How we research, write, and stand behind what we publish.

Last updated: September 4, 2026

What we publish

DrAxe.com publishes health education: articles on nutrition, conditions, recipes, natural remedies, fitness, essential oils, and pet health, along with protocols, quizzes, and an AI assistant built on Dr. Josh Axe’s published teachings. Our point of view is root-cause medicine — find what is driving a symptom, use food and lifestyle first, and pair traditional practice with modern clinical research.

Having a point of view does not excuse us from the evidence. When research is strong, we say so. When it is preliminary, mixed, or based on traditional use rather than trials, we say that too. Everything on this site is educational. It is not a diagnosis, a prescription, or a substitute for care from your own clinician, and reading it does not create a doctor–patient relationship.

How articles are researched and sourced

Health articles are built from primary sources: peer-reviewed studies, systematic reviews and meta-analyses, clinical guidelines, and reference texts. We prefer sources indexed in PubMed or published by recognized medical and scientific bodies, and we link to them so you can read what we read.

• Every health article carries a numbered reference list. Claims in the body are tied to those references, and inline citation marks jump to the entry they rely on.
• We characterize the evidence honestly. A randomized controlled trial in people is not the same as an animal study, a cell study, or a survey, and an article should make clear which kind of evidence stands behind a claim.
• Traditional use is labeled as traditional use. Much of natural medicine rests on centuries of practice that modern trials have not yet caught up with. We think that history matters, and we are careful not to present it as clinical proof.
• We do not fabricate or pad citations. A reference has to exist, has to be the study we describe, and has to support the sentence it is attached to. How we check this is covered in the fact-checking policy.

Who writes and edits

DrAxe.com was founded by Dr. Josh Axe, a doctor of natural medicine (DNM), doctor of chiropractic (DC), and certified nutrition specialist (CNS). He sets the site’s editorial direction and standards, and articles are written by him or by writers and editors working under that direction. The byline on each article names its author, and articles that have had a medical review name the reviewer and the review date.

We use software, including AI tools, to help research, draft, organize, and check articles. Those tools do not publish anything. Every article is read and approved by a human editor before it goes live, and the standards on this page apply to a draft no matter how it was produced.

Medical review and fact-checking

Two separate checks sit between a draft and publication. Medical review asks whether the health guidance is sound: whether the advice is safe, whether cautions and contraindications are present, and whether the article reflects current clinical understanding. Fact-checking asks whether each specific claim is true and correctly attributed. Each has its own policy, and each is logged on the article it applies to.

How the Dr. Axe Score works

Articles about supplements, foods, herbs, and therapies carry a Dr. Axe Score: an overall rating out of 10, built from four factors that are each scored from 0 to 10 and shown on the card with a short note explaining the number.

• Scientific evidence. How much good human research exists, and how consistent it is. Randomized trials and systematic reviews count for more than observational, animal, or lab studies.
• Traditional medicine. How long, how widely, and how consistently the substance has been used in traditional healing systems.
• Safety. Side effects, interactions, and how much room there is between a useful dose and a harmful one.
• Clinical usefulness. Whether it is practical to use — easy to dose, affordable, well tolerated — and whether it is likely to make a real difference for the people it is meant for.

The overall score is our weighted judgment across those four factors, not a simple average, and every card lists the reasons behind it. The score is an editorial rating that reflects the evidence and Dr. Axe’s clinical experience. It is not a guarantee that something will work for you, and it is never for sale.

Independence and commercial relationships

DrAxe.com is funded by memberships and services, by sponsorships and partnerships, and by products we recommend. We think you should know where the money comes from, so:

• Dr. Axe co-founded Ancient Nutrition, and you will see its products recommended and linked on this site. That relationship is disclosed here and on the pages where it applies.
• Sponsors, partners, and product companies do not write, edit, or approve our articles, and they do not see them before publication.
• A Dr. Axe Score, a recommendation, or a favorable mention cannot be bought. Where a page exists to present a product or a paid service, it is presented as that, not as an independent finding.
• Ask Dr. Axe, our AI assistant, answers from Dr. Axe’s published work. Its answers are generated on the spot, are not individually reviewed by an editor, and are informational, not medical advice.

Updates and corrections

Health research moves, and so do we. Each article shows when it was published and when it was last updated; medically reviewed articles also show the date of the most recent review. When an article is substantively revised, the change is recorded in an update log at the end of the article so you can see what changed and when.

When we get something wrong, we fix it. A factual error is corrected in the article itself, the update date is refreshed, and a material correction is noted in the update log. We do not quietly rewrite. If an error could affect someone’s health decisions, correcting it takes priority over everything else on the editorial calendar.

Articles migrated from the earlier version of DrAxe.com keep their original bylines and dates. They are being reviewed and updated to the standards on this page on a rolling basis, starting with the most-read health topics.

How to reach the editorial team

To report an error, request a correction, question a source, or raise anything else about our content, email help@draxe.com with the article’s address and what you believe is wrong. Every report is read. If it leads to a change, we will make it and tell you. Our mailing address is in the privacy policy.