Supplements · Binders

Diatomaceous Earth: Benefits, Food-Grade Uses & How to Take It

Q: Is diatomaceous earth good for hair, skin, nails and bones?

Diatomaceous earth is mostly silica,[2] and silicon matters for bone. In the Framingham Offspring study of 2,847 people, more silicon from food went with higher hip bone density in men and premenopausal women.[27] But the trials on bones, skin, hair and nails used a soluble form called orthosilicic acid.[28][29] The silicon in diatomaceous earth itself was absorbed in the rat study, but not in a randomized trial in which each of 18 adults ate four single test meals, two of them a meat pâté with diatomaceous earth added.[17][30]

What diatomaceous earth is, how it works as a binder in a parasite cleanse, what the studies show for cholesterol and parasites, how to take food-grade powder and how to use it around the home.

By Dr. Josh Axe, DC, DNM, CNS·16-min read

Evidence-based30 sources citedUpdated November 10, 2026

Published Nov 5, 2026Last updated Nov 10, 2026Editorial policyMedical review policyFact-checking policy

Food-grade diatomaceous earth is a fine, white, chalky powder.

The Dr. Axe Score™

5.0/10

Overall Dr. Axe Score · Diatomaceous Earth

Diatomaceous earth scores 5.0 for its defined role as a binder in Dr. Axe's parasite protocol, strong binding in lab tests, more stool output in rats, an encouraging cholesterol result in adults and the way food grade passes through the gut with little absorbed.

Scientific Evidence

3.4/10

One cholesterol study of 19 adults with no comparison group and one meal study in 18 adults; the binding, stool-output and parasite research comes from lab tests, rats and livestock.

Bioavailability & Absorption

4.8/10

Rated where it works, in the gut: very little is absorbed, it binds strongly in lab tests of digestive fluid and raised stool output in rats; how much it binds varies by toxin.

Clinical Effectiveness

6.0/10

Our judgment: one of five binders in Dr. Axe's Heal From Parasites Protocol, taken once a day in the binding phase; no human trial has tested that job.

Safety & Tolerability

6.4/10

Food grade passes through with little absorbed; binders can constipate without extra water, and the dust is a real hazard if it's breathed.

Why this score?

Why Diatomaceous Earth scores 5.0 / 10

Weighting: Evidence 30% · Bioavailability & Absorption 25% · Clinical Effectiveness 25% · Safety & Tolerability 20% (3.4×0.30 + 4.8×0.25 + 6.0×0.25 + 6.4×0.20 = 1.02 + 1.20 + 1.50 + 1.28 = 5.00, shown as 5.0). How we score

A transparent, weighted index built for supplements. See how it’s calculated →

Interaction check: Moderate. Like every binder, diatomaceous earth holds onto what it meets in your gut, and that can include your medicines and supplements.1

Oral medicines and supplements: take diatomaceous earth at least 2 hours away from any medicine, for example thyroid hormone, and from your other supplements, the spacing I use for every binder.1 Interactions are rated separately and don't change the score.

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Diatomaceous earth at a glance

Diatomaceous earth is a fine, chalky powder made from the fossilized shells of tiny algae called diatoms. In my parasite protocol, it's one of the binders that holds onto what a cleanse releases, so your body can carry it out.1 2

What it does: its porous silica shells stay in your gut and hold onto toxins, so they leave in your stool.1 2 In a study of 19 adults with moderately high cholesterol and no comparison group, total cholesterol fell 13.2% by week 63
How much: 1 teaspoon of food-grade diatomaceous earth once a day during the binding phase of a cleanse, days 14 to 351
How to use it: stir it into a glass of water, take it 2 hours away from food, herbs, supplements and medications, and drink extra water through the day1
Use food grade only, and never breathe the dust2 4

Diatomaceous earth is a soft, white powder mined from the fossil beds of diatoms, single-celled algae that build their shells out of silica.2 Under a microscope, you'd see why it's useful: every grain is a tiny glassy shell riddled with pores, like a sponge too small to see, and those pores soak up oils and hold onto other compounds they meet.5 6 7

That holding power is exactly what you want at the end of a parasite cleanse. I consider parasites one of the most under-diagnosed root causes of chronic illness today, and most patients carry them for years before anyone tests for them.1 Clearing them is a sequence: you prepare the body, open the drainage pathways, kill, then bind.1 Diatomaceous earth belongs to that last step, which matters because when parasites die, they release toxins right inside your gut, and a binder holds onto them so they leave in your stool instead of being reabsorbed.1 8

On my show, describing the binding phase of a cleanse, I put it this way:

This is where you want to take binders like activated charcoal, bentonite clay, diatomaceous earth, modified citrus pectin and chlorella.Dr. Josh Axe, DC, DNM, CNSFrom 60 Million Americans Have This Hidden Infection Right Now, The Dr. Josh Axe Show (2026), at 31:02

Outside a cleanse, diatomaceous earth has long been used around the home to kill ants, bed bugs and grain pests by drying them out.9 2

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Diatomaceous earth is one of the binders for the final phase of my parasite protocol. This free protocol lays out:

Four phases in order: prepare, open your drainage pathways, kill, then bind
The five binders, diatomaceous earth among them, with their doses and the 2-hour timing rule
The kill herbs and kill foods, plus daily bone broth and a high-dose probiotic from day one

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Did you know?

Food-grade diatomaceous earth keeps animal feed free-flowing, at up to 2% of the ration, and helps clarify wine and beer.10 2
It's an abrasive and absorbent in toothpaste and skin care products.2 11

What is diatomaceous earth?

Quick answer

Diatomaceous earth is a fine powder of fossilized diatom shells, made mostly of amorphous silica (silicon dioxide).2 Food-grade powder is purified, and in a parasite cleanse, it's one of the binders for the final phase.1 The FDA lists diatomaceous earth as generally recognized as safe for specific uses, such as a filler in food packaging,2 12 and FDA rules also allow it as a carrier in animal feed.10

Diatoms are microscopic algae that build their cell walls out of silica. When they die, their shells settle on the beds of lakes and seas, and those deposits are mined and milled into the powder you buy.2 Most of that silica is amorphous, which means its atoms sit loose, like marbles tumbled in a jar, instead of locked into the neat rows of a crystal. Natural diatomaceous earth carries only very low levels of the crystalline form, and that matters to you, because crystalline silica is the kind you never want to breathe.2

You might be surprised how many places diatomaceous earth already shows up. Winemakers and brewers use it to filter their wine and beer, it goes into water filters, and farmers use it to protect stored grain from insects and mix it into livestock feed as a growth promoter, a toxin binder and a natural dewormer.2 13 14 It was first registered as a pest-control product in the U.S. back in 1960.2 What ties all of those jobs together is the powder itself: its tiny porous grains soak up and hold on to whatever they touch, and that's the same property you put to work in a cleanse.

How diatomaceous earth works in your body

Quick answer

Diatomaceous earth works inside your gut as a binder. Very little of it is absorbed, so its porous shells stay in your intestines,2 where they hold onto toxins and carry them out in your stool.1

Binding matters so much because of what dying parasites leave behind:

When parasites die, they release toxins. Sometimes they're also living there with heavy metals. If you don't bind them, they get reabsorbed through your gut wall, and it makes you sick.Dr. Josh Axe, DC, DNM, CNSFrom 60 Million Americans Have This Hidden Infection Right Now, The Dr. Josh Axe Show (2026), at 32:33

That's why drainage comes first. Your bowels, liver, lymphatic system and kidneys are the exits, and they need to be open and moving before the kill phase starts and stay open through binding.1 8 Most parasite cleanses fail because they kill but don't drain or bind, so this is the order I use with patients: prepare, open drainage, kill, then bind.1

You can watch the binding happen outside the body, in lab tests built to mimic the fluid in your stomach and intestines. Researchers put diatomite, the rock diatomaceous earth is milled from, together with aflatoxin B1, a toxin molds make on grains and nuts, and within 1 to 15 minutes, raw and heat-treated diatomite had taken up 90% to 100% of it.7

It doesn't hold every toxin that well, though: against another mold toxin, zearalenone, diatomite held 53% and 42% from simulated stomach and body fluid,15 a solid grab but nowhere near the nearly complete one it made on aflatoxin. And in chicks fed aflatoxin, diatomaceous earth at 0.75% of their feed didn't protect them from it.16 So how much it binds depends on the toxin and the setting, the same way your kitchen sponge handles water better than grease.

Rats given diatomaceous earth also had more bulk on the way out, and that matters because stool is the exit route for everything a binder catches. In a 2025 study, healthy female rats, 6 in each group, got food-grade diatomaceous earth every day for 7 days, at amounts supplying 2 or 4 mg of silicon per kilogram of body weight. Their dry stool output per 24 hours rose from 1.56 grams in the rats given water to 2.02 grams at the higher dose, 29.5% more, while the lower dose's 1.74 grams wasn't a significant change. More fat from an olive oil meal also stayed inside the gut.17

In rats, daily stool output rose from 1.56 to 2.02 grams with diatomaceous earth

Source: Redondo-Castillejo et al. · Nutrients, 2025 (Table 1) [17]Average dry stool collected over 24 hours; the higher dose was 29.5% above the rats given water, and the lower dose's difference wasn't statistically significant.

The steps below follow one toxin from release to exit:

1The exits open first

Your bowels are moving once or twice a day, with liver, lymph and kidney support, before any killing starts.1 8

2Dying parasites release toxins

When parasites die, they release toxins, heavy metals and biofilm fragments.1

3A binder catches them in the gut

Left loose, they can slip back in through your gut wall, so a binder grabs them first, the way a sponge grabs a spill. In those lab tests, diatomite took up nearly all of a mold toxin from simulated digestive fluid.1 7

4Diatomaceous earth stays put

Very little of it is absorbed, so it stays and works in your intestines, right where the toxins are.2

5Out with your stool

What it holds leaves in your stool, which is why your bowels need to keep moving; in the rat study, the higher dose raised daily stool output.1 2 17

Diatomaceous earth benefits

Quick answer

In a parasite cleanse, diatomaceous earth's main job is binding what the cleanse releases. It also lowered cholesterol in a study of 19 adults with no comparison group.1 3 In laying hens, it lowered some worm counts and raised egg production.18

Binding support during a cleanse

Preclinical evidenceIn vitro (lab)Lab tests in simulated stomach and intestinal fluid; a 7-day study in 18 rats

This is diatomaceous earth's main job in a cleanse: catching what the kill phase releases before your body can take it back in. In my Heal From Parasites Protocol, it's one of five binders for the final phase, alongside activated charcoal, bentonite clay, modified citrus pectin and chlorella.1 In lab tests, it bound most of a mold toxin from simulated digestive fluid, and in the rat study, the higher dose raised daily stool output, as the section on how it works explains.7 17

Through the binding phase, energy stabilizes and brain fog clears as toxin reabsorption stops, and by its end, most patients describe feeling clearer than they have in years.1

Study takeaway: a binder in Dr. Axe's parasite protocol that took up 90% to 100% of a mold toxin in lab tests.

Lower cholesterol

Emerging evidenceHuman studyStudy of 19 adults with moderately high cholesterol and no comparison group; 2025 study in rats

If your cholesterol has started to rise, look at what happened in a study of 19 adults aged 35 to 67 with moderately high cholesterol, who took 250 mg of diatomaceous earth three times a day for 8 weeks, with no comparison group. By week 6, total cholesterol had fallen from 285.8 to 248.1 mg/dL, a 13.2% drop.3 LDL cholesterol and triglycerides fell too, and 4 weeks after people stopped taking it, all three were still lower and HDL cholesterol, the protective kind, had risen.3 (Our guide to how to lower cholesterol naturally covers the food and lifestyle steps that work alongside it.)

Why would a powder that stays in your gut change the fats in your blood? The 2025 rat study offers a clue: there, diatomaceous earth lowered blood triglycerides 2 hours after an olive oil meal by 27.8% at the lower dose, kept more of that fat inside the gut and turned down the intestinal proteins that handle and package fat for absorption.17 Those proteins work like a packing crew that boxes up fat so your body can take it in, and in the rats, diatomaceous earth slowed that crew down.

Study takeaway: LDL and triglycerides fell along with total cholesterol, and HDL rose after people stopped.

Total cholesterol fell from 285.8 to 248.1 mg/dL by week 6

Source: Wachter et al. · European Journal of Medical Research, 1998 [3]Average total cholesterol at the start and at week 6, its lowest point during 8 weeks of diatomaceous earth.

Parasite support

Preclinical evidenceAnimal studyStudies in laying hens, lambs and beef steers, some compared with deworming drugs

In a cleanse, the herbs and the binders split the work. In the Heal From Parasites Protocol, the herbs do the killing, led by wormwood, black walnut and clove, and diatomaceous earth follows as a binder, so your bowels can carry out what they release.1 As for what it does on its own, livestock farmers add it to feed as a natural dewormer, and farm studies show what it does there.14 In free-range laying hens fed 2% diatomaceous earth, one of two breeds had fewer Capillaria worm eggs and fewer Heterakis worms, and both breeds laid more eggs.18 In 12 lambs followed for 9 weeks, tapeworm egg counts were lower than in untreated lambs with 2% diatomaceous earth in feed, just as they were with the drug ivermectin.19 In another 32 lambs, egg counts at day 28 were 175 per gram with diatomaceous earth against 753 without, a trend that fell short of statistical significance.20

The deworming drugs did better in other studies: in hens, fenbendazole cleared 82% and 84% of two kinds of adult worms, against 0% and 22% for diatomaceous earth.21 And in a randomized study of 30 steer calves, albendazole lowered parasite egg counts in the first two months, while diatomaceous earth didn't.22 So let the herbs do the killing and let diatomaceous earth do the carrying out, with drainage open, in the order the how-to section lays out.

Study takeaway: in laying hens fed 2% diatomaceous earth, one of two breeds had fewer worms, and both breeds laid more eggs.

How to take diatomaceous earth

Quick answer

In my parasite protocol, I use 1 teaspoon of food-grade diatomaceous earth once a day during the binding phase, taken 2 hours away from food, herbs, supplements and medications.1 Stir it into a glass of water, and drink more water than usual while you take it, because binders are dehydrating.1

Spacing it away from everything else matters because binders trap everything indiscriminately, and a sponge can't tell a toxin from your thyroid pill or the minerals in your lunch. That 2-hour window keeps the binder away from the nutrients in your food, your herbs and your medicines.1 The binding phase runs from day 14 to day 35, starting alongside the kill herbs and going on after the kill phase ends. That tail end matters, because some toxins are released late, and you want the binder still there to catch them.1

In the binding phase, bentonite clay and diatomaceous earth share one slot, 1 teaspoon once a day, so you pick one rather than taking both.1 Binders are part of my own story, too: after mission trips to China and Africa, I had digestive issues both times, and afterward I did a bunch of clay and a whole cleanse.8

Here's where diatomaceous earth sits in the full protocol:

Prepare, days 1 to 14: cut sugar and refined carbs, drink 8 to 16 ounces of bone broth a day and start a multi-strain probiotic of 50 billion CFU or more. I raise vitamin D and zinc here too, because most parasite patients are low.1
Open drainage, days 7 to 21: aim for 1 to 2 bowel movements a day, with magnesium citrate if you need it. Drink half your body weight in ounces of filtered water, and sweat 3 to 5 times a week in an infrared sauna, a hot bath or a workout.1
Kill, days 14 to 28: combine three or more antiparasitic herbs, and eat raw garlic (2 to 4 cloves a day) and pumpkin seeds (a quarter cup a day).1
Bind, days 14 to 35: activated charcoal, diatomaceous earth or bentonite clay, modified citrus pectin and chlorella, each 2 hours away from food, herbs, supplements and medications, with extra water.1

Questions about your own cleanse?

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Food-grade vs. pool-grade diatomaceous earth

Quick answer

Buy food-grade diatomaceous earth for anything you swallow or spread around your home. It's purified and mostly amorphous silica.2 Pool and filter grades are different: they're heat-treated for industrial filters, which turns much of their silica crystalline.4

Food grade

Purified and mostly amorphous silica, with very low levels of the crystalline form. It's the grade used in animal feed, where FDA rules cap lead at 15 ppm and arsenic at 20 ppm, and the only grade I use.2 10 1

Pool and filter grade

Heat-treated, or calcined, which converts much of its silica to a crystalline form called cristobalite. It's the grade for pool and industrial filters.4

When you're choosing a bag, look for the words "food grade" on the label, and if they aren't there, leave it on the shelf.

Diatomaceous earth uses around the home: ants, bed bugs and stored grain

Quick answer

Diatomaceous earth kills ants, bed bugs, grain pests and other crawling insects by drying them out.6 2 In lab containers of wheat, treating the top layer of grain with 0.5 to 0.75 grams per kilogram of a commercial dust of diatomaceous earth and silica gel cut populations of three grain pests by 98% to 100%.9

How can a soft powder kill a bug with a hard outer shell? It comes down to water. An insect keeps its water in with a thin, waxy coat, much like the natural wax on an apple's skin, and the powder clings to that outer shell and soaks up the waxy layer, so the insect dries out and dies.6 2 A 2024 study of red flour beetles watched it happen: diatomaceous earth raised their water loss and made their outer shell more permeable, and under the electron microscope, the particles had absorbed the shell's waxy lipids.6 It works best where it stays dry, and its strength varies with humidity, particle size and how much is applied,5 so don't expect it to do its best work in a damp corner.

Around the house, you want a light dusting of food-grade powder in dry spots where insects travel: along baseboards and ant trails, into cracks and around bed frames. It's a common home treatment for bed bugs, too.23 (Our guide to bed bug bites shows how to tell when you have them, and for pets, see our guide to diatomaceous earth for fleas.)

Those same pores are why it ends up in water filters, too. In lab testing, ceramic diatomaceous-earth filters removed a larger, tailed virus, though not two smaller ones.24 In the same kind of testing, filters of diatomaceous earth modified with iron and aluminum compounds took up more than 80% of several viruses from tap water.13

Diatomaceous earth side effects and who should skip it

Quick answer

Swallowed, food-grade diatomaceous earth passes right through you. Very little is absorbed, and the rest leaves in your stool.2 The real hazard is breathing the dust,2 and like any binder, it can constipate you if you skimp on water.1

Before you take diatomaceous earth

Never breathe the dust. It irritates the nose, and breathing crystalline silica dust over years causes silicosis; IARC classifies that dust as a human carcinogen. In a study of 2,570 men who worked at two California diatomaceous earth plants, those who breathed the processing dust died more often of lung disease and lung cancer.2 25 4 Stir food grade into water, and at home, pour it low and keep children and pets away until any dust settles.23
Drink extra water. If your bowels slow down on a binder, you haven't done anything wrong. Binders are dehydrating, and skipping water invites constipation, so drink more and bring your bowels back to 1 to 2 movements a day before you continue.1
Pregnancy, breastfeeding and children. I don't recommend a parasite cleanse during pregnancy or breastfeeding,1 8 and kids get the gentle food-based version: pumpkin seeds, papaya seeds, garlic and probiotics.8
Don't overdo it. Do a cleanse when you have a real reason to suspect parasites. Strong cleanse tools like black walnut and diatomaceous earth can be hard on your body, and you don't want to overdo them.8 So keep diatomaceous earth to the binding phase.1
Warning signs: stop it and get care for severe belly pain, a swollen belly, no bowel movement for several days,1 or a cough or shortness of breath after handling the powder.2

The bottom line

Is diatomaceous earth worth taking?

Yes, for the binding phase of a parasite cleanse. Diatomaceous earth is one of the binders I use to hold onto what the kill herbs release, so your body carries it out instead of taking it back in. In adults with moderately high cholesterol, total cholesterol fell while they took it.

Use food grade, 1 teaspoon in a glass of water once a day from day 14 to day 35. Take it 2 hours away from food, herbs, supplements and medications, and drink extra water through the day. Open the exits first, then bind what's released, and let your body carry it out.

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The four phases in order, the kill herbs and foods, and the five binders for the final phase, diatomaceous earth among them, with their doses and timing. Have recent bloodwork? Analyze it free. Free with your Dr. Axe account (email or Google). You'll also get the protocol's short email series and the Dr. Axe newsletter; unsubscribe anytime.

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Diatomaceous earth: frequently asked questions

What does diatomaceous earth do for the human body?

It works in your gut as a binder. Very little is absorbed, so its porous shells stay put, hold onto toxins and carry them out in your stool.2 1 That's its job in the binding phase of a parasite cleanse. In a study of 19 adults with moderately high cholesterol and no comparison group, it also lowered total cholesterol by 13.2% at week 6.3

Does diatomaceous earth kill parasites in humans?

It binds rather than kills. Herbs such as wormwood and black walnut do the killing in a cleanse, and diatomaceous earth is one of the binders that carries out what they release.1 No human trial has tested it against parasites, but in laying hens and lambs, 2% in feed lowered some worm counts and tapeworm egg counts.18 19

How much diatomaceous earth should you take a day?

I use 1 teaspoon of food-grade diatomaceous earth once a day during the binding phase of a parasite cleanse, taken 2 hours away from food, herbs, supplements and medications.1 Stir it into a glass of water. The cholesterol study used a different schedule, 250 mg three times a day.3

How long do you take diatomaceous earth during a parasite cleanse?

About 3 weeks, from day 14 to day 35 of the cleanse. The binding phase starts with the kill herbs and keeps going after the kill phase ends, so it can catch toxins released late.1

Can you take diatomaceous earth every day?

Yes, during a cleanse. Take it once a day through the binding phase, which ends at day 35.1 If you make a cleanse a regular habit, spring is the time of year I'd pick.8

Is food-grade diatomaceous earth safe for humans?

Yes, to swallow. Very little of it is absorbed, the rest passes out in your stool, and the FDA lists diatomaceous earth as generally recognized as safe for specific uses.2 The hazard is breathing the dust, so stir it into water before you drink it, and see the safety section for the rest.2

Does diatomaceous earth cause cancer?

Swallowed, food-grade diatomaceous earth hasn't been linked to cancer. In a study of rats fed it for life, in groups of 22 to 30, malignant tumors didn't rise significantly compared with control rats, and it hasn't been associated with any cancers in people.26 2 The concern is the dust: crystalline silica dust, which forms when diatomaceous earth is heat-treated for industry, is a workplace hazard that IARC classifies as a human carcinogen.25 4

Is diatomaceous earth good for hair, skin, nails and bones?

Diatomaceous earth is mostly silica,2 and silicon matters for bone. In the Framingham Offspring study of 2,847 people, more silicon from food went with higher hip bone density in men and premenopausal women.27 But the trials on bones, skin, hair and nails used a soluble form called orthosilicic acid.28 29 The silicon in diatomaceous earth itself was absorbed in the rat study, but not in a randomized trial in which each of 18 adults ate four single test meals, two of them a meat pâté with diatomaceous earth added.17 30

Does diatomaceous earth remove heavy metals?

In the Heal From Parasites Protocol, diatomaceous earth binds what the kill phase releases. Chlorella is the binder for heavy metals, binding them as well as toxins, with cilantro and parsley on the plate.1 Studies haven't measured whether diatomaceous earth lowers metals in the body. For the full plan, see our guide to a heavy metal detox.

Diatomaceous earth or bentonite clay: which should you use?

Either one. In a parasite cleanse, they share one binder slot, at 1 teaspoon once a day, so you choose one.1

Does diatomaceous earth kill bed bugs and ants?

Yes. It kills ants, bed bugs and other crawling insects by drying them out, because the powder soaks up the waxy layer that keeps water in their bodies.6 2 It works best in dry spots where insects travel.5

Freshness & update log

November 10, 2026 — Corrected three study descriptions: the grain-pest result came from a commercial dust of diatomaceous earth and silica gel, the silicon test in adults used diatomaceous earth mixed into a meat pâté, and the rat study measured stool output rather than binding.

November 5, 2026 — Rewrote the page in full under Dr. Axe's byline. Compared with the version published November 12, 2024, this version builds the page around diatomaceous earth's role as a binder in Dr. Axe's Heal From Parasites Protocol, with his dose and timing: 1 teaspoon of food grade once a day in the binding phase, 2 hours away from food, herbs, supplements and medications, with extra water. It keeps the cholesterol study with its design and numbers, keeps the detox and die-off use in the protocol's terms, reports the parasite studies in hens, lambs and steers both ways, keeps the silica question for hair, skin, nails and bones as an FAQ answer at its true level of evidence, and expands the section on ants, bed bugs and stored grain. It adds the Dr. Axe Score (5.0) with an interaction check, two charts, a step diagram and 30 references, and removes the claims we couldn't support: cleansing the blood, killing viruses in the body, a colloidal-charge antioxidant effect, an aluminum claim whose study used a different form of silica, an osteoporosis treatment plan, anti-aging, tablespoon and twice-daily dosing with a 10-days-on schedule, and figures we couldn't source (silica's share of the earth's crust, crystalline silica percentages, use in explosives and safety for birds).

November 12, 2024 — Previous version published.

References

Dr. Josh Axe, DC, DNM, CNS

Doctor of Natural Medicine · Founder, DrAxe.com

Dr. Axe is a certified doctor of natural medicine, clinical nutritionist, and multiple New York Times bestselling author. He has spent 20+ years in clinical practice helping people heal at the root cause and founded one of the most-visited natural-health platforms in the world.

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This article is for educational purposes. See our medical disclaimer.

On this page

What is it?
How it works
Benefits
How to take it
Food grade vs. pool grade
Home uses
Side effects
The bottom line
Is diatomaceous earth worth taking?
FAQ

Quick facts

What it isThe fossilized shells of tiny algae called diatoms, milled into a fine powder of mostly silica
Dr. Axe's useOne of five binders in the binding phase of his Heal From Parasites Protocol
Dr. Axe's dose1 teaspoon of food grade once a day, days 14 to 35 of the cleanse
TimingIn a glass of water, 2 hours away from food, herbs, supplements and medications
Which gradeFood grade only
Interaction checkModerate: it can bind medicines and supplements in the gut, so space them 2 hours apart

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