from a diffuser
Smoking, mold, and rodents can irritate the lungs or trigger allergic reactions, whereas diffuser vapor doesn’t have any adverse health implications. Learn more.

3 What do you call the active compound in apple cider vinegar?

Acetic acid
Acetic acid may improve insulin sensitivity and help the body burn more glucose after meals, which can lower how much fat gets stored. Learn more.

Malic enzyme
Lactic fiber
Citric extract

4 In the 1950s, which corticosteroids were used to treat inflammatory and autoimmune diseases?

Penicillin and streptomycin antibiotics
Insulin and metformin blood sugar drugs
Prednisone and hydrocortisone corticosteroids
Corticosteroids reduce inflammation and calm immune overactivity, which helps manage autoimmune and inflammatory diseases such as lupus and multiple sclerosis. Learn more.

Aspirin and acetaminophen pain relievers

5 What can lead to treatment that does not address the real cause of a heart attack?

Delayed hospital transport
Misclassification of artery tears
Mislabeling artery tears as plaque-related events can lead to the wrong treatment, follow-up, and prevention plan. Learn more.

Low blood sugar readings
Mild chest discomfort

6 Which of these is not a type of hernia surgery?

Open surgery
Minimally invasive surgery
Laparoscopic repair
Surgical mesh
Mesh is a material used in some repairs, not a surgery type. The two main approaches are open surgery and minimally invasive surgery, including laparoscopic methods. Learn more.

7 Which quirkily named kind of poop may be a sign of excellent gut health?

Snake poops
Pebble poops
Ghost poops
These bowel movements leave no residue when wiping and sink in the toilet, which may suggest efficient digestion and good nutrient processing. Learn more.

Sticky poops

8 What is not true about hydrogen-rich water?

Improves athletic endurance and reduces fatigue

Only quenches thirst
Hydrogen-rich water may support endurance, reduce muscle fatigue markers like lactate, and make physical stress feel less exhausting. Learn more.

Raises lactate during exercise
Worsens feelings of exhaustion

9 Which airborne toxic chemical discovered in rural Oklahoma proved that such chemicals are not confined to industrial zones?

Polyvinyl flame dust (PDV)
Brominated metal fumes
Nitrate-based soot (NBS)
Medium-chain chlorinated paraffins (MCCP)
Medium-chain chlorinated paraffins (MCCPs) were detected in rural air, suggesting wider chemical spread than expected and raising concerns about hormone disruption and long-term buildup in fat. Learn more.

10 Green tea comes from which plant?

Aloe vera leaf
Camellia sinensis
Green tea uses Camellia sinensis unoxidized leaves, which helps preserve antioxidants and gives the drink its lighter flavor compared with black or oolong tea. Learn more.

Echinacea root
Hibiscus flower

11 How do seed oils raise heart disease risk over time?

Linoleic acid damages artery walls
Linoleic acid can oxidize easily, fuel inflammation, damage artery walls, and weaken plaque, which may quietly raise heart disease risk for years. Learn more.

Saturated fat blocks blood flow
Plaque forms in a few days
Protein intake weakens vessels

12 About how many new dementia cases are projected each year by 2060?

514,000
750,000
1 million
Researchers estimated about 514,000 new cases in 2020, then projected a doubling by 2060 as more people move into higher-risk older age groups. Learn more.

2 million

13 What kind of medications may be given within three hours to dissolve a blockage during an ischemic stroke?

Anti-seizure drugs
Blood pressure pills
Cholesterol blockers
Thrombolytic drugs
Thrombolytic drugs can break up the clot and help limit brain damage when treatment starts within the first three hours. Learn more.

14 What is one way to help lower long-term health care costs?

Move your body consistently
Rising Healthcare Costs, Peak Body Age, and Heart Attacks in Women Learn more.

Skip meals more often
Avoid sunlight completely
Sleep fewer hours

15 Which antioxidants found in eggs build up in the retinas of your eyes?

Vitamin C and copper
Lycopene and rutin
Lutein and zeaxanthin
Lutein and zeaxanthin help protect vision and may lower the risk of cataracts and macular degeneration. Learn more.

Selenium and calcium

16 Ibuprofen and naproxen are examples of what kind of medication?

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)
Ibuprofen and naproxen can narrow blood vessels in the kidneys by lowering protective hormone activity, which may reduce kidney function during dehydration or illness. Learn more.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)
Calcium channel blockers
Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs)

17 When does the human body usually perform at its best?

Around age 50
In the teenage years
In the 20s to early 30s
By about age 50, brain speed, strength, and endurance are often already below their top level, even when a person still feels healthy. Learn more.

After age 60

18 What approach have some pediatricians used to help reduce autism risk in predisposed infants?

Early drug treatment based on EEG results
Genetic screening followed by medication
Whole-body lifestyle modifications
Whole-body approaches focus on modifiable factors, such as reducing toxin and allergen exposure, to support early neurological and immune health. Learn more.

Intensive behavioral therapy in infancy

19 How does iodine intake affect thyroid health?

It supports thyroid function, but excess can trigger autoimmune thyroid disease
Iodine is needed to make thyroid hormones, but excess iodine may trigger autoimmune thyroid disease, especially in people with lower genetic tolerance. Learn more.

It blocks thyroid hormones and lowers immune activity in most people who have healthy thyroid function
It replaces thyroid hormones and repairs gland damage on its own to protect the gland
It prevents thyroid disease by raising genetic tolerance over time, allowing the gland to rest

I’ve written before about the many health benefits of aspirin that many people don’t hear about — from protecting your heart and preventing cancer to boosting your metabolism and balancing your hormones.

But new research is revealing something about aspirin and cancer that changes the story in ways nobody expected. It starts with a completely different way of looking at what drugs actually do to cancer cells. And it ends with a finding that turns decades of assumptions upside down.

How Cancer Drugs Have Always Been Tested — and Why It Misses So Much

For as long as modern cancer research has existed, scientists have tested drugs the same basic way. They put cancer cells in a dish, add the drug, and wait to see if the cells die. If most of them die, the drug is a winner. If they survive, the drug gets tossed.

This sounds perfectly reasonable. But stop and think about what it actually measures. It measures one thing and one thing only: death. Here’s the problem with that.

• Cancer isn’t just one thing going wrong — A cancer cell is a normal cell that has gone haywire in many ways at the same time. Think of it like a car where the engine is racing, the brakes are cut, and the steering is locked — all at once. Killing the car — running it into a wall — is one way to stop the problem. But what if you could just fix the engine, unlock the steering, reconnect the brakes, and turn the headlights back on? You would have a working car again.
• Cancer cells aren’t alien invaders — They’re your own cells running the wrong program. And a drug that could fix part of that program — slow the engine down, reconnect some of the brakes — would be completely invisible in the standard drug test, because the cells didn’t die. How many valuable drugs have been thrown in the trash because we were only looking at one thing?

Every Cell Runs a Program — Cancer Cells Are Running the Wrong One

To understand the new approach, you first need to understand one simple idea about how your cells work.

• Every cell in your body contains the same DNA, the same complete set of instructions — What makes a colon cell different from a brain cell or a skin cell is not which instructions they have, but which instructions they’re actually using. Out of roughly 20,000 genes, each cell type switches on a specific set and keeps the rest turned off. This pattern — which genes are on and which are off — is the cell’s program. It is what gives the cell its identity.
• Think of it like a massive mixing board in a recording studio — There are 20,000 sliders. A healthy colon cell has each slider set to a very specific position. The overall setting produces “healthy colon cell.” When a cell becomes cancerous, the sliders get moved. Some that should be turned down get cranked up. Others that should be up get pushed to zero.

The mixing board is still there, the sliders still work, but the overall setting now produces “cancer cell” instead of “healthy colon cell.” This is a crucial point. The cancer cell hasn’t been destroyed or replaced. It’s your cell, running the wrong settings.

A 100-Million-Cell Dataset Made a New Question Possible

Researchers at a company called Tahoe Therapeutics have built something that has never existed before.1 They measured how 1,100 different drugs changed the genetic settings in cancer cells — one cell at a time — across 50 different cancer cell lines. The result is a dataset containing 100 million individual cell measurements from 60,000 separate drug experiments. That’s 50 times more data than everything publicly available before it — combined.

• With this enormous dataset, they could finally ask the question that nobody had enough data to answer before — For every drug, does it push the cancer cell’s gene settings back toward the healthy pattern? Here’s how they did it. First, they used data from real colon cancer patients to map out exactly how the gene settings differ between healthy colon tissue and cancerous colon tissue. That gave them the “disease signature” — a precise measurement of what went wrong.
• Then, for each drug in their collection, they measured what it did to the mixing board — Did it move the sliders back toward the healthy positions? Or did it push them even further in the wrong direction? Or did it just move them to some random new pattern?
• They scored every drug with a simple number — A strong negative score meant the drug was reversing the cancer pattern — pushing the cell back toward normal. They call this “cell-state reversal.”2

The First Test: Does It Match What Doctors Already Know?

Before you trust a new method, you need to check it against reality. If drugs that are already proven to work in colon cancer patients don’t score well on this test, the whole approach is worthless. So, the researchers checked. And the results were clear.

• Top-scoring drugs matched the exact mutations driving colon cancer growth — The drugs that scored highest for pushing colon cancer cells back toward normal were exactly the ones that target the specific genetic mutations most commonly found in colon cancer — MEK inhibitors, BRAF inhibitors, KRAS inhibitors, and PI3K pathway inhibitors.
These are the drugs oncologists already use because clinical experience has shown they work. The framework figured this out on its own, from the data alone, without being told which drugs are effective in patients.
• It even caught subtleties that match real clinical practice — Among chemotherapy drugs, the ones that target DNA — like 5-fluorouracil and oxaliplatin, which are the backbone of standard colon cancer treatment — scored higher than the ones that target the cell’s internal scaffolding, called microtubule inhibitors. Microtubule inhibitors aren’t part of the standard treatment for colon cancer, and the data reflected that perfectly.

Now Here’s Where It Gets Really Interesting: The Aspirin Surprise

Among all the drugs tested, one result stood out as genuinely unexpected. It involved one of the cheapest, oldest, and most widely available medicines on Earth.

When the researchers looked at aspirin and its close chemical relatives in the dataset, they found that sodium salicylate — which is aspirin with one specific piece removed — produced stronger cancer-state reversal than aspirin itself. To understand why this is such a big deal, you need to know one thing about aspirin’s chemistry. Don’t worry — it is simpler than it sounds.

• Aspirin’s chemical name is acetylsalicylic acid — It’s made of two parts: salicylic acid, which comes from willow bark and has been used as medicine for thousands of years, and an acetyl group, which was attached to the salicylic acid by chemists at Bayer in 1897 to make it easier on the stomach.
• That acetyl group isn’t just a packaging improvement — It’s the part that gives aspirin its most famous ability — the power to shut down an enzyme called cyclooxygenase, or COX for short. COX produces inflammatory chemicals called prostaglandins. When aspirin blocks COX, inflammation goes down.
That’s how aspirin reduces pain, reduces fever, thins your blood, and — most researchers assumed — fights cancer. Here’s the catch. If aspirin’s anticancer power comes from blocking COX, then removing the acetyl group — the part that does the COX blocking — should make it worse at fighting cancer, not better.
• But the Tahoe data showed the exact opposite — Salicylate, without the acetyl group, was better at reversing the cancer cell’s genetic program than aspirin with it. That means the cancer-fighting effect isn’t coming from COX inhibition. It’s coming from the salicylate itself — through a completely different mechanism that nobody was paying attention to.

So, What Is Salicylate Actually Doing? The Answer Is Elegant

The Tahoe data showed what salicylate does to cancer gene patterns. But other research teams have been uncovering how it does it, and the picture is remarkably coherent. Your cells have an energy sensor — think of it as a fuel gauge.

It’s a protein called AMPK, which stands for AMP-activated protein kinase, but all you need to know is that AMPK is the alarm system that goes off when your cell’s energy balance changes.3 It’s one of the most powerful metabolic switches in your body. Salicylate switches AMPK on.4 When AMPK activates, it triggers a chain of events that’s devastating to cancer cells. Here’s the chain, step by step:

• Step 1: AMPK shuts down c-MYC — One of the most important genes in cancer is called c-MYC. Think of c-MYC as the gas pedal for cell growth. In a healthy cell, it’s carefully controlled. In many cancers — especially colon cancer — c-MYC is jammed to the floor, driving the cell to grow and divide nonstop. Salicylate-activated AMPK grabs c-MYC and tags it for destruction. The gas pedal gets released.
A 2025 study using a mouse model of colon cancer confirmed this. Mice given salicylate had dramatically lower c-MYC levels in their colon cells, and they developed fewer tumors.5
• Step 2: With c-MYC gone, a protective system switches on — Here’s something beautiful about your biology. You already have a built-in tumor defense system — a set of genes that suppress cancer. One of the most important is a group of tiny molecules called miR-34a and miR-34b/c.6 These are microRNAs — small pieces of genetic material that act like off-switches for cancer-promoting genes. They work by silencing specific genes that cancer cells depend on to grow and spread.Normally, a protein called NRF2 — think of it as your cell’s fire alarm system — is supposed to activate these cancer-fighting microRNAs. But c-MYC sits on top of NRF2 and keeps it silenced. It’s like a bully sitting on the fire alarm so nobody can pull it. When salicylate removes c-MYC, NRF2 is free. It activates miR-34a and miR-34b/c. Your body’s own tumor suppression system comes back online.
• Step 3: The cancer cells lose their ability to spread — When researchers blocked miR-34a and miR-34b/c in the lab, salicylate’s ability to stop cancer cell migration and invasion largely disappeared. That tells you these microRNAs are the key weapons. Salicylate isn’t directly attacking the cancer — it’s rearming your body’s own defense system.
• And here’s the most important part — Normally, miR-34 depends on a tumor suppressor gene called p53 — often called the “guardian of the genome.” But p53 is the single most commonly broken gene in human cancer. In more than half of all cancers, p53 doesn’t work. Salicylate’s pathway bypasses p53 entirely. It activates miR-34 through NRF2 instead.

This means it could theoretically work in the very cancers that have already lost their most important natural defense, which is exactly the cancers that need help the most. None of this involves COX inhibition. None of it requires the acetyl group. This is the ancient willow bark compound doing something we are only now beginning to understand.

The Clinical Trial That Changed the Guidelines

While these laboratory discoveries were piling up, a major clinical trial was delivering results that would change how oncologists treat colon cancer. The trial used aspirin, not salicylate — but remember, your body rapidly strips the acetyl group off aspirin and converts it into salicylic acid. So, every aspirin patient in this trial was effectively being dosed with salicylate.

The ALASCCA trial, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in September 2025, was the gold standard of medical research — a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, meaning neither the patients nor the doctors knew who was getting aspirin and who was getting a sugar pill.7

It was conducted across 33 hospitals in four countries: Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Norway. The trial focused on patients with stage I through III colon and rectal cancer whose tumors carried mutations in something called the PI3K pathway — a growth-signaling system that, when broken, helps cancer cells multiply unchecked. You don’t need to remember that name.

What matters is that these mutations are found in more than one-third of all colorectal cancers — so this isn’t a rare subtype. It is a big chunk of patients. After surgery, patients were randomly assigned to take either 160 milligrams (mg) of aspirin or a placebo every day for three years.

• The results were remarkable — Among patients with the most common type of PI3K mutation, aspirin cut the three-year recurrence rate roughly in half — from 14.1% with placebo down to 7.7% with aspirin.
The benefit held up across every subgroup the researchers checked: men and women, all disease stages, colon and rectal cancer, and regardless of whether patients also received chemotherapy. Lead researcher Anna Martling of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm called it “a clear example of how we can use genetic information to personalize treatment and at the same time save both resources and suffering.”8
• The National Comprehensive Cancer Network has since updated its recommendations — This organization, which writes the treatment guidelines oncologists follow, now formally recommend genetic testing for PIK3CA mutations in stage II-III colon cancer, and for patients who carry the mutation, three years of low-dose aspirin after surgery.9 This makes aspirin one of the first dirt-cheap, widely available drugs to be officially integrated into precision cancer treatment guidelines.

Aspirin Also Helps Your Immune System See the Cancer

The ALASCCA trial proved aspirin works in patients. But there’s another dimension to the story — aspirin may also be helping your immune system do its own cancer-fighting job. A 2024 study published in the journal Cancer found that regular aspirin use was linked to activation of immune surveillance in colorectal cancer patients.10 Here’s what that means in plain English.

• Your immune system is supposed to recognize and destroy cancer cells — That’s one of its main jobs. But cancer cells are sneaky — they learn to hide from your immune system by covering up the markers that would identify them as abnormal.
• Regular aspirin use linked to less spread and stronger immune attack — The researchers found that colon cancer patients who regularly used aspirin had two things going for them. First, they had fewer cancer cells that had spread to their lymph nodes. Second, they had more immune cells infiltrating their tumors — meaning the immune system was actually showing up to fight.
• Aspirin helps cancer cells reveal themselves to immune system defenses — When they treated colon cancer cells with aspirin in the lab, they found aspirin increased the expression of a protein called CD80 on the surface of the cancer cells. CD80 is like a flag that says “I am abnormal — come get me.”
It helps cancer cells present themselves to your T cells — the soldiers of your immune system — so they can be recognized and destroyed. In simple terms, aspirin was pulling the camouflage off the cancer cells so the immune system could see them.

Aspirin’s Benefits Go Far Beyond Cancer

As I’ve detailed in previous articles, aspirin’s health benefits reach into nearly every major organ system. Here’s an updated picture based on the latest research.

• Your liver — A clinical trial found that 81 mg of aspirin daily led to a 17.3% decrease in the amount of fat stored inside liver cells over six months, while patients taking a placebo saw their liver fat increase by 30.3%.11 Aspirin also improved markers of inflammation and scarring in the liver — two key factors in the progression of fatty liver disease.
• Your blood sugar — An analysis of 16,209 adults aged 65 and older found that low-dose aspirin was associated with a 15% lower risk of developing Type 2 diabetes and a slower rise in fasting blood sugar levels over time.12
• Your survival in critical care — A large study of 146,191 intensive care unit (ICU) patients found that aspirin use during ICU stays was linked to significantly lower death rates within 28 days, particularly in patients with widespread inflammation.13
• Your brain — Research found that low-dose aspirin use for more than 10 years was associated with a 31% reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease, a 69% reduced risk of vascular dementia, and a 54% reduced risk of dementia from any cause — particularly in patients who already had heart disease.14
• Your lungs — Aspirin has been shown to reduce the scarring process in lung tissue by switching on a cellular recycling system called autophagy — your cells’ built-in method of cleaning out damaged proteins and preventing scar tissue from building up. When researchers blocked autophagy, aspirin’s anti-scarring effects disappeared, confirming that this recycling process is how aspirin protects the lungs.15
• Your metabolism — Aspirin helps your cells burn glucose for energy, reduces the release of linoleic acid (LA) — a harmful omega-6 fat — from your fat stores, lowers your cortisol levels, and increases your metabolic rate by partially uncoupling your mitochondria.16 Think of uncoupling as your cellular engines running a bit hotter and burning more fuel, which is why aspirin may help with weight management.

What About Salicylate and Willow Bark?

The Tahoe finding — that salicylate reversed the colon cancer gene signature more strongly than aspirin — has a practical implication that’s easy to overlook. When you take aspirin, your body quickly strips off the acetyl group and converts it into salicylic acid. That is what circulates in your bloodstream. That is what your cells actually see.

• Aspirin’s lasting anticancer effects stem from its salicylate metabolite — The acetyl group does its COX-blocking work during the brief window before it gets removed, but the salicylate metabolite is what sticks around and does the long-term work.
This means the anticancer effects are most likely coming from the part of aspirin that’s identical to what you would get from willow bark — the plant medicine that humans have used for thousands of years, long before Bayer attached an acetyl group to it in 1897.
• Willow bark provides the same active compound linked to anticancer benefits — If you’re sensitive to aspirin — if it bothers your stomach or you can’t take it for other reasons — this is important news. A salicylic acid supplement or willow bark extract delivers the very compound that the largest drug-response dataset in history identified as more effective than aspirin at pushing cancer cells back toward normal.
• Standardized willow bark dosing approximates common low-dose aspirin effects — For dosage, to approximate the effects of 81 mg of aspirin, you would need 400 mg to 800 mg of willow bark extract standardized to 15% salicin. To match the effects of a full 325 mg aspirin, you would need roughly 1 to 2 grams of standardized extract.
• Immediate-release aspirin with minimal additives aligns best with research dosing — If you prefer aspirin, opt for immediate-release, uncoated versions. Avoid coated extended-release formulations because of their additives. Check the inactive ingredients list — corn starch should be the only one listed. A dosage of 81 mg to 325 mg daily, taken with your largest meal, is the range supported by the current research.

Why This Changes How We Think About Medicine

Step back for a moment and consider what’s happened here. For decades, the entire cancer drug discovery pipeline has been built around one question: does this drug kill cancer cells? Billions of dollars, thousands of clinical trials, an entire industry — all oriented around cell death as the primary measure of success.

Now, using the largest dataset of its kind ever assembled, researchers have shown that you can score drugs by a completely different measure — how well they push diseased cells back toward being healthy cells. And when they did this, the results matched known clinical reality with remarkable precision.

• More importantly, this approach revealed something that the old method couldn’t see — A simple, ancient, inexpensive compound — salicylate, the active heart of willow bark — is doing something to colon cancer cells that ranks alongside purpose-built targeted cancer drugs. Not by killing the cells. By fixing them.
• This framework applies anywhere a disease is fundamentally a cell running the wrong program — Autoimmune conditions where immune cells attack your own body. Brain diseases where neurons lose their specialized function. Scarring diseases where cells produce too much fibrous tissue.
In all of these cases, the right question is not “can we kill the cell” but “can we push the cell back toward normal.” How many other cheap, safe, widely available compounds have cancer-fighting properties that we have completely missed because we were only measuring the wrong thing? We may be about to find out.

The Bottom Line

We’ve spent decades arguing about aspirin and cancer while asking the wrong questions. We asked whether aspirin kills cancer cells. The answer was not very impressive. We asked whether aspirin’s anti-inflammatory COX inhibition reduces tumor-promoting inflammation. The evidence was mixed.

But now, using 100 million cell measurements and a fundamentally different scoring method, we can see that salicylate — the ancient compound at the heart of aspirin, the same molecule found in willow bark — is doing something far more sophisticated than anyone imagined.

It’s not just killing cancer cells or reducing inflammation. It switches on your cells’ energy sensor, shuts down a major cancer-driving gene, reactivates your body’s built-in tumor defense, and pushes cancer cells back toward normal.

And it does all of this through a pathway that has nothing to do with COX inhibition — the mechanism many people assumed was responsible. This is a common, safe, inexpensive medicine whose full power we are only now beginning to understand — and it deserves far more attention than it’s getting.

FAQs About Aspirin and Cancer

Q: Why are researchers rethinking how aspirin affects cancer?
A: A drug-testing framework analyzed about 100 million individual cell measurements to see whether drugs push cancer cells back toward a healthy state rather than simply killing them. Using this method, salicylate — aspirin without its acetyl component — ranked higher than aspirin at reversing the gene patterns associated with colon cancer, suggesting the anticancer effect works through a different mechanism than previously assumed.

Q: What part of aspirin appears responsible for the cancer-related effects?
A: Evidence indicates the salicylate portion — the same compound derived from willow bark — drives the key biological changes. After ingestion, aspirin is rapidly converted into salicylic acid in your body, which persists longer in circulation and is likely responsible for many downstream cellular effects linked to tumor suppression.

Q: How does salicylate influence cancer biology at the cellular level?
A: Research shows salicylate activates AMPK, a cellular energy sensor that suppresses the cancer-promoting gene c-MYC and enables activation of tumor-suppressive microRNAs such as miR-34. This pathway operates even when p53 — commonly impaired in cancer — is dysfunctional, which helps explain broad relevance across tumor types.

Q: What clinical evidence supports aspirin use in colorectal cancer?
A: A randomized clinical trial published in The New England Journal of Medicine found daily aspirin after surgery reduced three-year recurrence from 14.1% to 7.7% among patients with PI3K-pathway mutations.17 These findings contributed to updated guidance recommending genetic testing for PIK3CA mutations and consideration of post-surgical low-dose aspirin in eligible patients.

Q: How do aspirin and willow bark compare in practical terms?
A: Because aspirin is converted into salicylate, both aspirin and standardized willow bark extracts deliver related active compounds. Approximate equivalence described in research discussions suggests 400 to 800 mg of willow bark extract standardized to 15% salicin corresponds to typical low-dose aspirin exposure, while higher extract amounts may approximate full-strength aspirin ranges. Clinical dosing equivalence remains an area of ongoing research.

Test Your Knowledge with Today’s Quiz!
Take today’s quiz to see how much you’ve learned from yesterday’s Mercola.com article.

What is the “Peakspan exit”?

When performance drops below 90% of your best
Peakspan exit marks the point when decline becomes measurable, giving you a chance to act before smaller losses spread across more body systems. Learn more.

When a serious disease is first diagnosed
When all body systems start failing at once
When aging stops responding to treatment

A New Series of Health Insights Is on the Way

BELANGRIJK

A New Series of Health Insights Is on the Way
Our team has been working behind the scenes to prepare new research and practical health strategies for our readers. While we finish preparing what’s coming next, we invite you to explore one of the most-read articles from our library below. See exactly what’s changing →

More than 60 million Americans deal with heartburn each month,1 and for millions of them, relief comes in the form of over-the-counter or prescription acid blockers. These drugs — proton pump inhibitors, or PPIs — promise fast, long-lasting relief. But they also come with risks few people are told about.

What starts as a simple fix for reflux often becomes a long-term dependency that disrupts far more than digestion. These drugs don’t just neutralize acid; they shut down the very pumps your stomach uses to create it. That’s a problem because stomach acid isn’t a disposable nuisance; it’s essential for breaking down food, absorbing nutrients, and defending your gut from harmful microbes.

When that system is thrown off, your health begins to unravel in unexpected ways. The deeper issue isn’t just that acid is suppressed — it’s that your body didn’t need suppression in the first place. The real cause of reflux, for most people, is low stomach acid, not too much of it. And when PPIs suppress it even further, the result is fermentation, bloating, and pressure that pushes acid up into your esophagus.

But the concern doesn’t end in your gut. Long-term PPI use increases your risk of cardiovascular events, even if you have no history of heart disease.2 That includes heart attacks and death from heart-related causes. If you’re taking these drugs daily, thinking they’re harmless, it’s time to look at what the science actually says — and what safer, root-cause solutions are available.

Popular Heartburn Drug Linked to Higher Heart Attack Risk

In a large-scale analysis published in PLOS One, scientists from Stanford University reviewed more than 16 million electronic clinical documents covering 2.9 million patients.3 Their goal was to determine whether PPIs — drugs like omeprazole (Prilosec) and esomeprazole (Nexium) — were associated with cardiovascular events, specifically heart attacks.

• The population studied included people with acid reflux but no heart disease — The researchers focused on adults with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), the most common reason PPIs are prescribed.

They isolated individuals who had GERD but had not suffered a heart attack before. Importantly, they excluded people taking clopidogrel, a blood thinner often prescribed after a heart attack, to rule out drug interactions. This allowed them to evaluate how PPIs affect the general population, not just those at high cardiovascular risk.

• PPIs were linked to a 16% higher heart attack risk — The data revealed that GERD patients who used PPIs were 1.16 times more likely to experience a heart attack compared to those who didn’t take these medications. This increase was found in multiple datasets and remained consistent across different PPI brands.

• PPI users faced double the risk of dying from heart problems — In a long-term study of 1,503 adults who underwent heart imaging, researchers followed participants over several years.

They found that people taking PPIs were twice as likely to die from cardiovascular events, like heart attacks, strokes, or cardiac arrest, compared to those not taking the drugs. This increased risk remained even after accounting for factors like blood pressure and smoking history.

• H2 blockers did not show the same cardiovascular risks — To compare drug types, researchers also studied H2 blockers like famotidine (Pepcid), which reduce stomach acid by a different mechanism. Unlike PPIs, H2 blockers showed no increased risk of heart attack or cardiovascular death. This key distinction suggests the problem is something unique to how PPIs work.

• The biological mechanism involves a molecule that blocks nitric oxide — PPIs interfere with an enzyme responsible for breaking down a naturally occurring molecule that inhibits nitric oxide production. Nitric oxide is essential for healthy blood vessels, helping them stay relaxed, elastic, and resistant to clots.

Without enough of it, the lining of your blood vessels stiffens and becomes inflamed. In vein samples from coronary bypass patients, PPIs were shown to suppress nitric oxide production, confirming the drug’s impact on actual human blood vessels, not just cells in a lab.

Heartburn Drugs Silently Damage Your Kidneys, Bones, and Brain Over Time

Millions of Americans are taking PPIs without understanding the risks. These drugs are among the most popular in the world, with over 15 million U.S. users and billions in global sales.4 Beyond cardiovascular concerns, PPIs are associated with a wide range of long-term complications, many of which emerge silently and go undetected until damage is advanced.

• PPIs affect kidneys, bone density, and your nervous system — Long-term use of PPIs has been linked to serious kidney disorders such as chronic kidney disease,5 acute kidney injury and end-stage renal disease.

You leave your annual physical with clean bloodwork and a thumbs-up from your doctor — and assume that means your body is still running at full power. But what if you’ve already lost 15% of your cardiovascular capacity, your brain is processing information measurably slower than five years ago, and your recovery time has doubled — all while technically being “healthy”?

A perspective piece published in Aging and Disease reveals this uncomfortable truth: the window of time you spend at peak physical and mental performance is far shorter than many people believe.1 The researchers argue that modern medicine has been asking the wrong question.

Being disease-free tells you almost nothing about how well your body is actually performing — and the gap between “no diagnosis” and “operating at your best” is often enormous. You can pass every screening and still be operating well below your former best, with the gap widening year after year in ways that quietly erode your energy, sharpness, and resilience.

This reframe has practical consequences. Once you stop measuring health as the absence of illness and start measuring it as closeness to your peak, the entire strategy for how you take care of yourself changes. The research lays out exactly how that works through a concept the researchers call Peakspan, and it offers a new way to think about what you should be protecting and when.

Your Peak Performance Fades Earlier Than You Realize

The Aging and Disease paper introduced a concept called Peakspan, which tracks how long you stay close to your best physical and mental performance rather than just how long you avoid illness.2 Instead of asking, “Are you sick?” this research asks a more useful question: “How well are you actually functioning right now compared to your best?” That shift highlights a hidden decline that many people don’t notice until it becomes a problem.

• Most people lose peak function decades before they feel “old” — The researchers analyzed how different systems in your body perform across your lifespan and found that most reach their maximum in your 20s to early 30s. After that, performance steadily drops.
By around age 50, you’ve already fallen below 90% of your peak in many key areas, even though you might still feel healthy and have no diagnosed disease. That means for most of your adult life, you’re not performing at the level your body is designed to reach — and every year the margin grows wider.
• You spend years in a “healthy but declining” state without realizing it — The “functional gap” is the difference between your peak ability and your current performance. This gap grows slowly over time. You don’t notice it day to day, but it shows up as reduced stamina, slower thinking, and less resilience. From a practical standpoint, this affects how sharp you feel at work, how quickly you recover from stress, and how much energy you have left at the end of the day.
• Different parts of your body decline on different timelines — The study breaks down Peakspan across multiple systems, showing that decline doesn’t happen all at once. This staggered decline explains why you might feel mentally sharp but physically slower, or strong but less resilient to stress. For example:

◦ Your brain’s fast-processing abilities peak in your 20s and begin to decline soon after
◦ Your heart and lung performance peaks in your early 20s and drops steadily each decade
◦ Your muscle strength peaks between 20 and 35 and then gradually weakens

• Some abilities last longer, but they don’t offset early losses — Not every function drops early. Your fluid intelligence — the raw speed at which you process new information and solve unfamiliar problems — peaks in your 20s, while crystallized intelligence — your accumulated knowledge and vocabulary — peaks decades later.
That’s why you might feel wiser or more knowledgeable as you age. However, this doesn’t cancel out the decline in speed, endurance, and adaptability, which are important for high-level performance in daily life.
• The decline follows predictable rates you can track — The researchers highlight measurable rates of change that occur over time. For example:

◦ Aerobic capacity drops by about 10% per decade after your peak
◦ Kidney function declines steadily from your 30s onward
◦ Hormones such as testosterone decrease about 0.8 to 1% per year in men

Why Catching Early Decline Changes Your Entire Trajectory

The paper identifies a key turning point called “Peakspan exit,” which is when your performance falls below 90% of your maximum. This isn’t when disease begins. It’s when decline becomes measurable. Catching this moment early gives you the best opportunity to slow or reverse the trend before it spreads across multiple systems.

• Your body systems are interconnected, so one decline affects others — Once one system starts to decline, it often triggers changes in others. For example, reduced cardiovascular fitness lowers oxygen delivery, which affects brain performance and muscle endurance. Over time, these small changes compound, leading to broader loss of function.
• The goal shifts from living longer to staying capable longer — Extending lifespan without maintaining performance leads to more years of reduced function. The real target becomes extending the time you stay near your peak. That directly affects your independence, productivity, and quality of life.
• New AI tools are being designed to track your personal peak and predict decline — The study introduces advanced models that analyze your biological data, such as blood markers, fitness levels, and even wearable device data, to estimate how close you are to your peak performance. These systems don’t compare you to an average person. Instead, they compare you to your own best state. That gives you a personalized roadmap.
To make this practical, imagine your peak performance as a score of 100. The goal is to stay above 90 for as long as possible. Every small drop below that threshold represents lost capability. Tracking that score over time turns your health into something you can monitor, adjust, and improve.
• Small changes early have the biggest impact on your long-term performance — The paper emphasizes that early intervention delivers the greatest benefit because decline starts gradually. Waiting until symptoms appear means multiple systems have already lost ground. Taking action earlier keeps more of your systems operating near peak for longer.
Once you recognize that decline begins earlier than expected, you shift from reacting to problems to managing performance. That builds confidence and gives you a clear target: preserve your highest level of function for as many years as possible.

How to Keep Your Body Operating Near Its Peak Longer

Once you understand that your body starts losing peak performance decades before disease shows up, the goal becomes clear: slow that decline at its source. You aren’t trying to “fix aging.” You’re protecting your energy systems, your strength, your brain speed, and your resilience before they drop below that 90% range. Focus on actions that preserve function across multiple systems at once, because decline doesn’t happen in isolation.

1. Protect your cellular energy first, because everything depends on it — Your Peakspan rises and falls with your cells’ ability to produce energy. When cellular energy production drops, every system downstream — your brain, your muscles, your immune response — drops with it.
Prioritize daily sun exposure to support mitochondrial energy production and circadian rhythm. Mitochondria are the power generators inside each cell. When they slow down, every organ they supply runs at reduced capacity, like a building during a brownout. Ideally, get out in the sun within the first hour of waking.
Morning light hits receptors in your eyes that set your circadian rhythm — the internal clock that tells your cells when to ramp energy production up and when to shift into repair mode. When that timing signal is strong and consistent, your mitochondria produce energy more efficiently. When it’s disrupted by irregular light exposure, late-night screens, or spending entire days indoors, your cells lose that coordination and energy production drops across every system.
Avoid seed oils such as soybean, corn, and canola because linoleic acid (LA) disrupts mitochondrial function over time. Use stable fats like grass fed butter, ghee, or tallow instead. Keep alcohol out of your routine, as it directly damages mitochondrial function.
2. Fuel your body with enough carbohydrates to sustain performance — Low-carb approaches limit your body’s primary energy source, which could shorten your Peakspan. Aim for roughly 250 grams of healthy carbohydrates daily, adjusting higher if you’re active. Start with whole fruit and white rice, not ultraprocessed carbs. Add starches later, once your digestion is stable. Avoid relying on processed snacks, even those marketed as healthy, because they disrupt appetite control and energy balance.
3. Build and maintain muscle strength to delay physical decline — Your musculoskeletal system determines how long you stay physically capable. Train your muscles twice a week with resistance exercises to preserve strength and coordination. Focus on compound movements that build total-body strength.
Consume adequate protein — about 0.8 grams per pound of lean body mass (or 1.76 grams per kilogram) — and make one-third from collagen-rich sources like slow-cooked meats or bone broth to support the tendons, joints, and connective tissue that keep you training without injury.
4. Track your performance and metabolic health like a score you want to maintain — You stay motivated when you measure what matters. Think of your Peakspan like a score you want to keep high. Monitor simple markers like grip strength, endurance, reaction speed, and daily energy levels. Track your Homeostatic Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) score to understand your insulin resistance, since metabolic dysfunction drives early decline.
Anything below 1.0 is considered a healthy HOMA-IR score. If you’re above that, you’re considered insulin resistant. The higher your values, the greater your insulin resistance. Conversely the lower your HOMA-IR score, the less insulin resistance you have, assuming you are not a Type 1 diabetic who makes no insulin.
Set small, achievable goals each week to maintain or improve these markers. Use wearable devices or simple logs to track trends over time and treat consistency like a streak you don’t want to break.
5. Act early and adjust before decline compounds across systems — The biggest advantage comes from acting before major drops occur. Once multiple systems decline, recovery becomes harder. Pay attention to early signs like slower recovery, reduced stamina, or mental fatigue. Adjust your nutrition, sleep, and activity immediately when you notice changes.
Prioritize sleep regularity to support hormone balance and brain function. Keep your environment clean from toxins and processed foods that accelerate decline.

FAQs About Peakspan

Q: What’s Peakspan and why does it matter?
A: Peakspan is the period of your life when your body and brain operate at least 90% of their maximum ability. This matters because it shifts your focus away from just avoiding disease and toward maintaining high performance. Once your Peakspan ends, subtle declines begin to affect your energy, strength, and mental sharpness, even if you still feel “healthy.”

Q: At what age do most people leave their Peakspan?
A: Most people reach peak performance in their 20s or early 30s and begin declining shortly after. By around age 50, many key systems like cardiovascular fitness, brain speed, and muscle strength have already dropped below peak levels. This means a large portion of your adult life is spent below your highest capability.

Q: How do I know if I’ve already started declining?
A: You notice it through small changes, not disease. Signs include slower reaction time, reduced stamina, longer recovery after exercise, and lower daily energy. These changes reflect the “functional gap,” which is the difference between your peak ability and your current performance.

Q: Why is early decline such a big deal if I’m not sick?
A: Because decline spreads across systems. When one area, like cardiovascular fitness, drops, it reduces oxygen delivery and affects your brain and muscles. Over time, these small losses compound, leading to reduced productivity, independence, and resilience long before any diagnosis appears.

Q: What’s the most important thing I can do to protect my Peakspan?
A: Focus on maintaining function early, not reacting later. Support your cellular energy, build strength, track your performance markers, and monitor your metabolic health such as your HOMA-IR score. Acting early keeps more of your body operating near peak for longer, which directly improves how you feel and perform every day.

Test Your Knowledge with Today’s Quiz!
Take today’s quiz to see how much you’ve learned from yesterday’s Mercola.com article.

How much did U.S. health care spending reach?

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$6.8 trillion

Editor’s Note: This article is a reprint. It was originally published January 26, 2025.

Dr. Alan Christianson is a leading expert in the field of thyroid disorders, and his insights on this topic are invaluable. In fact, his expertise is so insightful that I’ve invited him to be the lead consultant for our upcoming health coaching program. This program will offer comprehensive protocols and practical steps for various health concerns, with a strong emphasis on thyroid health. I want to ensure the information we provide is top-notch, so we’re taking our time to get it just right.

In my previous interview with Christianson, we explored information about excess iodine and thyroid health. These principles are fundamental and will remain relevant for years to come. Before speaking with him, I felt lost when it came to understanding thyroid issues. I knew the conventional approaches, both in conventional and alternative medicine, were missing something important.

They didn’t address the root causes of thyroid problems. It became clear to me that the solutions were much simpler than I had imagined.

I even applied Christianson’s advice to my own health. At the time of our first interview, I was taking a significant dose of thyroid medication, including desiccated thyroid and Cytomel. I was operating under the common misconception that my thyroid issues stemmed from low thyroid hormone production. I was relying on outdated lab tests like thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and basal body temperature.

After understanding the true nature of thyroid autoimmunity, I was able to completely stop all thyroid medications within two weeks. My basal body temperatures are now completely normal 98.4 to 98.8. All my thyroid hormones are normal but my TSH is elevated, which is what you’d expect because my body is now producing its own thyroid hormone and that requires TSH to activate it. It should remain elevated for the next few months.

I’m incredibly grateful for Christianson’s expertise. So, let’s recap some of the key points from our latest discussion. Thyroid problems are incredibly common, and autoimmune thyroid disease is the most prevalent autoimmune condition.

Sadly, thyroid cancers are also on the rise. Conventional and even many natural approaches often assume the problem is simply a lack of thyroid hormone. However, this “empty tank” model doesn’t address the underlying cause. Christianson revealed that thyroid disease is closely linked to an individual’s genetic tolerance to iodine. By managing iodine intake within a safe range, many people actually reverse their thyroid issues.

The Unique Nature of Thyroid Autoimmunity

One of the biggest misconceptions I had before interviewing Christianson was that all autoimmune diseases have the same origin. This is simply not true.

• Thyroid autoimmunity is driven by a different mechanism — While many autoimmune conditions, like rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and inflammatory bowel disease, are often linked to a leaky gut, thyroid autoimmunity has a different mechanism. In these other conditions, proteins leak through your damaged gut lining, triggering an immune response.

• The key difference lies in your body’s interaction with iodine — We need iodine for proper thyroid function, but our bodies are adapted to different levels of intake based on our ancestry. People with coastal ancestry generally tolerate higher amounts of iodine, while those with inland ancestry thrive on lower levels. Many people today, even those with inland ancestry, consume too much iodine.

This excess iodine matches the thyroid globulin and distorts the molecule to something your body is not typically expecting. This new protein structure then creates antibodies against it, causing your immune system to mistakenly attack the thyroid tissue.

• The good news is that this process requires an ongoing trigger — By reducing excessive iodine intake, you break this cycle. Your immune system then recognizes that the thyroid is not the enemy, and the autoimmune process often reverses. This reversal often happens surprisingly quickly, within a few months, unlike many other autoimmune conditions that take years to improve. In my own case, I saw significant improvement very rapidly.

While antibody levels are an indicator of thyroid autoimmunity and useful for screening, they don’t always tell the whole story. Some people with autoimmune thyroid disease never have measurable antibodies, while others with mildly elevated antibodies have no thyroid problems at all. Therefore, focusing solely on antibody levels isn’t always the most accurate approach.

The Thyroid-Gut Connection and Other Autoimmune Links

A fascinating connection exists between thyroid disease and certain gut issues. A condition known as thyrogastric syndrome, also called atrophic gastritis or autoimmune gastritis, is found in a significant percentage of people with autoimmune thyroid disease.

• It wreaks havoc on your stomach cells — This condition involves your immune system attacking your stomach’s parietal cells, which leads to poor absorption of important nutrients like iron, B12, and zinc.

• There’s a genetic link to autoimmunity — While this connection isn’t directly related to iodine intake, it suggests a broader genetic predisposition to autoimmunity. It seems that some genes are more specific to thyroid autoimmunity, while others are associated with a general increased risk of various autoimmune conditions. This could explain why people with thyroid disease are more likely to experience other autoimmune problems as well.

• Another common co-occurrence is fatty liver — This is now often referred to as metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD). Thyroid hormones play a role in regulating liver function, metabolism, body weight, and blood sugar. Therefore, hypothyroidism significantly contributes to the development of fatty liver.

Understanding Fatty Liver and Metabolic Fuel

My understanding of fatty liver has evolved over time. I previously believed it was primarily caused by an excess of omega-6 fats like linoleic acid (LA). While these fats certainly play a role, Christianson offered a more nuanced explanation.

• Fatty liver is fundamentally a problem of fuel balance within your body — According to Christianson, various fuel molecules, including carbohydrates, fats (like LA), and even alcohol, are processed into acetyl-CoA. When your body exceeds its capacity to use these fuel molecules, it shifts into storage mode.

• Where the body stores this excess fuel varies from person to person — Some people store it primarily as subcutaneous fat, while others accumulate it in their liver. The liver has two main storage compartments: triglycerides and glycogen.

A healthy balance between these two is essential for proper liver function. In fatty liver, the proportion of triglycerides becomes excessively high, creating a vicious cycle that makes it difficult for the liver to reverse the process.

• This explanation helps to understand why alcohol also contributes to fatty liver — Alcohol, like excess fats and carbohydrates, is ultimately converted into acetyl-CoA. Therefore, both excessive consumption of certain fats and alcohol overload your liver’s capacity to process fuel, leading to fat accumulation. This also explains why some people are more susceptible to fatty liver than others.

The Role of Gut Bacteria and Short-Chain Fatty Acids

Our conversation also touched on the crucial role of gut bacteria and short-chain fatty acids, particularly butyrate. Butyrate is often touted as the primary fuel source for colonocytes, the cells lining your colon. However, research has revealed a more complex picture.

• Butyrate only makes up about 20% of the short-chain fatty acids produced by gut bacteria — The majority, around 60%, is acetate, a precursor to acetyl-CoA. Propionate makes up the remaining 20%. This raises the question of whether the focus on butyrate has been misplaced. It’s possible that the initial research on short-chain fatty acids created a bias toward butyrate, overlooking the important roles of acetate and propionate.

• Clinically, butyrate is often administered in ways that are ineffective — Oral butyrate is poorly absorbed, and while rectal administration is more effective locally, it doesn’t reach the entire colon.

• A novel, time-release delivery system that effectively delivers nutrients — I’ve developed a novel time-release delivery system that effectively delivers substances, including beneficial bacteria and short-chain fatty acids, directly to the colon. This technology allows us to bypass the stomach’s harsh acidic environment and the small intestine, ensuring targeted delivery to the colon where these substances have the greatest impact.

This new technology opens the door for new research into the optimal ratios of short-chain fatty acids. I plan to explore different combinations, including a formulation with the natural ratio of 60% acetate, 20% propionate, and 20% butyrate, to see which approach is most effective.

The Thyroid-Estrogen Connection and the Importance of Prolactin

We also discussed the intricate relationship between thyroid hormones and estrogen. I’ve long believed that testing estrogen levels in the blood is misleading, as estrogen is primarily stored in tissues, not your bloodstream. This leads to inaccurate information and harmful treatment decisions, especially for post-menopausal women.

• Women are incorrectly treated for low estrogen — Christianson notes that women are often treated for low estrogen based on serum levels, even if they are not experiencing symptoms. This approach, based on flawed data, is unlikely to produce positive outcomes. The problem is often not low estrogen, but rather estrogen dominance, which is indicated by elevated prolactin levels.

• Taking exogenous thyroid hormones actually raises prolactin levels — Christianson says that this is due to a feedback loop between the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and thyroid. The same signal that tells your pituitary to produce thyroid hormone also stimulates prolactin production.

This explains why my own prolactin levels increased when I was taking thyroid medication. This information highlights the complexity of hormonal interactions within your body.

• Factors that influence prolactin levels — This led to a discussion of how various factors influence prolactin levels, including hormone replacement therapy, oral contraceptives, xenoestrogens, and reactions to thyroid medications.

This highlights the importance of considering the context when interpreting prolactin results. My own experience with progesterone lowering my prolactin levels suggests a clear estrogen connection. The good news is that prolactin testing is relatively inexpensive and accessible, making it a valuable tool for monitoring hormonal balance.

• Further discussions on thyroid health and its implications on metabolic health — As our conversation continued, we further discussed the complexities of thyroid health, the connection between thyroid, and other hormones and broader implications for metabolic health.

We also cover information about accurate thyroid testing. As Christianson explained, your body has intricate mechanisms for regulating hormone responses. It adjusts the number and activity of hormone receptors to maintain balance.

However, when you introduce external hormones, you disrupt these finely tuned systems. This is where the wisdom of nature comes into play. When do we support the body’s natural processes, and when do we intervene?

In cases of complete gland removal, like thyroidectomy, intervention is necessary. However, many people have abnormal lab results without a true inability to compensate. It’s important to distinguish between compensation and true dysfunction.

The 5 Golden Rules for Accurate Thyroid Testing

Christianson shared five essential rules for accurate thyroid lab testing. These rules are key for obtaining consistent and reliable results but are often overlooked, leading to inconsistent and confusing lab results. Implementing these guidelines significantly improves the accuracy and reliability of thyroid testing.

1. Time of day — Thyroid hormone levels fluctuate throughout the day. The most consistent results are obtained between 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. Blood spot testing makes it easier to adhere to this timing.

2. Fasting — Fasting status significantly impacts thyroid hormone levels. It’s important to fast before testing.

3. Biotin — Supplemental biotin interferes with lab analyses. It’s recommended to avoid biotin supplements for three days before testing. Surprisingly, this effect is primarily seen with supplemental, not dietary, biotin.

4. Thyroid medications — If you take thyroid medication, take your lab tests before taking your medication that day. Testing shortly after taking medication will produce inaccurate results, especially for T3 and T4 levels.

5. Menstrual cycle — For menstruating women, thyroid hormone levels vary throughout the cycle. The most consistent results are obtained during days one to nine and 20 to 28 of the cycle. Testing during days 10 to 19 produces inconsistent results.

Rethinking Thyroid Screening and the Value of Clinical History

Our discussion then turned to the value of conventional thyroid testing, specifically TSH. I expressed my evolving view that TSH is not an effective screening tool. Christianson agreed, emphasizing the importance of considering treatment options.

• Synthetic hormones are not the only solution — In conventional medicine, the primary treatment for thyroid issues is synthetic thyroid medication. However, with the powerful influence of diet and lifestyle, other approaches are available.

• The importance of antibody testing — Christianson emphasized the value of antibody testing as a screening tool, as it’s more predictive of symptoms than TSH. While some individuals with overt hypothyroidism have negative antibodies, antibody testing still provides valuable information. It’s important to remember that normal antibody levels do not necessarily rule out thyroid disease.

This perspective aligns with the approach of clinicians like Broda Barnes, who effectively identified thyroid issues based on clinical history and symptoms, even before the advent of modern thyroid testing. It’s important to remember that while thyroid hormone levels are important, the correlation between those levels and symptoms is much looser than most people realize. In fact, many people with significantly abnormal thyroid hormone levels are surprisingly asymptomatic.

Dietary Considerations for Thyroid Health

We also discussed the importance of diet in thyroid health. I mentioned my red, green, and yellow food system from my book, “Your Guide to Cellular Health,” and how it differs from Christianson’s approach in “The Thyroid Reset Diet.” While my system focuses on general metabolic health, Christianson’s is specifically designed for individuals with autoimmune thyroid disease.

• Nuts are not a health food — I expressed concern about some of the “green” foods in Christianson’s diet, such as seasoned nuts. While nuts can be healthy, they’re high in LA and are best consumed in moderation, especially for those with high levels of stored linoleic acid. I also noted that my own food system is not suitable for thyroid health due to the inclusion of high-iodine foods.

Christianson explained that his dietary recommendations are not intended as a universal diet for everyone but rather as a specific tool for a specific situation — autoimmune thyroid disease.

• Modern practices contaminate healthy food sources — He also acknowledged the contamination of otherwise healthy foods, such as raw milk, with iodine due to modern agricultural practices.

The dairy industry commonly uses iodine-based disinfectants to clean teats and equipment. Although a hot water rinse helps mitigate iodine residues, the pervasive use of iodine teat dips introduces an additional, often unnoticed source of iodine into dairy products.

Diabetes and Metabolic Health

We also discussed diabetes, another major endocrine issue. Christianson described diabetes as a problem of fuel partitioning, where excess fuel accumulates in the bloodstream. He cited research showing that even small amounts of fat accumulation in the pancreas significantly impacts diabetes development.

• Glucose as your body’s preferred fuel source — I shared my understanding, influenced by the work of Ray Peat, that glucose is the preferred fuel for most cells, although some cells, like colonocytes and heart cells, primarily use fatty acids.

I also emphasized the dangers of overly restrictive low-carb diets, which trigger the release of stress hormones like cortisol. Christianson agreed, explaining that your body requires glucose and will produce it through cortisol-mediated muscle breakdown if dietary intake is insufficient.

• The ideal daily glucose intake — We agreed that 200 to 250 grams is a reasonable range for most individuals. We also discussed the dangers of excessive cortisol production, whether from dietary restriction or emotional stress, and its impact on sleep and overall health.

• The parathyroid gland — This tiny gland, nestled near your thyroid, plays a role in maintaining calcium balance in your bloodstream. Christianson argues that even slightly elevated calcium levels, especially if recurring, warrant investigation, particularly if accompanied by symptoms like fatigue, anxiety, or joint pain.

He emphasizes that conventionally accepted reference ranges for calcium are overly broad. Further, conventional medicine is limited in addressing parathyroid issues. Surgery is typically the only offered solution and there’s a lack of focus on root causes.

• Hormone replacement therapy — Finally, we touched on hormone replacement therapy, with both of us expressing caution regarding long-term use. Christianson emphasized the importance of considering both the benefits and risks of any intervention, particularly when it involves manipulating hormone levels. He stressed the need for strong evidence of net benefit before recommending such interventions.

Prioritizing Outcomes and Minimizing Harm in Thyroid Health

This in-depth discussion with Christianson illuminates the complex web of factors influencing thyroid health. By understanding the unique nature of thyroid autoimmunity, the importance of accurate testing and the interconnectedness of various bodily systems, we move beyond simplistic solutions and embrace a more holistic and effective approach to thyroid care.

This conversation emphasizes the importance of informed decision-making, prioritizing long-term health outcomes and supporting your body’s innate capacity for healing. By focusing on supporting your body’s natural processes and minimizing harm, you achieve true and lasting improvements in health.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Thyroid Health

Q: How does iodine intake affect thyroid health?
A: Iodine plays a crucial role in thyroid function, but excessive intake triggers autoimmune thyroid disease, especially in individuals with lower genetic tolerance. Managing iodine within a safe range helps reverse thyroid issues.

Q: What are the key factors for accurate thyroid testing?
A: Accurate thyroid testing requires:

• Testing between 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m.
• Fasting beforehand.
• Avoiding biotin supplements for three days.
• Taking tests before thyroid medication (if applicable).
• Timing tests with the menstrual cycle (days 1 to 9 or 20 to 28).

Q: How is thyroid autoimmunity different from other autoimmune diseases?
A: Unlike other autoimmune conditions linked to leaky gut, thyroid autoimmunity is primarily driven by an immune response to excessive iodine, which alters thyroid proteins and triggers an attack on thyroid tissue. Reducing iodine intake often reverses the condition.

Q: What is the connection between thyroid health and metabolism?
A: Thyroid function is closely linked to gut health, fatty liver, and metabolic balance. Hypothyroidism contributes to fatty liver disease, while excess fuel intake (from fats, carbs, or alcohol) overwhelms the liver’s storage capacity, leading to metabolic dysfunction.

Q: Why is a holistic approach essential for thyroid health?
A: A comprehensive approach, including dietary adjustments, lifestyle changes, and avoiding unnecessary hormone therapy, is key for optimizing thyroid function. Many thyroid conditions can be improved by addressing root causes rather than relying solely on medication.

Editor’s Note: This article is a reprint. It was originally published May 28, 2023.

This interview was recorded in November 2018 at the annual Academy for Comprehensive and Integrative Medicine (ACIM) convention in Orlando, Florida, but it was only last year that it ran on the site. At the time there was concern that the topic was too controversial, but now that six years have passed and COVID changed the controversial landscape, we thought it would be good to release the video on this important topic.

I had the opportunity to interview two experts on autism and dirty electricity, Peter Sullivan and Dr. Martha Herbert, who cowrote “The Autism Revolution: Whole-Body Strategies for Making Life All It Can Be.”1 Here, we discuss some of the toxic factors that contribute to the development of autism, especially the role of electromagnetic frequencies (EMFs) and dirty electricity.

Sullivan’s Journey

Sullivan has struggled with electromagnetic hypersensitivity, and still does to some degree, which was his primary motivation for learning more about it. He’s become a fount of knowledge as a result. As a software engineer in Silicon Valley in the 1990s, he was passionate about personal technology.

“I studied in Stanford. I did all kinds of human-computer interactions. I worked at multiple companies: as a troubleshooter in Silicon Valley, an engineer and a software designer at the very end. I worked at Netflix and some other companies people would know of,” he says.

In the early 2000s, problems began to take root. Fatigue and food allergies cropped up, and his children were struggling with developmental delays. He eventually realized he had toxic levels of mercury in his system.

“I eventually just took time off from work, in about 2005. I just said it’s ridiculous, with all these things going on, to have two people in the family working. I was focusing on my kids’ health and my health and really had some time and energy to really go deep and find out what was really out there.

I had a great doctor, Dr. Raj Patel … an integrative medical doctor who would talk about Candida overgrowth, mercury, and all that stuff. He got us on track. Eventually, the kids slowly got better, but even after detoxing, I did not. I kept getting worse.

I got down to 131 pounds. I became electrically sensitive. My brain kept telling me, ‘All the stuff is safe and well-tested. I love technology.’ But my body was reacting like there was something really wrong. I was catching myself just throwing a cellphone away — feeling cellphones and then transformers when I plugged them in.”

He eventually learned about dirty electricity, and once he started addressing his exposure, he regained 10 pounds in a couple of months, along with his health. Today, he’s passionate about sharing information about the dangers of EMFs and dirty electricity, and how to address electromagnetic hypersensitivity.

“We’re just trying to share the information, make the field credible, because it’s very credible, and make sure people don’t have to suffer,” he says.

He even created an EMF-free tent that he brings with him to different seminars and conferences that people can sit in, as many of these events are held in places where you’re exposed to very high amounts of EMF. He’s also funded some of Herbert’s research.

Herbert’s Story

I first met Herbert at a Cure Autism Now event (now Autism Speaks) in 2009. Herbert’s two children struggled with symptoms of autism when they were young. Today, they’re both grown and have fully recovered. Her initial focus was on mercury toxicity, looking at ways of doing noninvasive screening for toxic metals.

A lifelong environmentalist, Herbert went to medical school after getting a Ph.D. in history of consciousness at the University of California Santa Cruz. She studied pediatric neurology, and fell into working with autism after inheriting magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans from the first MRI study performed on autistic children in 1989.

“I was one of the first people — but not the only one — to identify white matter abnormalities in autism through brain imaging, not through gray tissue,” Herbert says. “That really violated the paradigm that behavior comes from the cortex. I was already kind of a whole-body person. I was seeing patients.

[Few of them] had these rare neurogenetic diseases that you’re trained for in pediatric neurology. But everybody was coming in with diarrhea and eczema, and they couldn’t sleep. It was almost like primary care in neuropsychiatry. That’s where I sort of edged my way into the whole-body approach.

I had an epiphany in 1999 … that all the stuff I was seeing in my patients really could connect with the environment … I started putting together and figuring out that this was really a systems [biology] approach to these conditions.”

A Systems Biology Approach to Autism

Systems biology looks at everything in biology as a web, in which everything is connected to everything else. When you tug at one part of the web, the rest of the web changes. In conventional science, individual components and variables are studied in isolation. That’s how clinical research is designed.

“We’re looking for pure forms of disease. But mostly in these conditions that we’re talking about, it’s a mess,” Herbert says. “Everybody has a bunch of different [symptoms], some of which are more prominent than others. Early on in figuring out autism as a systems problem, I was looking at specific language problems or developmental language disorder.

But if you look at these people carefully, they have coordination issues … You see this subtle breakdown of the precision and fine-tuning of the brain … I finally … I found a great article about the networks in the brain that are messed up in psychiatric illnesses (not just autism but also schizophrenia, depression, and so forth).

The hubs of these networks have very high-frequency gamma frequency … It turns out that this gamma frequency is driven by cells that are very high-energy demand mitochondrially centered cells …

We now have enough studies showing that the metabolic stuff going on in the brain match onto the networks going on in the brain. The proportion of network disturbance in some of these cases has been shown to be proportional to the amount of mitochondrial dysfunction.”

The Transcend Research Program

Herbert has created a brain research program at Harvard called TRANSCEND2 (Treatment, Research, and Neuroscience Evaluation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders). They use MRI, magnetoencephalography (MEG), and electroencephalogram (EEG). MEG measures the magnetic activity of the brain, whereas EEG measures the electrical activity.

“When you have electrical activity, the magnetic is at 90 degrees. They measure the same thing, but in somewhat different ways,” Herbert explains. Her hypothesis is that autism is not something you’re born with. It’s something you develop in response to environmental factors.

“In order to study that, I started studying babies from the time they were in their mother’s womb. We got biosamples from the mothers. We got biosamples at birth, and then — until the mothers stopped nursing — we get biosamples from them, plus EEG and autonomic … using wristbands … to see how things deteriorated in the kids who developed autism.

What we found was something that could be interpreted in a variety of ways. We’re working on publishing this. We have EEG data of 2-week-old babies, predicting their outcome at 13 months.

Now, I just finished saying that I think that autism is something you developed. That would sound like something you’re born with, but you can’t say that they have autism. The way I think about it is if their brains are really excited and irritated. So, it matters very much what happens [in their early environment to make them] more predisposed.”

Whole-Body Wellness Approach Can Minimize Autism Risk

Using this early predictive ability, a small number of primary care pediatricians have started implementing whole-body approaches to the parents and children, showing that when whole-body lifestyle modification is implemented, such as avoidance of toxins and allergens, virtually none of these predisposed babies actually develop autism.

“My feeling is what we need is a public health intervention where people are taught how to keep healthy from preconception to pregnancy to infancy. If they get an EEG that says that their brain is irritable, you don’t want to do a drug … You want to do safe and healthy things, because [drugs and toxins are] the problem in the first place,” Herbert says.

There are many anecdotal stories from families with autistic children suggesting EMF causes problems, and Herbert and Sullivan are working on setting up an online database to capture this data.

“That when you reduce the Wi-Fi, the symptoms abate a lot. I know a kid who was stimming like crazy. He liked to stim by the dishwasher. Guess what, there was dirty electricity in this dishwasher. They fixed it and he stopped that, and a lot of his symptoms remitted,” Herbert says.

Common Risk Factors

Essentially, Herbert believes autism can be predicted by looking at the level of brain irritability in the child. But what might contribute to this kind of irritability? Sullivan believes mercury, EMF, and glyphosate are three major triggers, even more so than vaccines.

Herbert believes processed food is another major contributor. “Simply reducing allergens in the mother’s diet from preconception to pregnancy is a really big deal,” Herbert says. That said, it’s really the total load that matters, not any particular given factor.

“There are 10,000 different ways to injure mitochondria. It all piles up. All these little seemingly innocuous exposures add to the pile, so they all matter,” she says. Sullivan has created a video talk and booklet, “Simplifying Autism Improvement and Recovery,”3,4 which includes a list of suspects for parents to consider.

One big one that few people consider is de novo mutations resulting from sperm being exposed to wireless radiation from cellphones and laptops. Men desiring healthy children would do well to avoid carrying their cellphone in their pants pocket while it’s on, as the cellphone radiation can mutate the genes in the sperm. If you’re going to keep it in your pocket, make sure it’s off or in airplane mode.

Herbert is currently enrolling patients for her Child Health Inventory for Resilience and Prevention (CHIRP) study, which will gather information about the associations between the total burden of environmental stressors and exposures and chronic disease in children. If you have a child between the ages of 1 and 15, you can apply5 by filling out two prescreening questionnaires to determine your eligibility.

Most Parents Start Treatment at the Wrong End

Herbert and Sullivan have worked with autistic children and have advised parents for a long time. What are some of the common mistakes they see people make? Sullivan replies:

“People assume it’s a problem with the child. They jump in and start treating the child. They assume it’s genetic or whatever, and they’re doing behavioral therapy. The things that I would do again for myself, if I could do it all again, is I would start with the environment. I would start with EMF, especially at night.

We turn off the baby monitor, the cordless phone base station, Wi-Fi, and even sometimes the circuit breaker for the bedroom … A wired baby monitor is safe … Plug everything into a power strip. Put the strip in the wall. When you go to bed, just pull out the power strip. In the morning, plug it back in. It’s not hard. Or, put it on a timer.

I would say it’s a state of overload not just for the kids, but for the entire family … There are [many] things you need to do [to clean up your environment]. The key is in the sequence. Do the easiest things that get you the most impact.

That’s why we’re starting with EMF. Because once you reduce that, you start sleeping better, and then you start to have more capacity. You want to build a spiral of capacity. You start an upward spiral …

Martin Pall’s paper6 on the neuropsychiatric effects from microwaves and EMFs show it’s a big factor, as is sleep, because sleep and [lowering] inflammation are fundamental to good mental health.”

More Information

For more information about autism and wireless radiation, how EMFs affect sleep, and recommendations for EMF meters and tips for EMF safety, see Sullivan’s website, ClearLightVentures.com. On Herbert’s site, drmarthaherbert.com, you can find information about how to improve your overall health and lower your total body stress burden for a healthy pregnancy and baby.

America spent $5.3 trillion on health care in 2024.1 That’s not a typo, and it’s not someone else’s problem — it directly affects what you pay, what care you receive, and how the system around you operates. Health care now consumes roughly $18 out of every $100 spent in the U.S., making it the largest industry by both total spending and employment.2

Your health choices don’t exist in a vacuum — they exist inside a massive economic engine that shapes your workplace benefits, your insurance premiums, and your take-home pay. That scale raises a direct question to consider: what exactly drives this spending surge, and why does it keep accelerating? The answer isn’t what many people assume.

Record Spending Reveals What Drives the System

Where does all that money go? A detailed analysis of federal spending data — published by ZeroHedge — breaks down what’s actually driving the expansion, and the answer challenges the assumption that prices alone are to blame.3 Instead of focusing only on price inflation, the report looks at total spending patterns, who pays, and which parts of the system grow fastest.

This matters because you experience the consequences directly through premiums, wages, taxes, and access to care. The analysis centers on national spending flows rather than individual medical treatments, which shifts the conversation from personal bills to structural drivers.

• Spending growth reflects system use more than price spikes — A central takeaway is that overall demand for medical services stands as the largest contributor to spending increases, not price growth alone. Prices rose 2.5% in 2024, below overall inflation at 2.9%, meaning the system grew because more medical care occurred — more visits, more procedures, more long-term management — rather than dramatic price surges.
• Per-person spending growth explains why costs feel relentless — Per-capita spending reached $15,474 and has increased every year since 2000, rising 77% faster than inflation over that period. This statistic translates into a practical reality: even when general inflation slows, your health expenses continue to climb faster than most other household costs.
The pattern reflects structural expansion — population aging, chronic disease management, technology adoption — which steadily increases how much care each person consumes.
• Health care dominates national spending categories — Another key detail shows health care spending exceeds spending on housing, groceries, national defense, and vehicles. That comparison clarifies scale in everyday terms. When the largest slice of national spending flows into one sector, it shapes labor markets, policy decisions, and employer compensation. You experience that indirectly when wages shift toward benefits or when insurance design changes to manage rising costs.
• Non-medical costs expand total spending — The report identifies $768 billion spent on non-medical health expenses, representing about 15% of total health care spending. Non-medical costs include administration, logistics, and system overhead — meaning money that doesn’t go directly to treatment still drives overall spending growth.
This helps explain why system complexity matters to your wallet. More layers, more coordination, and more administrative processes increase total cost even without additional clinical care.

What This Means for You and Your Wallet

Policy debates focus on who controls spending decisions. The analysis describes competing approaches: proposals that give consumers more direct control through funded health savings accounts versus strategies that rely on regulation and subsidies to manage costs. Decision control influences how you shop for care, compare prices, and manage long-term expenses. When responsibility shifts toward consumers, financial literacy and decision tools become more important.

• Funding flows reveal why the system feels complicated — Most health care funding originates from individuals through out-of-pocket payments, insurance premiums, taxes, and employer contributions that substitute for wages. Yet that money moves through multiple intermediaries — government programs, insurers, and employers — before reaching providers.
You pay, but the path between payment and care passes through many hands, which increases complexity and reduces transparency.
• Consumer anxiety reflects structural cost pressure — Polling cited in the report shows 66% of Americans worry about affording insurance premiums and medical bills, and 55% report rising health costs in the past year. Health expenses rank as a greater concern than utilities, food, housing, and gasoline, which highlights how strongly spending trends affect daily life. This emotional dimension matters because financial stress influences health behavior, care delays, and preventive choices.
• The findings translate into actionable awareness for you — Understanding that demand — not only price — drives spending growth changes how you evaluate prevention, lifestyle decisions, and long-term health strategy. When more care equals more spending, reducing disease burden becomes financially meaningful, not only medically important. Your daily choices influence how often you rely on the system.

Take Control of Your Health Spending Through Daily Choices

Here’s the good news — you’re not powerless in this. Health care spending rises because people rely on the system more often, not only because prices increase. If demand is the driver — and the data shows clearly that it is — then your daily health decisions directly shape how often you enter that system. That is power you already have. You just need to use it deliberately.

1. Build cellular energy as your first priority — Your mitochondria — the parts of your cells that generate energy — sit upstream of nearly every disease pathway. Think of mitochondria as your body’s power grid. When the grid weakens, every system that depends on electricity — your immune cells, your repair crews, your inflammation regulators — starts running on brownout mode.

When mitochondrial function declines, everything downstream suffers, and chronic symptoms that once would have resolved on their own become permanent fixtures.
So, how do you support them? Start with daily sunlight exposure — not through a window, but direct outdoor light, ideally in the morning. This sets your circadian rhythm, which governs mitochondrial efficiency. It’s important to avoid intense, direct sunlight during peak hours (typically 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in most regions), however, until you’ve eliminated seed oils from your diet for at least six months.
This is because stored linoleic acid (LA) — the polyunsaturated fat found in seed oils — in your skin increases your risk of sunburn. Also prioritize consistent sleep timing, because irregular sleep disrupts the very cycles your cells depend on to repair and regenerate. Aim for the same bedtime and wake time within a 30-minute window, seven days a week.
And make sure you’re eating enough healthy carbohydrates — around 250 grams daily for most adults, and more if you’re physically active — because glucose is the preferred fuel for clean adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production, the energy currency your cells depend on to power every function in your body. Glucose generates energy with fewer damaging byproducts (reactive oxygen species) compared to burning excessive amounts of fat, especially the LA found in seed oils.

When cellular energy improves, many people are able to reduce their reliance on medications, cut back on doctor visits, and resolve symptoms they had been managing for years. That’s real spending reduction, starting at the cellular level.

2. Reduce the drivers of chronic disease — Chronic disease is the main reason people use the health care system repeatedly. It’s not acute injuries or infections driving the spending numbers you just read — it’s the slow accumulation of metabolic dysfunction that turns into diabetes, heart disease, autoimmune conditions, and cognitive decline.
Every one of those conditions requires ongoing management, medications, specialist visits, and procedures. That is where much of the demand comes from.
It’s important to identify the biggest contributors in your own life. Ultraprocessed foods top the list — they damage your gut lining, spike insulin, and create systemic inflammation. Seed oils like soybean, canola, corn, and sunflower oil are found in nearly every packaged and restaurant food, and they’re high in LA, which embeds in your cell membranes and fat stores where it promotes oxidative damage long after you’ve eaten it. Replace them with stable, traditional fats: tallow, ghee, or grass fed butter.
Beyond diet, look at your movement and sleep. Sedentary behavior accelerates metabolic decline faster than many people realize. Walk every day, ideally for one hour — not as exercise, but as a baseline for human function. Build muscle through resistance training, because muscle is your largest metabolic organ and acts as a glucose sink that protects against insulin resistance.
Track simple, inexpensive markers like your resting heart rate (lower is generally better), and HOMA-IR, which tells you how insulin-resistant you’re becoming. These numbers reveal your trajectory before disease shows up on a scan.

3. Strengthen metabolic resilience to reduce your reliance on the health care system — If you find yourself frequently sick, persistently fatigued, or dependent on a growing list of prescriptions, metabolic resilience is the lever that changes your relationship with the health care system. Resilience means your body handles stress, recovers from illness, and maintains stable energy without constant medical intervention.
Protein intake is foundational here. I recommend about 0.8 grams per pound of ideal body weight, or 1.76 grams per kilogram — with one-third from collagen-rich sources like bone broth, slow-cooked meats with connective tissue, or a quality collagen supplement. Collagen provides glycine and proline, amino acids that many people are deficient in, which support gut integrity, joint health, and liver detoxification.
The remaining two-thirds should come from complete protein sources like pastured eggs, grass fed beef and dairy. When it comes to carbohydrates, if you’ve been low-carb for a long time and your metabolic markers have stalled or worsened, consider restoring carbohydrate tolerance gradually. Start with whole fruit and white rice.
As your tolerance improves, you can expand into well-cooked root vegetables, then non-starchy vegetables, starchy vegetables like sweet potatoes or squash, beans, legumes and, finally, minimally processed whole grains. Stable metabolism means fewer doctor visits, fewer medication adjustments, fewer emergency situations, and fewer long-term interventions. That is how you personally reduce the demand side of the spending equation.

4. Question the default path before it becomes your spending pattern — The health care system isn’t designed to ask whether you need less of it. It’s designed to deliver more. More referrals, more follow-ups, more imaging, more prescriptions — each one reasonable in isolation, but collectively they become a spending pattern that is very difficult to reverse once it starts.
I’m not telling you to avoid doctors or ignore symptoms. What I am telling you is to become a more deliberate participant in your own care. Before accepting a new medication, ask what the plan is for getting off of it or if nondrug alternatives exist. Before agreeing to a recurring appointment, ask what markers would indicate you no longer need it.

Before filling a prescription for a symptom that appeared after you started another prescription, pause and consider whether you’re treating a side effect with another drug — because that cascade is one of the most common ways people end up deeply embedded in the system.
This is where your own knowledge becomes your greatest asset. When you understand how your body works — what drives inflammation, what supports recovery, what your labs actually mean — you stop being a passive recipient of care and start making informed decisions about when the system serves you and when it simply generates more utilization.
That shift in mindset is worth more than any single intervention, because it changes your relationship with the largest industry in the U.S. from one of dependency to one of selective, strategic engagement.

5. Lead a healthy lifestyle that lowers demand for medical services — This is the most powerful solution, and it’s the one that directly addresses the central finding of the research: service demand is the primary driver of health care spending. Every improvement you make in your daily habits reduces how often you need care, and that’s what bends the cost curve — not for the system in the abstract, but for you personally.
Move your body every single day. Eat whole foods that your great-grandparents would recognize. Support your gut health by eating enough to maintain your metabolic rate — and be cautious about loading up on fiber before your digestion can handle it, because undigested fiber feeds bacterial overgrowth and worsens the problems you’re trying to fix.
Avoid alcohol, which damages your gut lining, disrupts sleep architecture, and burdens your liver with a toxin it has to prioritize over everything else. Maintain and build muscle mass throughout your life, because sarcopenia — the age-related loss of muscle — is one of the strongest predictors of frailty, hospitalization, and long-term care dependence.
Every one of these choices reduces your interaction with the system that just hit $5.3 trillion. You can’t control what happens at the policy level, but you can control the single biggest variable in your own health care costs: how resilient and metabolically healthy you are. That’s not a small thing. In an industry built on utilization, the most radical act is needing less of it.

FAQs About Health Care Spending

Q: Why is health care the largest industry in the U.S.?
A: Health care is the largest industry because total spending reached $5.3 trillion and continues to grow due to increased use of medical services, an aging population, and long-term management of chronic disease. More visits, prescriptions, and procedures expand the system even when price increases remain moderate.

Q: What’s the main reason health care spending keeps rising?
A: The primary driver is demand for services rather than price inflation. People live longer, manage more chronic conditions, and rely on ongoing treatment, which increases how often the system is used and expands overall spending.

Q: How does rising health care spending affect my personal finances?
A: Higher spending influences insurance premiums, deductibles, wages, and taxes. Employer health costs often replace salary growth, while out-of-pocket expenses and insurance complexity increase the financial burden on individuals and families.

Q: What does “reducing demand for care” actually mean for my health?
A: Reducing demand means improving metabolic health, strengthening cellular energy, and preventing chronic disease so you need fewer medications, appointments, and procedures. Fewer symptoms and better resilience translate into less reliance on the health system.

Q: What daily actions help lower your long-term health care costs?
A: Consistent movement, adequate protein intake with collagen, sufficient carbohydrates for cellular energy, avoidance of ultraprocessed foods and seed oils, quality sleep, sunlight exposure, and maintaining muscle mass all reduce chronic disease risk and decrease how often you need medical care.

Test Your Knowledge with Today’s Quiz!
Take today’s quiz to see how much you’ve learned from yesterday’s Mercola.com article.

Why are heart disease death rates going down even though heart disease is still the top cause of death?

Fewer people get heart disease
Better care helps people survive longer
Faster treatment and better emergency care save more lives after heart attacks and strokes, but the long-term damage driving heart disease still remains. Learn more.

High cholesterol levels are no longer a problem
Heart attacks have become uncommon

A New Series of Health Insights Is on the Way

BELANGRIJK

A New Series of Health Insights Is on the Way
Our team has been working behind the scenes to prepare new research and practical health strategies for our readers. While we finish preparing what’s coming next, we invite you to explore one of the most-read articles from our library below. See exactly what’s changing →

Kidney damage doesn’t always start with disease — it often starts with prescriptions. Many of the medications you’ve been told are safe are filtered through your kidneys, creating a constant workload that backfires over time. As drug use climbs, so does the hidden toll on this key organ.

Your kidneys handle far more than waste. They help balance fluids, regulate blood pressure, and support red blood cell production. But the more medications your body has to process, the more strain your kidneys are under, especially if you’re older, managing chronic illness, or taking multiple prescriptions.

Most people don’t think to question their medications until something goes wrong. But when kidney function declines, the signs often show up late, after the real damage has been done. That’s why catching the risk early matters. Let’s break down which drug classes pose the greatest kidney risks — and what to do to stay protected.

NSAIDs and Other Painkillers Are Tough on Your Kidneys

An article, published by AARP, highlighted how widely used medications, including both over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription drugs, damage your kidneys even when taken as directed.1 The most vulnerable include older adults, people with diabetes, and anyone who’s dehydrated or managing other illnesses. However, even people without diagnosed kidney issues are at risk if they take multiple medications or ignore dosage guidelines.

• Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) reduce blood flow to your kidneys — Drugs like ibuprofen and naproxen, often used to relieve pain, inflammation, or fever, work by blocking enzymes that cause inflammation. But they also reduce a hormone that keeps the blood vessels in your kidneys open. Without enough of that hormone, these vessels narrow, making it harder for blood to flow in. This leads to reduced kidney function, especially during illness or if you’re dehydrated.

• Don’t take them for too long — Clinical pharmacist Derek Owen, with the University of Chicago Department of Medicine, told AARP that NSAIDs shouldn’t be taken for more than 10 days in a row for pain, or more than three days for fever. These drugs seem harmless because they’re sold over the counter, but regular or prolonged use does real damage.

• Taking NSAIDs with blood pressure and water pills is dangerous — When NSAIDs are combined with ACE inhibitors (for blood pressure) and diuretics (to reduce swelling or fluid buildup), your kidneys are hit from multiple angles. This combination reduces blood flow and filtration pressure, leading to a dangerous drop in kidney function — often without early symptoms. It’s called the “triple whammy” for a reason.

• Get simple tests to check your kidneys — Your doctor can run basic lab tests to measure how well your kidneys are filtering waste and whether they’re leaking protein. Catching small changes early helps you adjust your medications before permanent damage occurs.

Antibiotics, Antivirals, and Immunosuppressants Are Powerful Drugs with Hidden Risks

Antibiotics, antivirals, and immunosuppressants come with serious risks for your kidneys. Even when taken as prescribed, these medications disrupt filtration, block urine flow or cause direct damage if not carefully managed.2

• Some antibiotics damage kidney cells directly — Drugs like tobramycin are especially hard on your kidneys. They build up inside the tiny filtering cells and cause structural damage. The longer these antibiotics are used, the greater the risk, which is why they’re usually only given in short courses under close supervision.

• Others block urine flow — Sulfonamides, another type of antibiotic, form crystals that don’t dissolve well in urine. If you’re dehydrated or your urine flow is slow, these crystals clog the tiny tubes in your kidneys, leading to inflammation, back pressure, and pain. Even if you don’t notice right away, your creatinine levels could start creeping up — a warning sign that filtration is slowing down.

• Doses need to match how well your kidneys are working — If your kidneys aren’t filtering properly and the dose isn’t adjusted, drugs like amoxicillin and ciprofloxacin build up and become harmful. In some cases, they even cause an allergic reaction in the kidneys, leading to swelling and more damage.3

• HIV and transplant drugs also harm your kidneys — Medications like tenofovir for HIV and cyclosporine to prevent organ rejection reduce blood flow in the kidneys and damage the same cells that handle waste removal. People taking these drugs are often on complex medication regimens, making it even more important to track kidney labs regularly.4

Proton Pump Inhibitors and Other Acid Suppressants Are Quiet Contributors to Chronic Kidney Trouble

Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), such as omeprazole (Prilosec), esomeprazole (Nexium) and lansoprazole (Prevacid), are widely used to reduce stomach acid. They’re commonly taken for heartburn, indigestion, or ulcers, sometimes for years. But long-term PPI use is linked to chronic kidney disease.5

• They inflame your kidney’s filters — PPIs are associated with a condition called interstitial nephritis, an allergic-type reaction that causes swelling in the spaces between kidney structures. This leads to fatigue, swelling in your legs, and darker urine. Because the symptoms are sometimes mild or vague, they often go unnoticed until serious damage has occurred.

• People often stay on these drugs too long — Many start taking PPIs for temporary symptoms but never stop. If you’re using PPIs, taper off slowly and switch to famotidine (Pepcid), a safer option that not only avoids PPI-related heart risks but also helps block excess serotonin that disrupts energy and drives inflammation.

• Lifestyle changes often replace the need for acid blockers — Low stomach acid — not high — is often the actual problem behind acid reflux. The solution isn’t just symptom relief with drugs. It’s optimizing your mitochondrial function to restore the foundation that helps your stomach break down food, absorb nutrients, and protect you from pathogens.

Laxatives Seem Harmless but Quietly Hurt Your Kidneys

Stimulant laxatives like senna and osmotic types like Miralax work by pulling water into your intestines or speeding up how fast things move through your gut. But if you’re not drinking enough fluids — or if you use these products regularly — you lose too much water. That drop in body fluid also reduces blood flow to your kidneys, making it harder for them to do their job.6

• Long-term use often leads to kidney stones — When you’re dehydrated, your urine becomes more concentrated with minerals like calcium and oxalate. Over time, these minerals form crystals and turn into kidney stones. These stones often block urine flow, cause pain, and damage the kidneys further if not treated.

• Frequent laxative use is more common than you think — Many people use laxatives several times a week, or even daily, without realizing it could be hurting their kidneys. This is especially true for older adults who are already prone to dehydration or who are on other medications that affect kidney function.

• There are safer, natural ways to manage constipation — Instead of relying on laxatives, try focusing on your gut health and increasing your intake of fiber-rich foods like fruit and vegetables. Drinking more water and moving your body daily also support regular bowel movements.

• Ask your doctor about safer options — If you feel like you can’t go without laxatives, talk to your integrative health care provider. You could have an underlying issue, like low stomach acid, a sluggish thyroid or imbalanced gut bacteria, that’s better off fixed naturally, without risking damage to your kidneys.

Imaging Contrast Dyes Overload Your Kidneys

Doctors often use contrast dyes during CT or MRI scans. These dyes highlight organs and blood vessels, but they also pass through your kidneys. In some people, especially those with diabetes, heart disease or reduced kidney function, these dyes reduce blood flow and damage the filters inside the kidneys.7

• Iodine-based contrast from CT scans trigger acute kidney problems — Some contrast agents contain iodine, which your kidneys have to filter out. In people with existing kidney concerns, this sudden workload leads to contrast-induced nephropathy, a condition where kidney function drops sharply within 48 hours of the scan.

• MRI dyes carry a different kind of risk — Gadolinium-based contrast dyes, used in MRI scans, have been linked to a rare condition called nephrogenic systemic fibrosis. This causes thickening of the skin and connective tissue, mainly in people with severely impaired kidney function.

• The risks go up if you’re sick or dehydrated — If you have a chronic illness, are already taking multiple medications or haven’t been drinking enough fluids, your kidneys could be too stressed to handle the extra load from imaging dyes. The effects don’t always show up right away but are often long-lasting.

How to Protect Your Kidneys

If you’re managing chronic pain, blood pressure, reflux, or inflammation with multiple medications, your kidneys are bearing the brunt, not because they’re weak, but because they’re forced to filter and excrete drug residues day after day. What starts as temporary relief quietly becomes permanent dependence, especially when no one revisits the original reason the drug was prescribed.

Breaking that cycle doesn’t begin with another pill. It starts by restoring your body’s own ability to function. Here’s how to take the pressure off your kidneys and reclaim control over your health:

1. Revisit the original reason for each drug — Was it for a short-term issue like post-surgery pain or an infection? Many people stay on medications for years simply because no one rechecked whether they still need them. If the root cause has resolved, the drug is likely doing more harm than good.

2. Watch for warning signs your kidneys are under strain — Fatigue, fluid retention, back pain, changes in urination, or brain fog all point to sluggish kidney function, especially if you’re on multiple medications. These symptoms are often dismissed as “just aging,” but they’re often your body’s early alert system. Don’t ignore them.

3. Support the systems that make medication unnecessary — Chronic symptoms like fatigue, bloating, reflux, or joint pain are often signs of deeper imbalances. Focus on restoring your body’s energy production, improving mitochondrial health, eating nutrient-dense carbs and avoiding vegetable oils that disrupt metabolism. As health improves, medications become easier to taper.

4. Switch out harmful drugs for safer strategies — NSAIDs damage kidney tissues over time but topical magnesium, turmeric, or gentle exercise offer relief without the risk. Acid blockers reduce stomach acid, but the real cause of reflux, for most people, is low stomach acid, not too much of it; switching to digestive bitters before meals to signal your body to start acid production could ease symptoms without long-term harm.

5. Make a medication review part of your routine — Set a calendar reminder every six months to review your medications with your doctor. Ask one powerful question: “Is this fixing the problem — or just covering up symptoms?” That single shift in thinking could help protect your kidneys for years to come.

When your treatment plan aligns with your biology — instead of working against it — most medications become optional, not mandatory. That’s the path to true healing and long-term kidney protection.

FAQs About Medications That Harm Your Kidneys

Q: Which types of medications are most likely to harm my kidneys over time?
A: Common culprits include NSAIDs (like ibuprofen and naproxen), antibiotics (such as tobramycin and sulfonamides), acid blockers (especially PPIs like omeprazole), certain antivirals and immunosuppressants (like tenofovir and cyclosporine), laxatives, and imaging contrast dyes. These drugs reduce kidney blood flow, cause inflammation, or block urine filtration, often without obvious symptoms at first.

Q: Why don’t most people realize their kidneys are being damaged by medications?
A: Kidney damage typically develops slowly and symptoms often appear late. Early signs, like fatigue, swelling, changes in urination, or brain fog, are frequently mistaken for aging or other conditions. Without routine lab tests, many people remain unaware until permanent damage is done.

Q: How do NSAIDs and acid blockers affect kidney function?
A: NSAIDs reduce a hormone that keeps kidney blood vessels open, leading to restricted flow and lower filtration, especially during illness or dehydration. PPIs cause an inflammatory reaction in kidney tissues known as interstitial nephritis and are also linked to chronic kidney disease with long-term use.

Q: Does using laxatives or undergoing medical scans also affect kidney health?
A: Yes. Overuse of laxatives cause dehydration and kidney stone formation, while contrast dyes used in CT and MRI scans reduce kidney function, particularly in people with preexisting conditions or poor hydration. Both scenarios increase your risk of long-term kidney damage if not managed carefully.

Q: How do I protect my kidneys if I use these medications?
A: Start by reviewing each drug’s original purpose to see if it’s still necessary. Also watch for signs of kidney stress while supporting your body’s natural healing systems through diet and lifestyle. Taper off unnecessary medications and explore safer nondrug alternatives. Set a six-month reminder to review all prescriptions regularly.

A New Series of Health Insights Is on the Way

BELANGRIJK

A New Series of Health Insights Is on the Way
Our team has been working behind the scenes to prepare new research and practical health strategies for our readers. While we finish preparing what’s coming next, we invite you to explore one of the most-read articles from our library below. See exactly what’s changing →

For decades, eggs carried an unfair reputation — they were labeled “cholesterol bombs,” and that eating them regularly would clog arteries, drive up “bad” cholesterol levels, and inevitably raise your risk of heart disease. Health authorities recommended limiting or even avoiding eggs, leaving many people confused and hesitant to enjoy one of nature’s most nutrient-rich foods.

But science has now evolved and so has our understanding of cholesterol. Mounting research now shows that dietary cholesterol from eggs has little impact on blood cholesterol for most people. In fact, under the right conditions, eating eggs may actually help lower unhealthy cholesterol levels and support heart health.

Eating Eggs Lowered Cholesterol in Just 5 Weeks, According to a 2025 Study

A 2025 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition investigated how eggs, cholesterol, and saturated fat interact to influence low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, the so-called “bad” cholesterol that contributes to artery blockage and heart disease.1

“Eggs have long been unfairly cracked by outdated dietary advice. They’re unique — high in cholesterol, yes, but low in saturated fat. Yet it’s their cholesterol level that has often caused people to question their place in a healthy diet.” Jonathan Buckley, an exercise scientist from the University of South Australia and the study’s lead researcher, said.2

The researchers designed the study to answer a simple question — does eating eggs actually raise LDL cholesterol, or is something else at play? To find out, they tested three different diets, each with a unique balance of cholesterol and saturated fat.

• The participants were 61 adults with the same baseline cholesterol levels at the start of the trial — Over a five-week period, they followed one of three meal plans. The first was high in saturated fat and cholesterol, the second was high in saturated fat but low in cholesterol, and the third was high in cholesterol but low in saturated fat.3

• What made the third diet stand out is that it included two eggs per day — Surprisingly, the group eating more eggs ended up lowering their LDL cholesterol compared to the other groups, who actually saw their LDL levels climb. According to a report from Science Alert:

“The results showed that diets high in saturated fat correlated with a rise in LDL cholesterol levels. However, the high-cholesterol, low-saturated fat diet produced a reduction in LDL cholesterol levels — suggesting that eggs are not responsible for bad cholesterol.”4

• The researchers also compared variables head-to-head — When cholesterol came from eggs without much saturated fat, LDL went down. When cholesterol came alongside saturated fat, LDL went up. This shows the importance of food context — cholesterol doesn’t act alone. It interacts with the rest of your diet, and this interaction determines whether your blood chemistry shifts toward health or risk.

• Saturated fat influences how your liver processes cholesterol — From a biological perspective, the explanation is straightforward. When saturated fat is high, the liver struggles to clear LDL cholesterol efficiently, leaving more of it circulating in your bloodstream. Eggs, however, supply cholesterol without overloading the system with saturated fat. This allows your body to manage cholesterol properly, preventing the buildup that causes arteries to narrow.

This study supports the notion that eggs are not the enemy; the real issue is the excessive saturated fat, particularly polyunsaturated fats (PUFs), in the other foods you eat. By choosing eggs over foods loaded with these unhealthy fats, you encourage your body to handle cholesterol in a healthier way.

“You could say we’ve delivered hard-boiled evidence in defense of the humble egg. So, when it comes to a cooked breakfast, it’s not the eggs you need to worry about — it’s the extra serve of bacon or the side of sausage that’s more likely to impact your heart health,” Buckley said.5

Debunking the Cholesterol Myth

Given the findings of this study, Buckley comments that it’s about time for the public to change their perception of eggs, saying that this highly nutritious food has “long been unfairly cracked by outdated dietary advice.” And what he’s referring to is the cholesterol myth — the notion that dietary cholesterol harms your heart and long-term health.

But despite conflicting reports and warnings from conventional sources, eggs are not responsible for heart disease — the featured study provides solid evidence on this. In fact, dietary cholesterol is not the villain it’s made out to be.

• Your body needs cholesterol — It’s actually found in nearly every cell of your body and is vital for optimal functioning. This waxy substance serves as a fundamental building block for cell membranes, providing structural integrity and fluidity.

• Cholesterol acts as a precursor for various essential hormones — It is vital in the production of vitamin D when your skin is exposed to sunlight, contributing to bone health and immune function. In your digestive system, it helps in the formation of bile acids, which are necessary for the absorption of fats and fat-soluble vitamins.

• If you have too little, your risk of health problems increases, including all-cause mortality — There are studies supporting this notion. For example, research published in Frontiers in Endocrinology found a revealing link between low total cholesterol (TC) levels and increased mortality risk in those aged 85 and above. This is because having low TC levels compromises cell function and increases your vulnerability to infections and other health problems.6

• Additionally, cholesterol helps regulate inflammatory markers in your body — With lower TC levels, you might experience enhanced inflammation, which is associated with numerous age-related diseases. I recommend reading “Why Is Low Blood Cholesterol Associated with Increased Late Life Mortality?” for a more in-depth discussion into this topic.

Eggs Protect Your Heart Health

Contrary to what many believe, eggs actually offer protective benefits for your heart. Another 2025 study demonstrates this, showing how egg consumption, especially among the elderly helped reduce the risk of dying from heart disease or other causes.7

• The study involved 8,756 individuals aged 70 and older — They were grouped based on how frequently they ate eggs — never or infrequently, weekly (one to six times per week), and daily (seven or more times per week).

• Eggs are good, but the amount matters, too — The study found that those who ate eggs weekly had a 29% lower risk of dying from heart disease and a 17% lower risk of all-cause mortality compared to those who rarely or never ate eggs. Interestingly, individuals who ate eggs every day did not experience the same protective benefits, showing that moderation is key.8

• Following a healthy lifestyle is also crucial — The study also revealed that the most significant benefits occurred among individuals who ate a balanced diet, stayed physically active, and avoided excessive alcohol intake and smoking. In this group, the reduction in cardiovascular mortality was especially pronounced, further reinforcing the idea that eggs can be part of a health-oriented regimen.

• So how many eggs per week can you eat before the benefits taper off? According to the study authors, up to six eggs a week may be beneficial in reducing the risk of death from all causes and heart disease causes among those in their senior years. Study co-author Holly Wild said, “These findings may be beneficial in the development of evidence-based dietary guidelines for older adults.”9

Eggs Are a Nutrition Powerhouse

Eggs are among the most nutritious foods in your kitchen. They’re loaded with healthy vitamins, protein, and minerals like calcium, phosphorus, zinc, and selenium.

• Eggs support your eye health — Lutein and zeaxanthin, two important antioxidants that build up in the retinas of your eyes, are abundant in eggs. These nutrients effectively protect your vision and help reduce the risk of cataracts and macular degeneration.

• Choline is one of the most important nutrients in eggs — Discovered in 1862,10 this compound abundantly in egg yolks offers a long list of benefits, such as supporting brain function, nervous system health, DNA synthesis, healthy fetal development, liver health, and more.11

• Choline protects your cardiovascular health — Choline prevents homocysteine buildup, which is a well-known risk factor for cardiovascular disease, as it contributes to arterial damage and increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Studies provide evidence that consuming a choline-rich diet helps regulate homocysteine levels, minimizing the strain on your cardiovascular system.12

• Choline also supports liver health — Your body uses choline to prevent fat accumulation in your liver. Without sufficient choline, excess fat and cholesterol will buildup in your liver, increasing your risk of liver dysfunction.

Since your body is not able to create enough choline on its own to meet your needs, getting this nutrient from your diet is essential. While there are other sources of choline available, like liver and beef, eggs remain the most convenient and widely available option.

PUFs Are the Real Culprits in Your Diet

The featured study highlights another important factor — the role of saturated fats in increasing your LDL cholesterol. However, the devil’s in the details, and in this case, the saturated fat in question refers to PUFs, particularly the omega-6 fat linoleic acid (LA).

• You need LA but only in trace amounts — Your biological need for LA is very low, ideally 1% to 2% of your daily calories. However, today it now makes up more than 15% to 25% of the typical American’s caloric intake. This is because LA is found in excessive amounts in processed vegetable oils like soybean, corn, and canola — ingredients you’ll find in nearly every packaged food and restaurant meal.

• LA transforms into dangerous byproducts known as oxidized linoleic acid metabolites — OXLAMs damage DNA, disrupt energy production, and drive chronic inflammation throughout your body. They also attack mitochondria, the energy factories inside your cells, and impair how your body produces energy. This is why LA has been associated with almost every chronic disease in today’s modern world, like obesity, Type 2 diabetes, neurodegeneration, and heart disease.

I recently published a paper in the journal Nutrients about the long-term biological effects of LA. I encourage you to read it, as it provides a comprehensive explanation on how LA wreaks havoc in your body — and what you can do to reverse the damage.

> > > > > Click Here

Every 34 seconds, someone in America dies from heart disease.1 That pace continued in 2023, claiming 915,973 lives — more than cancer and accidents combined. After decades of medical advances, heart disease still dominates the death chart. The question is no longer whether we can treat it, but whether we’ve been addressing the wrong causes all along.

While death rates dipped slightly from the year before, heart disease continues to touch many families in a way that few other conditions do. What makes heart disease so dangerous isn’t just how common it remains — it’s how slowly and silently it develops. It’s a long biological process that unfolds over decades.

That long timeline lines up with a major change in the modern food supply. In my research paper, Seed Oils as a Hypothesized Contributor to Heart Disease: A Narrative Synthesis, I explain that heart disease was uncommon before the 20th century and rose sharply only after industrial seed oils became a dominant dietary fat.2

This pattern points to a slow dietary driver — not bad genes or inevitable aging — that accumulates damage for decades before symptoms appear. When a disease takes decades to show itself, the cause usually does too. Policy is finally beginning to reflect that reality. In January 2026, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2025–2030, marking a major reset in nutrition guidance.3

Full-fat dairy and natural fats are no longer framed as threats, and the guidance now emphasizes getting fats from whole foods like meat, eggs, and dairy rather than industrial products. This is a meaningful shift toward addressing root causes instead of surface markers.

What makes this moment important is that it coincides with documented declines in heart disease death rates, raising a key question: which changes actually moved the needle, and which simply managed damage after it was already done. To understand how seed oils fit into the long arc of heart disease, I walk through the evidence step by step in my paper, which you can read in full below.

> > > > > Click Here Click Here

A New Series of Health Insights Is on the Way

BELANGRIJK

A New Series of Health Insights Is on the Way
Our team has been working behind the scenes to prepare new research and practical health strategies for our readers. While we finish preparing what’s coming next, we invite you to explore one of the most-read articles from our library below. See exactly what’s changing →

You might be startled to learn that 42% of adults over 55 develop dementia by age 95.1 Dementia is characterized by memory loss, difficulties with language and reasoning, and an overall decline in the ability to perform everyday tasks. Left unmanaged, it spirals into more severe neurodegenerative disorders that undermine independence and quality of life.

A review published in Neurotherapeutics further highlights that a single resting cortical neuron consumes 4.7 billion adenosine triphosphate (ATP) molecules every second, underscoring how energy demands in your brain are immense and ongoing.2

I see this as direct evidence of why supporting cellular powerhouses — your mitochondria — is so central to preserving cognitive health. Chronic disruptions in those energy processes impose relentless stress on nerve cells, paving the way for memory problems and other neurological setbacks.

Mitochondrial Dysfunction Is at the Root of Neurodegeneration

The Neurotherapeutics review3 examined how different forms of disrupted energy processes in brain cells set the stage for progressive neurological disease. The researchers looked at various research findings that link faulty mitochondrial function to disorders affecting cognition, motor control and other higher-level tasks.

Their central goal was to pinpoint how malfunctioning mitochondria trigger the chain reactions seen in conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and multiple other neurological syndromes.

• Evidence reveal how mitochondrial dysfunction drives brain changes — Investigators in this review did not limit their analysis to a specific group of patients. Instead, they consolidated evidence from a broad range of laboratory experiments and clinical observations targeting aging populations, individuals with rare mitochondrial disorders, and those carrying known genetic mutations that alter mitochondrial function.

By weaving these areas together, the authors hoped to create a clearer picture of how compromised energy production leads to characteristic brain changes.

• Even small changes lead to significant damage — One of the paper’s most striking observations is how tiny structural shifts inside the mitochondria snowball into large-scale damage.4 When these organelles lose their efficient shape, electrons slip out of the normal energy pathway and team up with oxygen to form corrosive molecules called reactive oxygen species (ROS).

That surge in ROS sets off a cascade of biochemical stressors throughout brain cells, including direct attacks on important proteins and fats.

• The mitochondrion’s structure has a substantial role in neurofunction — As the authors state, “Excessive ROS production damages a variety of cellular components including proteins, lipids, and DNA.”5 In short, the mitochondrion’s shape and integrity hold more power over neurofunction than many imagine.

Apart from the physical shape, researchers also honed in on the role of calcium balance. Healthy mitochondria function as a buffer by absorbing and releasing calcium ions to keep cells in balance.6

• The mitochondrial permeability transition pore leads to cell death — Once there’s a glitch, calcium floods the cell, and an emergency process called the mitochondrial permeability transition pore springs open.

The paper emphasizes that an uncontrolled opening of this pore triggers a wave of cell death, especially in your brain’s vulnerable neurons, where energy demands are already sky-high. It’s like watching a dam collapse because the main floodgate jammed.

Another intriguing angle involves how failing mitochondria disturb normal protein cleanup processes in the cell.7 The authors detail a scenario in which damaged mitochondria release proinflammatory signals, slowing down or outright blocking autophagy, the system cells use to clear out junk.

This slowdown contributes to the buildup of toxic plaques and misfolded proteins that characterize several neurodegenerative conditions. In practical terms, it means that your body’s usual housekeeping can’t keep up with the mess, and your brain is the unfortunate casualty.

Mitochondrial Dysfunction Tied to Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and Other Disorders

Throughout the review, there’s a clear focus on how each neurodegenerative disease taps into similar mitochondrial weaknesses.8 For instance, while Parkinson’s disease involves a breakdown in dopamine-producing neurons, and Alzheimer’s centers on beta-amyloid plaques, both conditions involve disruption of electron transport inside the mitochondria.

• One targeted intervention can influence many conditions — By comparing these processes side by side, the authors illustrate how one targeted intervention has benefits across multiple disorders. It’s a refreshing perspective that encourages looking beyond siloed research for cures or therapies. The researchers also address how the paper’s findings reflect on the broader population and our understanding of age-related memory and motor decline.9

• The connection between normal aging and mitochondrial collapse — They connect the dots between normal aging, which often features mild mitochondrial dysfunction, and more severe mitochondrial collapse seen in advanced disease states.

That means many people could be slipping down this slope long before typical symptoms even appear. According to the paper, identifying biomarkers of mitochondrial damage helps clinicians detect disease pathways early enough for effective interventions.

• ROS production modifies cellular signals — The authors also describe an intricate sequence of oxidative reactions that damage DNA, disrupt telomeres — the protective caps at the ends of chromosomes — and even alter the way genes are expressed.10

The review suggests that once ROS production speeds up, it doesn’t just drain energy — it also modifies cellular signals that keep neurons alive and functional. These modifications eventually tip cells into an energy crisis they cannot recover from, leading to unstoppable cell loss.

• Antioxidants help stabilize electron transport — Additionally, there’s discussion of how certain antioxidant strategies might stabilize electron transport by shielding the delicate proteins and lipids inside mitochondria.11

Some early-phase clinical trials, the paper notes, show promise in using compounds that block the worst of the oxidative assaults. While these lines of research are still evolving, they shine a bright light on the possibility of halting mitochondrial problems before serious neurological damage becomes entrenched.

Overall, this review underscores that protecting your cell’s power plants is a direct route to preserving brain function.12 By mapping the many crossroads where mitochondrial decline intersects with cognitive decline, researchers open doors to therapies that restore healthy energy production and help you maintain sharper memory, better coordination, and greater resilience in the face of escalating demands on your brain.

The Growing Alzheimer’s Risk in Aging Populations

Understanding mitochondrial dysfunction’s role in neurodegeneration becomes urgent in the face of rising dementia cases. A study published in Nature Medicine13 tackled a massive data set on dementia, focusing on which groups are diagnosed most often, how early in life it occurs and how these trends shift over time.

Rather than exploring microscopic changes in the brain, this work looked closely at how social, genetic and age-related elements determine whether someone develops cognitive decline.

• Identifying the role of APOE ε4 in dementia development — Investigators pulled from a community-based study of thousands of participants, each free of dementia at the start, but varying in age, background and genetic traits.14 Their top priority was to measure how a person’s chances of developing dementia changed when factors such as sex, race and a specific genetic marker known as APOE ε4 came into play.

• Differences were seen between genders — By layering in long-term follow-up data and population statistics, they aimed to predict how many new dementia diagnoses would appear each year over the next several decades. A closer look revealed some dramatic differences between men and women.15

The paper found that women’s overall risk for dementia was higher than men’s when viewed across a lifetime, even though men often faced a greater likelihood of dying from other causes before cognitive problems fully manifested.

• Hormonal factors amplify the toll — In simpler language, men did not always reach the ages at which dementia most commonly appears. This gap sparked questions about how unique hormonal factors and longer lifespans amplify the toll on older women.

The same research found that Black adults were diagnosed with dementia at higher rates than White adults.16 This trend kicked in earlier, hinting that certain structural or social conditions accelerate the onset of memory loss.

• Certain factors affect dementia development — The paper noted that higher burdens of vascular complications, challenges with health care access and long-standing inequities could be part of the reason more Black adults developed dementia at younger ages. Investigators highlighted yet another twist: the APOE ε4 gene variant.17

This genetic factor often signals a heightened risk of Alzheimer’s disease, which falls under the broader dementia umbrella. Individuals carrying one copy showed a higher likelihood of facing cognitive problems, and those carrying two copies saw their odds jump even further.

• Dementia cases can rise to 1 million by 2060 — Looking ahead, the paper revealed a stark projection: around 514,000 new dementia cases occurred in 2020, but that total is expected to hit roughly 1 million by 2060.18 This doubling in newly diagnosed individuals points to significant population aging, where large segments of people are moving into the higher-risk age brackets at once.

Overall, the Nature Medicine paper19 suggests that the growing number of new dementia cases will not slow unless older adults gain more consistent access to early detection, better lifestyle options and interventions that protect their cognitive abilities — including optimizing your mitochondrial function.

How to Support Mitochondrial Health

You deserve straightforward ways to tackle an actual cause of neurodegeneration: a drop in cellular energy that wears down your nerve cells. I believe that if you support your mitochondria properly, you strengthen your brain and spare yourself from many issues that come with mitochondrial dysfunction. Below are five steps that focus on restoring mitochondrial health to boost your cellular power:

1. Eliminate processed foods and seed oils — I recommend shifting your diet away from seed oils like corn, soybean, safflower, or canola. These oils contain linoleic acid (LA), a mitochondrial poison that compromises your cellular energy production. Aim to center your meals around wholesome foods such as fresh vegetables, grass fed butter or tallow, and clean collagen-rich proteins.

If you’re eating out, confirm what kind of oil they use in the kitchen — and opt out if it’s seed oil. This step helps protect your mitochondria from damage that accumulates over time, ultimately preserving your brain’s vitality.

2. Optimize your carbohydrate intake — Certain carbs are essential for steady energy output, especially keeping your neurons fueled. If you have a compromised gut, it’s important to start with easier-to-digest options, like white rice or slowly sipping dextrose water.

Over time, work in whole fruits and other nutrient-dense carbs. If you’re active, your needs are higher, so tailoring your intake ensures you’re not draining your mitochondria by consuming a low-carb diet.

3. Reduce exposure to environmental toxins — Your cells get bombarded by synthetic chemicals daily. Exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in plastic, estrogen and pervasive electromagnetic fields (EMFs) impairs your cells’ ability to generate energy efficiently. As these pollutants build up, the mitochondria lose efficiency.

That’s why I recommend being proactive about reducing your exposure to environmental toxins. Consider household products made from natural materials and glass storage for leftovers. Sleeping in an EMF-free environment is also important, as it gives your cells a breather while your body recharges overnight. All of this lowers the stress your body needs to handle.

4. Get proper sun exposure — Daily sun exposure is important as it promotes cellular energy production by stimulating mitochondrial melatonin, offering powerful antioxidant protection. Avoid direct sunlight during peak hours (from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in most U.S. regions) until you’ve eliminated seed oils from your diet for at least six months, because accumulated LA in your tissues make you sunburn more easily.

5. Boost NAD+ Levels — Take niacinamide (50 milligrams three times daily) to increase NAD+ production, which helps your mitochondria generate more energy. NAD+ enables proper cell death signaling and supports your immune system’s ability to identify and remove damaged cells.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Mitochondrial Dysfunction

Q: Why are mitochondria so important for brain health?

A: Mitochondria are the brain’s energy powerhouses, with a single resting cortical neuron using 4.7 billion ATP molecules every second. Mitochondrial dysfunction leads to energy deficits, oxidative stress, and neuron damage — all contributing to neurodegenerative diseases.

Q: How does mitochondrial dysfunction contribute to neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s?

A: Damaged mitochondria release reactive oxygen species (ROS) and disrupt calcium balance, triggering cell death and blocking cellular cleanup systems. This process causes toxic buildup and accelerates conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Q: How widespread is dementia, and what are future projections?

A: Currently, 42% of adults over 55 develop dementia by age 95. New dementia cases are projected to double from 514,000 in 2020 to around 1 million by 2060 due to an aging population and genetic risk factors like the APOE ε4 gene variant.

Q: What lifestyle factors help protect mitochondrial function and reduce neurodegeneration risk?

A: Key strategies include eliminating seed oils, optimizing healthy carbohydrates, minimizing exposure to environmental toxins, getting proper sun exposure, and boosting NAD+ levels through niacinamide supplementation.

Q: What early signs and interventions are emphasized in preventing cognitive decline?

A: Detecting mitochondrial damage early through biomarkers, along with antioxidant therapies and targeted lifestyle changes, can help slow or prevent the onset of neurodegenerative diseases and age-related memory decline.

A New Series of Health Insights Is on the Way

BELANGRIJK

A New Series of Health Insights Is on the Way
Our team has been working behind the scenes to prepare new research and practical health strategies for our readers. While we finish preparing what’s coming next, we invite you to explore one of the most-read articles from our library below. See exactly what’s changing →

Bob Dennis, Ph.D., a biomedical engineer by profession, is also the author of “Stroke of Luck: Master Neuroplasticity for Recovery and Growth After Stroke,” and its much-shortened version, “Stroke of Luck: NOW!: Fast and Free Exercises to Immediately Begin Mastering Neuroplasticity Following Stroke – Right Now!,” an excellent reference book that everyone should have in their medical library.

Why do I recommend you get a copy of Bob’s book now? Because it is highly likely you or someone you know or love will have a stroke, and you simply don’t want to wait for this book to ship to you as you will need access to it immediately if you are to minimize the damage done from the stroke.

Stroke is a massively pervasive problem in the U.S., with an estimated 795,000 strokes occurring each year.1 It’s one of the leading cause of deaths, killing an estimated 129,000 annually. It’s also a leading cause of long-term disability in the U.S.2 Strokes are also becoming more prevalent in younger people. An estimated 10% to 15% of all strokes occur in people under the age of 50.3

The impetus behind the book was Dennis’ personal experience. He’s suffered two strokes so far, the last one in July 2018, at the age of 54, and made a magnificent recovery using the techniques he lays out in his book.

An example that has ignited renewed interest in prevention is the sudden death of 52-year-old actor, Luke Perry, in 2019 from a massive stroke. Unfortunately, if it doesn’t kill you, you may suffer with severe disabilities for the remainder of your life, which is why Dennis’ book is so important.

He compiled this book as a resource to help stroke victims improve their chances of making as full a recovery as possible, and his own story is evidence that it’s possible. He recounts his experience:

“I woke up one morning in early July of 2018 and realized I’d had a stroke while I was in bed. I could barely talk, but I was able to get myself to a doctor. Of course, they loaded me immediately onto an ambulance and took me to a hospital. I was really aware of what was going on and what was happening. I paid very close attention to what they were asking me to do and what they were telling me.

The standard of care now … is that when you have a stroke, within three hours, they can give you thrombolytics — chemicals … to break up a thrombus or a clot … It … saves and preserves brain tissue without permanent death of the neurons. I was outside the three-hour thrombolytic window, so that was not an option.”

Conventional Medicine Falls Short on Stroke Recovery

For clarification, within that three-hour window, they have to determine which type of stroke you had, as giving thrombolytics to someone who has suffered a hemorrhagic stroke would be lethal (since a vein has ruptured and it’s already bleeding inside the brain).

Hence, one of the first things that needs to be done is magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to determine whether your stroke is due to a blood clot (ischemic stroke) or a rupture (hemorrhagic stroke). According to the American Stroke Association, 87% of strokes are ischemic; the remainder are hemorrhagic.4

“Fortunately for me, most of my colleagues are neurophysiologists. On the very first day, my wife was able to ask them what I should be doing to get the best possible recovery. I got a lot of real expert opinions on it from my colleagues … I kept asking the mainstream physicians, ‘What should I be doing to improve my recovery?’

They kept saying, ‘Well, take your meds, which are statins … and baby aspirin. Consider trying a Mediterranean diet.’ The last thing they said was, ‘Well, you should go to physical therapy (PT) too.’ Now, I spoke to everybody who was at the hospital — a Level 1 neurotrauma stroke center — and that was the sum total of all of their advice.

I was thinking to myself, ‘Seriously, come on. This happens to 800,000 Americans a year? I know there are things you can do after stroke, where’s the good advice?’ It wasn’t forthcoming … Of course, I knew a lot more because I’m a biomedical engineer. I knew a lot more than they were telling me. I got kind of a little angry about the fact that they don’t give good advice.

They basically give you the advice, ‘Just lie there and wait,’ which, in my opinion, is the worst thing you can do. Once you know it’s not hemorrhagic, you should be doing things to promote your neuroplasticity. That’s what I did. I just started doing what I knew was right …

If I couldn’t do something, I did it over and over and over again until I could do it. I recovered from the point where I couldn’t stand, I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t talk. By the end of the first day, I was pretty much ambulatory. I could communicate with people … [in] … one day.

I’m no genius. I’m just a regular guy, but that is neuroplasticity right there happening. You can make the most of it … Right after your brain is injured, you have this brief window of immense neuroplasticity and you need to take advantage of it. I got kind of ticked off by this whole system.

I was like, ‘You know what? Somebody needs to start telling people [that] as soon as you have a stroke, make sure you start doing things, especially the things they’ve asked you to do when they’re assessing you. Because those things are safe. They’re effective. They zero in on your problem, and you can do them without any special equipment.’

One of the ones they asked me to do was talk like a baby — ‘Da, da, da, da, da. Ma, ma, ma, ma, ma’ — which I couldn’t do. But you can sit on a gurney and you can go, ‘Da, da, da, da, da,’ until you can do it, right? I list all of [these strategies] in the book, because I think that they’re a really good place to start.”

Stroke Preparedness

Dennis wanted to make sure this information is available to anyone who needs it, and at a moment’s notice, so the book is primarily designed to be an e-book, and is available for free on Kindle Unlimited on Amazon. “Also, as an e-book, you can have it the day you need it, which is the day you have a stroke,” he says. “You don’t have to wait for it to be delivered.”

You don’t even need to buy the book to get the most important advice and recommendations from it. You can simply click on the preview and read the summary, placed before the table of contents. My recommendation would be to get the book and review it now, before you or someone you love has a stroke, so you’re already familiar with the material.

Dennis’ experience is a powerful demonstration of how you can rapidly regain functionality by taking full advantage of your brain’s capacity to rewire itself, a process called neuroplasticity. Basically, the brain training Dennis describes allows your brain to develop alternate pathways to bypass the damaged neurons, and the sooner you do it after the damage has been incurred, the more effective it will be.

“In the full-length version of the book, which is about 600 pages in hard copy, I talk about the mechanism of neuroplasticity at great length … It turns out neuroplasticity is something that happens every time you learn something.

You can take different kinds of supplements, drugs, and just food substances, which are thought of as nootropics. Sometimes they explicitly say, ‘This promotes neuroplasticity.’ If you put in the term, neuroplasticity, just as a Google search term, there are all kinds of blogs on it.

I downloaded and I show a few of these blogs. They’re all very similar. They all amount to the following: Do novel things. Keep moving. Keep learning. Keep trying things. Keep challenging yourself. You don’t have to have a stroke to have neuroplasticity, right? It just naturally happens when your brain is working and learning new things.”

Helpful Lifestyle Interventions to Aid with Stroke

In addition to brain training exercises, Dennis also implemented a number of powerful lifestyle interventions that aided his healing. Among them, intermittent fasting, which he says radically changed his life and played an important role in his recovery. Since he started intermittent fasting after his stroke last year, he’s lost 52 pounds.

“The book is mostly about attitude and exercises for your mind and body, because your musculoskeletal system does interact with your body. But I do spend some time talking about how different things, like supplements and different technologies … can be helpful. But I’m not an expert in those, and I don’t think I’m really plowing new ground there. I just mention them …

Now, I don’t think anybody should wait to have a stroke before doing intermittent fasting … In fact, if I could wind the clock back to when I was a kid, there would be one change that I would make in my life — I would stop eating all the time. I would intermittently fast … Once you start eating once a day and you eat well, you’re just not hungry the rest of the time.”

Stroke of Luck

The title of the book, “Stroke of Luck,” refers to the concept of being an inverse paranoid, or pronoia, where you presume that when bad things happen, something good can come out of it. In Dennis’ case, that’s exactly what happened. By taking advantage of neuroplasticity, and training extra hard due to his stroke, he ended up not only recovering back to his prestroke state but actually improved beyond that.

His sense of balance improved, and he became ambidextrous. He was also able to eliminate his chronic back pain. As a biomedical engineer, Dennis invented one of the best pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) devices on the market called ICES model M1.

One of the reasons behind its development was his desire to create something to help with his own back pain issues. Remarkably, the stroke ended up being part of the answer. He tells the story:

“They had me on opioids, so I developed the PEMF device. It actually worked really well for my lower back pain, general aches and pains, injuries and stuff like that. But then about four or five years ago, I started developing complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) in my pelvis and legs, which means I was just in pain all the time.

It was probably centrally mediated, which means it was probably something in my brain, because the PEMF was not helping. CRPS is a terrible condition. It’s got, on average, the highest pain scale rating of any condition. There’s virtually no treatment for it …

I threw every scrap of knowledge that I had at it and wasn’t getting better. And then when I had the stroke and came out of it the next morning, the pain was gone … It’s known that certain types of pain are because your brain is mis-wired …

If one [brain] region is damaged, you can vicariate, which means that a different area of the brain can take over that function and adopt it. A lot of people do not know this … There’s a lot about the brain that we just don’t understand. But we do understand that under the right conditions, it can rewire itself …

If you’re exercising enough areas in your brain, you get a total brain response of neuroplasticity. It is known, for example, that one area with one lesion of a stroke in your brain will actually cause neuroplasticity throughout the brain.

If you are actively encouraging neuroplasticity enough in different places in your brain, the rising tide lifts all boats. A lot of things just get better, because your brain is in the zone. It’s in the mode to rewire itself, and it does …

As far as the pain is concerned, it just vanished [after the stroke]. I woke up and it was gone … I wanted a full recovery of my brain, but I did not want the pain back. I didn’t want all of the circuits to vicariate. I only wanted the good ones to vicariate.

I think I’ve been about 90% successful because I had a little tiny bit of the pain return, but now I’m able to exercise and make that go away … In the book, I tried to make it a resource, but I boiled it down to, ‘What does the brain really do? What do we really know? If you want to exercise this kind of sensory input … motor activity or mental activity, you can do these kinds of exercises.'”

Time Is of the Essence

It’s well worth reiterating that when you’re dealing with a stroke, first, you need very rapid medical treatment. You only have a three-hour window within which medication can be administered to dissolve the clot and prevent further damage. But you also need to start your recovery program as quickly as possible — that same day, or as soon as you’re coherent enough to begin. The same applies to PT.

Dennis was told he’d have to wait three weeks for a PT appointment, which he realized was far too long. So, he developed his own PT program. “If I had just done what was prescribed and advised, I don’t think my recovery would have been very good. I certainly could not have given this interview,” he says.

As a result, by the time he saw his physical therapist, he was already able to perform 80% or 90% of the exercises prescribed. Dennis also emphasizes the need to get the most out of your prescribed PT. Many simply drop out and stop going after a couple of sessions, thinking that once they know the exercises, they can just do them at home.

“PT is only as good as what you bring to it,” he says. “When I went to PT, I had a huge list of questions. I said, ‘Can you measure this? Can you measure that?’ They put me on every machine they had. I started getting numbers, so I knew I was doing something right. I was getting better at the sensory organization testing.

Then a few weeks later, I did it again. They said, ‘Whoa. You’re improving way better than anybody in the history of doing this.’ In fact, one of the physical therapists said, ‘Your scores are higher than mine’ … Because I was exercising …

[PT is] the best part of the medical system you definitely want to engage if you have a stroke. Get the best physical therapist that you can and the best occupational therapist and the best speech therapist. I had all three …

[My] fast recovery was because of what I brought to the treatment. If you just do what they’re asking you to do, I think most people will have a pretty poor recovery. I’m going to make a statement now. I will stand by this.

Most people can and should expect a much, much better recovery than the medical system would expect or report if they simply do as much as they can, but also do [what] they cannot do and keep exercising it, and keep doing new things.”

More Information

In my view, “Stroke of Luck” should be required reading for all primary care clinicians, because they really need to understand this information — and provide it as a resource to their stroke patients, as it contains such a valuable variety of recommendations consolidated all in one place.

“What I wanted to do was collect every resource related to exercise, lifestyle, attitude and choices,” Dennis says. “There’s nothing in there that I didn’t try. I didn’t just list a bunch of junk. Even the really strange things, I’ve tried them. If it seemed to me to be stupid and hokey, it’s not in the book.”

The full-length hard copy version of the book, “Stroke of Luck: Master Neuroplasticity for Recovery and Growth After Stroke,” is just over 600 pages and retails for $24.99. It’s also available as an e-book for less than $6 (or free with Kindle Unlimited).

The shortened version, “Stroke of Luck: NOW!: Fast and Free Exercises to Immediately Begin Mastering Neuroplasticity Following Stroke – Right Now!” is only 100 pages long. It’s available in paperback for less than $20, and as an e-book for less than $6 (or free with Kindle Unlimited).

Also, remember you can get the key points in the summary completely free without download simply by opening up the Amazon preview. The shorter version contains the information Dennis believes is imperative to know on the day of your stroke. “I boiled all these things down to the essential points of which exercises you should be thinking about, safety points you should be keeping in mind,” he says. “That’s it.”

Imagine waking up after eight hours of sleep feeling like you just ran a marathon. Now imagine that happening every single day for months. Chronic fatigue syndrome — known in medical literature as myalgic encephalomyelitis, or ME/CFS, drains your body’s energy systems in a way few illnesses do. This disorder is characterized by profound exhaustion that lasts longer than six months, brain fog, sleep disruption, poor concentration, and muscle pain that rest doesn’t relieve.

In severe cases, ordinary activities such as walking, reading, or holding a conversation feel overwhelming. Researchers estimate the condition affects roughly 0.1% to 0.5% of the population, which translates to about 836,000 to 2.5 million people in the U.S. alone.1 The economic burden reaches an estimated $17 billion to $24 billion annually.

Despite those staggering numbers, most treatments available focus on managing symptoms rather than correcting the underlying biology. That gap has pushed researchers to look deeper — past the fatigue itself and into the cellular machinery that produces energy in the first place. What they found points to a common thread running through ME/CFS, post-viral fatigue, and long COVID: the body’s energy-producing systems are under constant biological assault.

Out of that search, one surprisingly simple candidate has attracted serious scientific attention — molecular hydrogen, a tiny gas molecule already familiar to chemists but only recently explored as a medical therapy. The next section explains what researchers discovered when they tested whether this molecule could reach the damaged structures inside your cells and restore the energy production that chronic fatigue disrupts.

Hydrogen Protects the Energy Factories That Fail in Chronic Fatigue

A scientific review published in the journal Frontiers in Neurology investigated whether molecular hydrogen could address the biological causes of ME/CFS rather than simply easing symptoms.2

The authors analyzed evidence from animal experiments, human trials, and prior scientific reviews that examined fatigue, mitochondrial function, and oxidative stress — the chemical damage that occurs when highly reactive molecules accumulate inside cells. Their central question focused on a simple but powerful idea: if mitochondrial damage drives chronic fatigue syndrome, could hydrogen protect those energy-producing structures and restore function?

• The research connected chronic fatigue to a breakdown in mitochondrial energy production — Mitochondria — the tiny structures inside your cells that produce energy — behave abnormally in many people with ME/CFS. Researchers have documented structural changes in mitochondria, altered metabolic pathways, and irregular adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production, which is the molecule your body uses as cellular fuel.
When ATP production falters, muscles tire faster, mental clarity drops, and recovery from exertion becomes extremely slow. That biological failure explains why people with chronic fatigue syndrome experience intense exhaustion even after minimal physical or mental effort.
• Hydrogen improves fatigue and physical endurance in animals and humans — Researchers observed benefits when hydrogen was delivered through hydrogen-rich water, hydrogen gas inhalation, or hydrogen-infused saline solutions. Key improvements reported in these studies included:

◦ Increased endurance capacity during physical stress tests in animals such as mice and racehorses
◦ Lower blood lactate levels, which indicates reduced muscle fatigue during exercise
◦ Improved peak torque and muscle power during physical testing in humans
◦ Reduced subjective fatigue scores during exercise trials

• Some experiments documented measurable improvements in energy metabolism markers — Animals that received hydrogen-rich water showed higher liver glycogen levels, which means their bodies preserved more stored energy during physical stress. At the same time, markers linked to metabolic strain — including blood lactate and blood urea nitrogen, which rises when your body breaks down muscle protein for emergency fuel — dropped significantly.
These changes show that the animals produced energy more efficiently instead of exhausting their metabolic reserves. The review also documented clear reductions in inflammatory and oxidative stress markers after hydrogen exposure.
• Hydrogen’s small size allows it to reach the deepest parts of cells — Hydrogen is an extremely small molecule that diffuses easily through biological membranes and crosses your blood-brain barrier. That means it travels directly into mitochondria, the location where oxidative damage accumulates during fatigue and chronic illness. Few therapeutic molecules reach this location as efficiently.
• Inside mitochondria hydrogen neutralizes the most destructive free radicals — Your body produces several types of these damaging molecules, but they vary in destructiveness. Hydroxyl radicals sit at the top — they’re the most aggressive, and they’re the ones hydrogen specifically targets. Hydroxyl radicals attack DNA, lipids, and proteins indiscriminately.
Unlike conventional antioxidants that neutralize free radicals indiscriminately, hydrogen targets only hydroxyl radicals, while leaving beneficial signaling molecules intact. Hydrogen converts these radicals into harmless water molecules, which removes the source of mitochondrial damage without disrupting beneficial metabolic reactions.
Beyond neutralizing free radicals, hydrogen activates pathways that strengthen antioxidant defenses and support mitochondrial repair processes. In simple terms, hydrogen does not only neutralize damage — it also stimulates the cell’s internal repair tools.
Researchers concluded that hydrogen’s ability to protect mitochondria, reduce oxidative stress, and calm inflammation places it among the most promising emerging strategies for fatigue disorders, including chronic fatigue syndrome and post-viral fatigue states.

Hydrogen Strengthens Your Body’s Natural Defense Against Fatigue

While the first review focused on hydrogen’s direct effects on fatigue markers, a second analysis examines why mitochondria fail in the first place. The study, published in the journal Archiv der Pharmazie, investigated why fatigue appears in so many different situations and whether molecular hydrogen offers a biological solution.3

Researchers explained that fatigue, whether from exercise, illness, or alcohol exposure, often traces back to disruptions in mitochondrial function caused by reactive oxygen and nitrogen species. These unstable molecules interfere with the biochemical reactions that generate cellular energy.

The review discussed fatigue in several populations, including people recovering from intense exercise, individuals with viral infections such as influenza or COVID-19, and patients living with chronic neurological diseases like Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis. The authors highlighted how widespread fatigue has become.

During COVID-19 infections, for example, fatigue appeared in more than 70% of patients during the acute illness, and more than half continued to experience long-lasting exhaustion afterward. These observations show that fatigue represents a systemic biological stress response rather than a simple feeling of tiredness.

• How oxidative stress damages energy production — When muscles contract during exercise, your body produces higher amounts of reactive oxygen molecules such as hydrogen peroxide.
At the same time, nitric oxide produced in muscle tissue reacts with superoxide molecules to form peroxynitrite, an extremely destructive oxidant. Together these reactions disrupt cellular metabolism. Once oxidative stress overwhelms your body’s protective systems, the result is reduced energy and increasing fatigue.
• Alcohol exposure revealed how quickly mitochondrial stress produces exhaustion — The paper described experiments in mice that demonstrated dramatic mitochondrial damage after ethanol exposure. Researchers observed multiple biochemical changes that reflect severe oxidative stress:

◦ Hydrogen peroxide production increased threefold
◦ Activity of the protective enzyme catalase dropped by about 40%
◦ Levels of cardiolipin, a mitochondrial membrane component required for energy production, declined by 55%

Together, these changes cripple the mitochondria’s ability to produce energy — which is exactly why fatigue ranks among the most reported hangover symptoms. In fact, surveys report that about 95% of people experiencing a hangover describe fatigue as a dominant complaint.
• Hydrogen-rich water improved fatigue markers during exercise trials — In one double-blind placebo-controlled trial, participants consumed about 500 milliliters (ml) of hydrogen-rich water before activity.4 Two groups were studied. One group consisted of untrained individuals performing light exercise. Another included trained participants completing moderate exercise tests. The results showed:

◦ A measurable reduction in psychological fatigue among untrained participants
◦ Increased maximal oxygen consumption (VO2 max) in trained individuals, indicating stronger aerobic performance

These outcomes demonstrate that hydrogen intake improves both physical endurance and subjective fatigue perception.
Another experiment cited in the paper studied male soccer players who consumed hydrogen-enriched water before training.5 Researchers measured blood lactate levels and muscle fatigue markers. Lactate accumulates when muscles shift into emergency energy production during intense effort.
Lower lactate levels after hydrogen intake indicated improved metabolic efficiency and less muscle fatigue during performance. If hydrogen reduces metabolic strain in elite athletes, imagine the potential for someone whose baseline energy production is already compromised.
• Hydrogen activates your body’s internal antioxidant defense system — The paper highlighted another important biological mechanism involving a transcription factor known as Nrf2. In simple terms, transcription factors act like switches that turn genes on or off.
Nrf2 controls the genes responsible for producing antioxidant enzymes that defend your cells against oxidative stress. Hydrogen stimulates this protective pathway, which strengthens your body’s ability to neutralize harmful molecules before they damage cellular energy systems.
Researchers also described an additional mechanism involving the electron transport chain — the molecular machinery that produces ATP inside mitochondria.6 Think of the electron transport chain as an assembly line inside your mitochondria. Occasionally a component flies off the line and causes damage. Hydrogen helps keep everything moving in the right direction so fewer of those damaging fragments escape.
• Safety data show hydrogen exposure occurs at extremely small therapeutic doses — Hydrogen has a long safety record and is already recognized as a food additive in several regulatory systems. Therapeutic doses used in fatigue research involve only tiny amounts of hydrogen gas — roughly 80 ml per day.
For comparison, deep-sea divers routinely inhale gas mixtures containing hydrogen concentrations as high as 50% without toxicity. This large safety margin explains why hydrogen therapy attracts attention as a practical strategy for managing fatigue disorders.
• Early clinical trials show promise in chronic fatigue patients — A mini-review led by Tyler LeBaron, Ph.D., a molecular hydrogen researcher at Southern Utah University whom I’ve previously interviewed, analyzed early clinical studies of hydrogen-rich water in people with ME/CFS.7
Moderate daily intake of hydrogen-rich water over extended periods led to improvements in fatigue and physical function in small pilot trials, while also targeting biological drivers of the illness such as oxidative stress, chronic inflammation, and impaired mitochondrial energy metabolism.

Restore Cellular Energy by Removing the Drivers of Mitochondrial Stress

Fatigue that refuses to lift rarely begins in your muscles or your mind. The real problem starts much deeper, inside the cellular systems that generate energy. When oxidative stress damages mitochondria, your body loses its ability to maintain steady energy production.

The goal isn’t simply to fight fatigue but to rebuild the environment that allows your cells to produce energy efficiently again. Below are practical steps that address the biological triggers discussed earlier—oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and metabolic imbalance. These actions strengthen your cellular energy systems rather than masking exhaustion.

1. Start with hydrogen-rich water daily to restore cellular balance — If you want the simplest entry point, hydrogen-rich water offers a direct strategy to support mitochondrial function. Drop one hydrogen tablet into a glass of room-temperature water. Once the tablet dissolves completely and the water appears cloudy — a sign that hydrogen gas is actively dissolved — drink it right away, before the gas escapes. Once the gas escapes, the benefit disappears.
Drinking it right away ensures your body receives the hydrogen while it remains active. If you struggle with brain fog, persistent fatigue, or systemic inflammation, taking hydrogen water two or three times daily — spaced at least one hour apart — creates a rhythm that strengthens your cellular defense systems.
2. Use the correct delivery method and timing — Hydrogen therapy works best when your cells receive it in pulses rather than constant exposure. That pattern activates your body’s internal antioxidant systems instead of replacing them. Hydrogen-rich water created from properly formulated tablets offers one of the easiest ways to achieve this pattern.
Drink it immediately after preparation so the hydrogen gas remains dissolved. If you prefer inhalation, keep sessions limited to about one to three hours rather than running continuously. Intermittent exposure trains your cells to activate their own protective systems rather than relying on a constant external supply.
3. Eliminate seed oils to reduce oxidative stress — Even the most powerful antioxidant strategy struggles if daily habits constantly produce oxidative damage. One of the largest drivers of this damage is excessive intake of seed oils.
Soybean oil, corn oil, canola oil, and similar vegetable oils flood your cells with linoleic acid (LA), a polyunsaturated fat that destabilizes mitochondrial membranes and increases oxidative stress. Replace these oils with stable saturated fats such as grass-fed butter, ghee, or tallow.
At the same time, remove ultraprocessed foods and most restaurant meals, since these almost always contain high amounts of seed oils. Your goal is to bring daily LA intake below 5 grams and ideally closer to 2 grams. To track your intake, download the upcoming Mercola Health Coach app, which includes the Seed Oil Sleuth feature that calculates LA exposure with precise accuracy.
4. Feed your cells the carbohydrates required for energy production — When carbohydrate intake drops too low, your body interprets the shortage as a stress signal — shifting into a survival mode that slows energy production and, paradoxically, increases the very oxidative damage you’re trying to reduce. Most adults maintain stable metabolic function with roughly 250 grams of carbohydrates daily. If you exercise regularly, your body requires more.
If your digestion struggles, begin with easy-to-digest foods such as fruit and white rice. As your gut function improves, expand your diet gradually. When your metabolism receives steady fuel, hydrogen therapy works far more effectively.
5. Use sunlight and stress timing to strengthen cellular resilience — Your cells respond to stress more effectively when they receive protective signals beforehand. One useful strategy is to consume hydrogen-rich water about 30 minutes before events that increase oxidative stress. Examples include exercise, travel, demanding workdays, or emotionally intense situations. This pre-loads your cells with hydrogen before the oxidative surge begins.
Daily sunlight exposure also supports this process. Sunlight stimulates mitochondrial energy production and improves cellular signaling that hydrogen therapy strengthens. If your body is full of LA from years of seed oil consumption, your skin is more prone to burning during midday sun.
Avoid sunlight from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. until you’ve reduced seed oils for at least six months, focusing instead on morning and late afternoon light. Once your tissues are free from these unstable fats, you’ll tolerate more sun safely.

FAQs About Molecular Hydrogen for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Q: What causes chronic fatigue syndrome and why is it so difficult to treat?
A: ME/CFS occurs when your body’s energy-producing systems stop working efficiently. Research shows that oxidative stress and inflammation damage mitochondria. When mitochondrial function declines, even simple physical or mental activity becomes exhausting. Most conventional treatments address symptoms such as pain or sleep disruption rather than correcting this underlying cellular energy problem.

Q: How does molecular hydrogen help improve fatigue?
A: Molecular hydrogen works by targeting oxidative stress at the cellular level. Studies show that hydrogen selectively neutralizes highly destructive molecules called hydroxyl radicals inside mitochondria without interfering with beneficial biological reactions.
Hydrogen also activates internal antioxidant defense pathways and stabilizes mitochondrial electron transport, which helps restore normal ATP production. By protecting the cellular machinery that produces energy, hydrogen helps reduce the biological drivers of fatigue rather than masking symptoms.

Q: What evidence supports hydrogen as a therapy for fatigue?
A: Scientific reviews and early clinical research show that hydrogen improves several biological markers related to fatigue. Studies summarized in the journal Frontiers in Neurology report improvements in endurance, lower lactate levels, and reduced subjective fatigue during exercise trials.8
A separate review in Archiv der Pharmazie explains that hydrogen helps stabilize mitochondrial function and reduces oxidative stress associated with fatigue.9 Early pilot trials in people with ME/CFS also show improvements in fatigue and physical function when hydrogen-rich water is consumed regularly.

Q: What’s the easiest way to use molecular hydrogen?
A: The most common method is drinking hydrogen-rich water. Hydrogen tablets dissolve in water and release hydrogen gas, which quickly diffuses into tissues and cells. Drinking the water immediately after the tablet dissolves is important because hydrogen gas escapes rapidly once exposed to air. Some people also use hydrogen gas inhalation systems, but hydrogen-rich water is the simplest approach.

Q: What lifestyle habits help support mitochondrial energy along with hydrogen therapy?
A: Supporting mitochondrial health requires more than a single therapy. Reducing dietary seed oils lowers oxidative stress that damages mitochondrial membranes. Eating adequate carbohydrates from whole foods such as fruit helps maintain steady cellular energy production.
Regular sunlight exposure stimulates mitochondrial activity and supports circadian rhythms that control cellular repair. When combined with hydrogen therapy, these lifestyle strategies strengthen the cellular systems responsible for producing energy and help reduce persistent fatigue.

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A New Series of Health Insights Is on the Way
Our team has been working behind the scenes to prepare new research and practical health strategies for our readers. While we finish preparing what’s coming next, we invite you to explore one of the most-read articles from our library below. See exactly what’s changing →

If you’ve ever had the flu knock you out for days — head pounding, body aching, fever dragging you down — you know what inflammation feels like. That’s your immune system doing its job. Inflammation is the body’s immune response to infection, injury, or harmful stimuli; it is not a disease itself, but rather part of the healing process.

During influenza infection, symptoms such as fever, muscle aches, sore throat, and fatigue result from the body’s inflammatory reaction to the virus. As your immune system overcomes the invaders, inflammation recedes and symptoms vanish.

However, when inflammation sticks around for weeks or months and becomes chronic, it could harm multiple aspects of your health — one example in your nerve health.

The good news is, there are gentle, gut-friendly ways to help manage inflammation and support nerve health, starting with your diet. Below, I recommend six anti-inflammatory beverages that help ease nerve pain. These aren’t miracle cures, just practical, evidence-backed tools you can start using today.

1. Tart Cherry Juice

Made from the skin, flesh, and pit of Prunus cerasus, otherwise known as sour cherries, this beverage is often enjoyed on its own or blended into smoothies. Tart cherry juice has become popular in both kitchens and wellness routines and has even been dubbed a “superfood”1 due to its impressive nutrient profile.

• Tart cherry juice is one of the few drinks backed by published scientific research for easing nerve pain — In 2015, a study published in Integrative Medicine explored the effects of tart cherry juice on 12 primary care patients with peripheral neuropathy (PN).2

• For 14 days, each patient drank 4 ounces of tart cherry juice twice daily — The participants, who had endured severe pain spanning from five to 10 years, had tried medications like gabapentin, antidepressants, and narcotics without success. However, they saw significant improvements after drinking this beverage. According to the study:

“More than 50% of the patients reported a greater than 50% reduction in maximum pain … [and] none of the patients reported any side effects from the treatment.

The anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects of tart cherry, which have been seen in the treatment of arthritides, appear to be applicable to neuropathic pain as well, providing relief that is at least as good as conventional treatments, with no adverse effects.”3

• This pain-relieving effect is attributed to anthocyanins — These compounds are responsible for the deep red color of cherries and other fruits. These pigments do more than add vibrancy, they actively reduce oxidative stress that damages nerves, calm inflammatory signals that amplify pain, and stabilize nerve membranes to keep electrical signals in balance. Together, these actions help explain the rapid drop in pain levels observed in clinical studies.4

• Tart cherry juice also supports better sleep quality — Another way that this beverage helps boost your health is by alleviating insomnia. According to studies, the natural melatonin content in the fruits promotes better sleep, which further supports nerve health.5,6,7

Tart cherry juice has earned its place in the limelight — and for good reason. If you’re curious about what else this vibrant fruit will do for your well-being, read “Is Tart Cherry Worthy of the Hype?”

2. Green Tea

Made from the unoxidized leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant, green tea is known for its light, earthy flavor and subtle bitterness. Unlike black or oolong tea, green tea is minimally processed, which helps preserve its natural compounds.8 But green tea is not just a soothing beverage — it is also a well-studied source of powerful antioxidants.

• Green tea is one of the richest natural sources of polyphenols — These compounds don’t just fight inflammation — they also influence cell activity, cell communication, and other processes that maintain nerve health. As one study notes, “Evidence suggests that polyphenols inhibit pro-inflammatory transcription factors by interacting with proteins involved in gene expression and cell signaling, leading to protective effects against many inflammation-mediated chronic diseases.”9

• Among green tea’s most potent compounds are catechins — These are a type of flavonoid, which include epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), epicatechin gallate (ECG), epigallocatechin (EGC), and epicatechin (EC).

Catechins have been linked to a wide range of health benefits, including easing nerve pain.10 These antioxidants reduce oxidative stress, calm inflammatory pathways, and help regulate cellular signaling. EGCG, specifically, has shown neuroprotective effects in studies, helping to preserve nerve structure and function.

• Green tea also supports metabolic and cardiovascular health — Its polyphenols help regulate blood sugar, improve circulation, and support heart health, all of which contribute to better nerve function in the long run.11

• It offers relaxation without the drowsiness — This beverage has L-theanine, which, as noted by The Hearty Soul, is an amino acid that promotes relaxation without drowsiness, making it a gentle way to reduce stress-induced inflammation.12

To get the most out of your green tea (or any type of tea for that matter), I recommend choosing loose-leaf versions instead of teabags. Apart from better flavor, loose-leaf teas also expose you to fewer contaminants, like microplastics — check out “Tea With or Without Plastic?” for more information.

3. White Tea

A rare and delicate tea variety made from the young buds and leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant, white tea is harvested only once a year during early spring. Unlike other teas that undergo oxidation and fermentation, white tea is simply dried via steaming, making it one of the least processed teas.13,14

• White tea supports immune defense — In a study conducted at Pace University, researchers found that white tea extract could neutralize bacteria and viruses in vitro, even better than green tea.15

• Rich in nerve-supportive antioxidants — Thanks to its high catechin content, white tea helps reduce oxidative stress and inflammation, both of which are key contributors to nerve damage and chronic pain.

• Offers broad-spectrum antimicrobial effects — The study found that white tea also has antifungal activity against both Penicillium chrysogenum and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Milton Schiffenbauer, Ph.D., a microbiologist and one of the primary authors of the study, said: “Past studies have shown that green tea stimulates the immune system to fight disease. Our research shows white tea extract can actually destroy in vitro the organisms that cause disease.”

4. Ginger Tea

Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is a flowering plant native to tropical Asia, and is part of the same botanical family as turmeric and cardamom. The rhizome, valued for its strong, spicy, aromatic qualities and health benefits, is the primary part used. It has a long history of use in traditional medicine, and has been used for 5,000 years in culinary and medicinal traditions — fresh, dried, powdered, or pickled. It remains a staple in Ayurvedic and traditional medicine today.

Ginger is well-regarded for its ability to ease various conditions like nausea, vomiting, and even digestive problems. Apart from adding it raw to dishes, one of the best ways to reap its benefits is by steeping the root and making ginger tea.

• Ginger tea contains active compounds — Gingerol and shogaol are known to reduce oxidative stress, improve circulation, and ease nerve discomfort. As noted by The Hearty Soul, “Drinking a cup of freshly brewed ginger tea once or twice a day may reduce discomfort, especially for those dealing with diabetic neuropathy or arthritis.”16

• It modulates immune and inflammatory response — According to a study published in Frontiers in Nutrition, ginger’s bioactive compounds inhibit proinflammatory signals, boost anti-inflammatory cytokines, and activate pathways that help prevent chronic inflammation.17

• Ginger also improves oxidative stress tolerance — The compounds in this root crop help eliminate reactive oxygen species (ROS), increase antioxidant enzyme activity, and enhance the body’s overall antioxidant capacity, all of which support nerve health and reduce pain.18

5. Golden Milk

Golden milk has been part of Indian culture for centuries. It is an Ayurvedic drink that is traditionally made with turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, honey, and your choice of milk. Some recipes even call for black pepper, nutmeg, or other spices to enhance flavor and boost absorption.

• The signature golden hue comes from turmeric — This is a rhizome native to Southwestern Asia that’s long been used in traditional medicine. Turmeric possesses an earthy, slightly citrusy taste that blends beautifully with warming spices. But beyond its comforting flavors, it’s also jam-packed with health benefits and is known for helping ease inflammation in the body.19

• Curcumin is the star in golden milk — This is the active ingredient in turmeric, and is known for its potent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects.20 While it’s not highly bioavailable on its own, adding black pepper, which contains piperine, increases absorption by up to 2,000%.21

• Golden milk promotes pain relief and tissue healing — Curcumin has shown promise in reducing pain associated with arthritis and post-surgical recovery. It also helps regenerate damaged tissue by promoting angiogenesis (the formation of new blood vessels).22

• It also offers antimicrobial and immune support — Turmeric, ginger, and cinnamon are all known for their antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal properties. This makes it a popular traditional remedy for colds, flu, and general immune support.23

6. Celery and Carrot Juice

Fresh vegetable juices made from celery and carrots offer a refreshing way to nourish your body with essential nutrients such as potassium, vitamin C, and beta-carotene. As The Hearty Soul suggests, combining fresh carrots and celery, then adding a splash of lemon or ginger, provides extra anti-inflammatory power to help ease nerve pain.24

• Carrots protect nerve cells — Their high antioxidant content, especially beta-carotene, helps shield nerve cells from oxidative damage and supports tissue repair.25

• Celery supports hydration and inflammation control — With its high-water content and mild anti-inflammatory properties, celery helps maintain fluid balance and calm inflammatory signals that contribute to nerve pain.26

• Vegetable juice helps ease tingling and numbness — Drinking a small glass regularly offers gentle, natural relief from symptoms like tingling, numbness, and discomfort associated with nerve issues.27

• Finding the right balance with vegetables — Some people with poor gut health experience unpleasant symptoms when consuming raw vegetables due to the high fiber content. If you have a severely compromised gut, the excessive fiber will end up feeding the pathogenic bacteria instead of the good ones.

This can make juicing seem like the better option. But while juicing delivers vitamins and minerals, without fiber, the sugars absorb quickly, which will also feed the wrong microbes and even risk spiking your blood sugar. Carrots, in particular, tend to be high in sugar.

A better approach is to restore your gut health first. Begin with gentler carbohydrates like ripe fruits or well-cooked then chilled white rice, which are easier to digest. As your gut strengthens, gradually add more complex carbohydrates like cooked vegetables and juices with pulp as tolerated.

Blending fruits and vegetables is another effective compromise since it retains the fiber. If you do juice, pair it with whole foods and sip it slowly instead of drinking it all at once to avoid overwhelming your gut and spiking your blood sugar. I also advise listening to your body for any signs of discomfort.

Simple Ways to Naturally Reduce Chronic Inflammation

If you’re living in chronic pain, it can feel like your body is working against you. But in reality, your body is trying to protect you — it’s just stuck in overdrive. While anti-inflammatory beverages help, pairing them with smart lifestyle habits is the key to lasting relief. Here are a few recommendations of steps to start today to tackle inflammation and pain at its root:

1. Cut back on seed oils — Many processed foods contain excess linoleic acid (LA), an omega-6 fat found in vegetable oils. Excessive amounts of LA disrupt your metabolism and gut health — major players in inflammation. You’re better off cooking with saturated fats like beef tallow or ghee, and eliminating as many processed foods as possible.

2. Limit EMF exposure — Electromagnetic fields (EMFs) from phones, Wi-Fi routers, and other devices may contribute to cellular stress. EMFs activate calcium channels in your cells, leading to oxidative damage. Reduce exposure by turning off devices at night, using airplane mode, and keeping electronics as far away from your body as possible.28

3. Support your gut — Your gut is home to trillions of bacteria, and when it is out of balance, it produces endotoxins — harmful substances that leak into your bloodstream and spark inflammation. Load up on fermented vegetables and cook your veggies in a gut-friendly way to strengthen your gut barrier.

4. Avoid endocrine disruptors — Plastics, personal care products, and teabags contain endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) like BPA and phthalates. These chemicals mimic estrogen and trigger inflammation. Choose glass containers, natural cleaning products, and organic foods, when possible, to reduce your exposure.29

5. Stay consistent with anti-inflammatory habits — Hydration, sleep, movement, and stress management all play a role in keeping inflammation in check. Combining these habits with the anti-inflammatory drinks listed above will amplify their effects.

The next time you reach for something to drink, it’s good to think about whether it’s going to “gut your gut” in the long run. Though these drinks are not guaranteed to cure any condition, they provide some form of relief and will complement your healthy lifestyle.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Nerve Pain Relief

Q: What makes tart cherry juice effective for nerve pain relief?
A: Tart cherry juice is shown to lessen neuropathic pain. The anthocyanins it contains reduce oxidative stress and inflammation, while its melatonin content improves sleep.

Q: Why is green tea becoming the hot beverage of choice?
A: It contains epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), a powerful antioxidant that improves circulation and protects cells from damage. It’s a healthier choice than trending sugary drinks.

Q: How does golden milk support pain relief?
A: Golden milk is rich in curcumin, the active compound in turmeric, which has well-documented anti-inflammatory properties that ease stiffness and discomfort. Blended with warm milk and spices, it’s also gentle on digestion, offering soothing comfort in a nourishing, cozy drink.

Q: Can ginger tea help with nerve pain?
A: There has been evidence that ginger tea’s compounds, gingerol and shogaol, help improve circulation and lower oxidative stress. These effects are especially helpful for diabetic neuropathy and arthritis.

Q: What are simple lifestyle changes I can adopt to naturally reduce chronic inflammation?
A: Along with choosing the beverages above, start by cutting back on seed oils, since excess LA drives inflammation. Support your microbiome with fiber-rich vegetables (added gradually if your gut is sensitive) and fermented foods. Beyond diet, limit screen time and EMF exposure, spend time in natural light, move daily, and get quality sleep — simple habits that calm stress and help keep inflammation in check.