The Top 1% in Health Do THIS | Best Wellness Trends of 2025

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Listen, wellness trends come and go, and I know that I've seen this over my career. Everything from, hey, everyone get on the keto diet, to everybody drink apple cider vinegar every meal. But here's the reality. Some of these wellness trends are here to stay.

They have real staying power and have tremendous benefits, and others actually can wind up harming you, or at least doing more harm than good. And in this episode, I'm going to break down some of the most controversial trends of 2025 and going into 2026, including raw milk, beef tallow, kratom, nicotine gum, and so much more. Welcome to the Dr. Josh Axe Show.

Well, we see wellness trends are everywhere right now, and some are rooted in ancient practices, some are proven by science, and Some aren't proven at all. And I see a lot of people on social media, especially Instagram and YouTube, highlighting certain types of health products and practices. And again, some of them are great, some of them aren't. But here, this is the truth with most of them.

It's personalized. Some people might do very well on a parasite cleanse. Others should not do a parasite cleanse. And I have this happen all the time where people come up to me and say, Dr. Axe, should I do a parasite cleanse? And my answer is always, well, do you have parasites? Right? Because I see all these people doing parasite cleanses, but they only make sense if you have a parasite.

And the reality is, if you're taking really strong herbals like black walnut and wormwood, and you don't have a parasite, you actually typically are harming your gut microbiome and damaging your body to a degree. And there's other— or at the very least, there's other things you should be taking instead.

So the reality is, with most of these things that we're going to talk about, at least some of them, listen, some of them are good for everybody. Some of them aren't good for anybody, but for most of them, they're good only for a certain group of people. Let's start with number 1 here, raw milk. Raw milk is the original milk and it's milk that has not been pasteurized or homogenized.

And what pasteurization does, it's getting the milk at least up to 140 degrees for most cases, up to a boiling point. And that's going to kill all of the enzymes and damage a lot of the nutrients. So that's what happens in the pasteurization process. The homogenization process is really damaging the fats, the essential fatty acids there, and making them harder on the liver.

And also, it's not allowing you to get the benefits of the fat-soluble vitamins that you would get typically in milk. And so raw milk is free of Pasteurization, homogenization, and it tends to be very high in vitamin D, calcium, magnesium, vitamin K2. Also, it's very high in 2 types of protein, whey protein and casein protein.

It also contains, as we talked about, lots of healthy fatty acids, immunoglobulins. These are great for the immune system, and then enzymes and even probiotics. You're going to find those in raw milk. And I see a lot of social media influencers are promoting foods like raw milk, that of course raw milk can be good for the gut and digestion and even skin issues, and of course for your bones.

But of course, most milk today is not raw. It is pasteurized and homogenized, and then you're not getting the benefits. Now, I am a big fan of raw milk. I think that many people can benefit. Now, let me say this though, raw milk is not for everyone. I, for instance, based on— I did a genetic panel Not too long ago, and I had MTHFR mutation.

And another thing I had was lactose intolerance, generally speaking. And so milk, of course, has lactose. Now, if it's raw, it's going to have the enzymes like lactase that allow me to better absorb the milk itself. So I'll still do okay with it, or at least much better than pasteurized milk. But I've even noticed for myself drinking raw milk, it is more damp-forming.

And if you have an issue with Candida or mucus buildup or certain immune issues, raw milk is not ideal for some people. But I would say, and maybe that's 30% of people, I would say 70% of people, again, these are just estimates, will do very well with raw milk.

And especially if it's raw yogurt where it's fermented, then you don't have any lactose at all because that sugar is eaten up and turned into probiotics. Well, then you're golden. You'll probably do pretty well there as well. But again, raw milk, I think this is a trend that I am a big fan of. I would say let's keep the raw milk train going.

But the reasons it's so beneficial is high in fat-soluble vitamins, high in probiotics, high in enzymes, high in these immunoglobulins, which of course you've heard of things like colostrum, right? Now that's from the first few days or weeks of life. You have these really potent higher levels of colostrum and these immunoglobulins that have great benefits. Also, raw milk has peptides.

Which are part of that family of immunoglobulins that help bolster and strengthen the immune system. And so again, I think raw milk is fantastic for so many reasons.

I think one of the biggest benefits is building bone health, which of course, especially kids and older adults, or if you're going through menopause and you have worries about osteopenia or osteoporosis, there's a lot of benefits there. But I am a big fan of raw milk. And there are studies around the benefits of raw milk. There are studies like the Alex Report.

And the PASTURE study in Europe, these studies found that children who consumed more raw milk had lower cases of eczema and asthma. We also know that early life consumption of raw milk was linked to a 30% reduced risk of respiratory infections, asthma, and allergies in children that were raised on farms.

I recently interviewed Will Witt who worked on a raw dairy farm and did a raw milk cleanse for 10 days. So listen to this. Raw milk cleanse. The only thing he ate was raw milk, and he was able to cure his gout and other health issues completely drinking only raw milk.

I've also talked with Jordan Rubin and Alex Clark on the podcast about their experiences in drinking raw milk, and they shared some fascinating testimonies of how it radically transformed their healing journey. And if you want to watch those episodes, we'll link them in the show notes as well.

For instance, my friend Jordan Rubin, had ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease and cured himself of inflammatory bowel disease drinking— the number one thing he ate was raw goat's milk kefir. So it was raw milk that was turned in, fermented and turned into kefir, which is a yogurt-like substance high in probiotics. And he was able to cure his inflammatory bowel disease eating that primarily.

Had a few other things too. He would do some carrot juice and, and a little bit of things like wild salmon. But that was his whole diet. Cured Crohn's disease. So raw milk is probably one of my favorite, if not one of my favorite, if not my favorite trend here that I see people jumping on today. But again, just remember this: not everyone tolerates dairy well.

Listen, everybody tolerates raw dairy better than the conventional pasteurized homogenized dairy, and fermenting it into yogurt or kefir has additional benefits. And so for myself, who does not do well with that well with dairy. The thing I do the best with is a fermented organic goat's milk, raw milk yogurt or kefir.

That's what I will do the best with, especially if it's just a small portion or even things like butter that's raw and organic. And if you want to know, hey, where do I get raw milk? Go to your local farmer's market.

That's typically your best bet and find your local farmer who does raw milk, raw yogurt, raw butter, those sort of foods, but that's really where you want to look for those sort of products. And listen, if you don't have access to raw milk, you can get raw cheese. Even places like Whole Foods Market have raw cheeses that are great options there as well.

So again, raw milk trend, it's an A+ in my book, a big fan. Number 2 trend I see here that's sort of controversial is beef tallow, eating loads and loads of animal fat. Beef tallow is rendered fat from cattle. It's rich in saturated fats and fat-soluble nutrients including vitamin A, D, E, and K2, also something called CLA, which is conjugated linoleic acid, and other anti-inflammatory compounds.

So again, beef tallow, we know it's been used for a long time for cooking and for actually for, for as a skin moisturizer. I will say my favorite use of beef tallow is as a skin moisturizer because the sort of fats you're going to have in animals are most similar to our own fats. And if you get really dry skin, Nothing is going to work better for you than beef tallow.

Again, you can use plant-based oils like coconut oil or shea butter, and those are good, but they're not the exact sort of genetic makeup in terms of the type of oils your own skin produces. Beef tallow is. Again, we're talking about mammal to mammal here, not plant to mammal. And so, it's going to be very, very hydrating to your skin. So, for that reason, I really like beef tallow.

Now, beef tallow is trending because it's promoted as part of a carnivore and low-carb and even keto diet. And today, it's also seen as an alternative to a lot of these highly processed industrial seed oils. In fact, we even see certain restaurants, I want to say maybe it was Steak 'n Shake or Shake Shack or a few other restaurants, maybe even In-N-Out.

I'm trying to remember the exact ones, but some of these restaurants now are switching over from these highly processed seed oils they're frying their French fries in, and now they're doing beef tallow fries. Do I think that's an upgrade? Absolutely. Okay, that's absolutely an upgrade in most cases.

But I do also want to say that beef tallow, especially in high doses, is not for everyone, including myself, and I'll share about that in a minute. But again, beef tallow, the big benefits are they're fats similar to our own body. Another big great thing I like about them is they're stable under high heat. Which is really good for frying and sautéing vegetables compared to other vegetable oils.

So if you're frying and sautéing foods like vegetables or potatoes, they're not going to oxidize as easily and become— and it's not going to damage the fat. So frying, sautéing with beef tallow is great. There are studies on it, as I mentioned, with skincare and it being really hydrating.

In fact, there's a study that shows that tallow can significantly increase skin hydration And act as a delivery vehicle for nutrients when combined with a carrier oil on the skin. So again, beef tallow is a great, great option for lip balm, for skincare, body care. Now, by the way, I do not like it for face as much, for most people.

But in terms of if you've got really dry skin in other areas of the body, I really like it. Or at least if you're prone to acne, you can. If you're not prone to acne at all or redness on your skin, then you can do beef tallow on your face.

Okay.

But a lot of people, their face is more sensitive in terms of their skin. And there's another study that was published in the journal Nutrients, and they found that there's a compound in beef tallow called CLA, and it improves weight loss, improves insulin sensitivity, and reduces inflammation. So there are benefits there. Now, here's why it's controversial.

It is very high in saturated fat content that some studies, not all, some studies have connected with heart disease.

Now listen.

I don't believe that beef tallow in some of these studies is necessarily a big contributor to heart disease, but I do believe that there are a number of people, and this is based on Chinese medicine and other forms of ancient medicine, that beef tallow and those sort of saturated fats in beef tallow, which by the way, it's different than coconut oil.

These are very different types of fats, but beef tallow will cause some issues with the liver and gallbladder. It can cause your bile to be sluggish. So if you're looking to really detoxify, it's going to slow down your detoxification pathways of your liver and it's going to back up your gallbladder.

Now again, for some people, if you have a very robust and healthy detoxification system, that's not a problem for you at all. Okay? But if you know you have a compromised gallbladder and you don't detoxify very well, Then you're not going to want to do a lot of beef tallow, okay? Because again, it's sort of— listen, different organs have to deal with different macronutrients, right?

So your liver and gallbladder have to deal with fat. So if you're eating these large amounts of fat constantly, especially ones that your liver and gallbladder have to work harder with— by the way, your liver and gallbladder are going to have to work harder to deal with the fatty acids in beef tallow Much more than it would in flaxseeds or coconut oil or even extra virgin olive oil.

Your liver is going to work harder with beef tallow. And here's my point with this is that, again, there's a lot of people saying, I'm just going to eat beef tallow all day, every day, and it's good for everybody and everybody should eat beef tallow. Well, it's not that simple.

Again, for many people, you're going to thrive and do great on beef tallow, and is it going to be better substitute than a highly processed industrialized seed oil that's genetically modified like canola oil? I believe so. Okay, I believe so. But do I believe that— and by the way, that's not even necessarily true for everybody.

I want to say this, for some people, they may do better with certain seed oils, especially if it's a raw seed oil, like a flaxseed oil. That's a seed and it's an oil. It's a cold-pressed oil. Well, I will personally do better on it because the organ systems that I personally feel the most stress in is my liver, gallbladder, and lymphatic systems.

And so I'm always trying to do things to keep my liver and my bile flowing. And beef tallow will slow that down in a lot of people if you're doing especially too much of it. So that's why, again, a lot of these influencers online, they're just doing beef tallow for everything. For some people, they will tolerate that very well. But some people won't.

And that's the thing I think people have a hard time with is we just feel like, well, apple cider vinegar or beef tallow, that's good for everybody and you can do as much of it as you want. No, that's not true. Everybody is a unique individual and this personalized nutrition and personalized medicine is something we need to pay close attention to.

So again, the Chinese medicine perspective on this is that beef tallow is considered A little bit more clogging to people that have patterns resulting in dampness or phlegm accumulation or liver stagnation. Okay?

And so that's where we want to actually go moderate, not high fat, but moderate to lower in fat and pick fats that puts less stress on the liver like coconut oil and small amounts of things like flax oil and omega-3s. That's going to actually support liver and bile flow.

Okay.

And that's why there are other oils that are sometimes better than beef tallow. But again, overall, I am a fan of these ancestral diets where we're doing things like beef tallow and incorporating it. But again, just remember, it's not ideal for everybody. But I do think for people with dry skin, it is probably the most optimal thing for your skin health.

Now, I actually did an interview with 2 skin experts. Who shared that using beef tallow on your face may not be the best thing for your skin. Again, they believed it was great for your body, but not for your face. And you can check out that episode if you want to know the ideal skincare, when to use beef tallow, when to not. You can find that in the show notes when it comes to skincare.

The number 3 wellness trend I want to expose the truth about is the carnivore diet. Now, the carnivore diet is an extreme form of a low-carb eating that focuses exclusively on eating animal products like meat and organs and eggs and sometimes dairy, sometimes not, but always meat for the most part.

In some cases, it's used as a type of elimination diet that aims to reduce inflammation, improve digestion, resolve chronic GI issues. You know, a friend of mine, Mikhaila Peterson, she did even one step beyond this. She does something called the Lion Diet where you eat only red meat. So basically beef, bison, lamb is really about the only type of meat you eat as an option as well.

We see a lot of influencers popularizing the carnivore diet. Of course, Dr. Paul Saladino, Dr. Shawn Baker. Typically, the claims around this diet are it relieving autoimmune disease, bloating, skin issues, and joint pain. And I have seen patients and people I've worked with follow a carnivore diet for a period of time and seen those same results.

And so I can attest to The benefits of the carnivore diet. However, I do want to say I don't believe the carnivore diet is an ideal diet long-term. I think the goal for most people is to take care of something like SIRS, where we have this chronic inflammatory condition or serious autoimmune condition or an issue like mold.

And the reason why this diet works is you reduce anything that's fermentable and you reduce really anything that can cause a histamine reaction. And the diet works for a period of time because you're sort of giving the body a rest and you're not feeding any sort of dysbiosis or bad microbes that can cause these sort of severe reactions that you might see.

And of course, there's also things like oxalates and lectins and phytic acid and some of these things you're going to find in a lot of vegetables and nuts and a lot of plant foods that can bother the GI as well. So again, for that reason, a carnivore diet in the short term for many people has tremendous benefits.

However, I believe the carnivore diet long term is going to lead to some health issues. Another benefit of the carnivore diet is when you're eating a lot of meat or only meat essentially, and maybe eggs, you're balancing your blood sugar in a tremendous way, right? I mean, if you're having almost only protein and fat, you're balancing insulin. Which is going to reduce inflammation.

I mean, when you optimize your blood sugar and insulin sensitivity, the benefits are tremendous. And so for that reason, a carnivore diet in the short term can be a really, a really great thing.

It's also, if you're eating a lot of red meat and wild-caught salmon and you're doing grass-fed organic wild meats, you're getting loads of omega-3 fatty acids in EPA, DHA, lots of vitamin B12, lots of CLA, lots of heme iron, lots of zinc, vitamin A. Collagen, healthy fats, high protein. I mean, there are a lot of benefits there of following this type of diet in the short term.

And of course, the weight loss as well for many people can be tremendous. And as I mentioned before, experiencing relief in autoimmune flares and inflammatory bowel disease and bloating, even anxiety, you're going to see some of these benefits. And there are studies that prove this, by the way. There's a 2021 study that was published in a medical journal. On carnivore diet eaters.

Over 90% reported improved health, including weight loss, mental clarity, and reversal of chronic symptoms. 98% Reported improved or resolved diabetes and insulin resistance. So really powerful evidence here. And I want to say these were— that this was not a double-blind study. There was no control group. Okay? So it's not the most accurate study.

However, To have that many people go through, over 90%, and say, I noticed a dramatic improvement, that's powerful. Again, though, the thing I want to say is I did an interview about a year ago with Dr. James DiNicolantonio. He's a PhD. He's a researcher.

And he said what they're finding with people with a carnivore diet long-term is that it is causing some micronutrient deficiencies such as low levels of vitamin C. Magnesium, fiber, and extremely low fiber and extremely low polyphenols in a diet can impact gut health and brain health long-term.

And of course, if you're deficient in vitamin C and magnesium, that can impact your cellular health there as well. This is why, again, I mentioned Paul Saladino earlier. Paul, Dr. Paul, who is a health influencer and And we've had him on the show before, a really knowledgeable guy. He is no longer on a carnivore diet, by the way.

And he's sort of the, I would say, the pioneer and was the most outspoken and popularized figure in the entire carnivore movement. And he added fruit and honey and raw organic fermented dairy into his diet because he was noticing issues like fatigue.

Okay.

And I think immunodeficiency. And that happens when you don't have vitamin C and magnesium and you're missing some of the things you need for mitochondrial function and health. And so again, he added in things like certain types of fruit, which he noticed an immediate benefit from.

And one of the things Dr. James DiNicolantonio talked about was, and this really aligns with Chinese medicine, by the way, when you're eating meat and meat and meat, One of the benefits is your body's getting to be very anabolic, which means it's regenerative, it's healing. So there are some benefits there.

However, when you're anabolic and you don't have anything that's catabolic where your body's sort of eating and recycling itself, you are not cleansing as well. And you also get an imbalance in minerals.

For instance, if you're not getting magnesium and calcium and potassium because you're only eating meat, these are minerals that are more alkaline in nature, so your body gets into a state of being—.

Acidic.

Hyperacidic, and in order to alkalize itself, your body will start pulling some minerals out of your bones and organs to alkalize and balance the pH in your body. This is what Dr. James DiNicolantonio believed and what he said the clinical evidence and the studies are showing of what happens if you follow a carnivore diet long-term.

So just remember, I think the carnivore diet is a good trend to do in a short-term if you're in a health crisis. But long-term, you do want to add back in certain fruits and vegetables, certain other foods that can actually give your body certain minerals it needs, like magnesium, like potassium, vitamins like vitamin C, which are not found in meat products.

And again, those people, again, and I see most of the time somebody has something like a major autoimmune issue or inflammatory issue where you're having lots of histamine reactions. The carnivore diet will fix those symptoms, but it's not getting your body fully back to where it needs to be.

And it really is beneficial to work with a functional medicine practitioner to where you can maybe go carnivore, then you can do a mold detoxification protocol and get rid of all of the pathogens in your body.

And then you can be adding in probiotics and you can add in just a small amount of— what I do with patients is We start off with something like baked pear and we might do a little bit of that.

And you start off with just a tablespoon a day and you slowly reintegrate and add back in certain cooked vegetables like carrots and things like pears slowly in order to get off the carnivore diet and get back on a more normalized diet that where you do have still plenty of organic meat, but also things like fruits and vegetables to balance things out.

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If you want to check it out and grab one before they're gone, just go to mybloodwork.com now. The next wellness trend I want to talk about are nootropics. Okay, nootropics are substances, oftentimes natural, sometimes synthetic, that can enhance brain function, focus, memory, motivation, creativity, and even mental clarity.

And some of the most popular nootropics include herbs like ginkgo biloba, rhodiola rosea, lion's mane mushroom, bacopa, cordyceps, nutrients like medium-chain fatty acids and L-theanine. And they're often stacked together or combined with stimulants like matcha or coffee.

Now, it's trending because of rising levels of burnout, also conditions like ADHD diagnoses, digital distractions and fueling the demand for mental performance enhancers. And I can tell you for myself, when I was a kid, I was diagnosed with ADHD. I had a very, very difficult time focusing.

And I wish when I was in high school and later on in college that I would have learned about natural nootropics. And I can remember very clearly so many kids getting on Ritalin and Adderall in college when this would be a much healthier option. Doing these natural nootropics.

Now, I also want to say, sometimes I see these people, these executives more so than anybody, people that are trying to work 50, 60 hours a week, and they are burning out their adrenal glands, their thyroid, and their testosterone levels because they're drinking coffee 5 times a day. And then, they're trying to stack on top of it a bunch of these nootropics.

And so, they're just sort of burning through all their energy reserves, all their mitochondrial energy. And then later on, they just crash and they feel drained. And maybe they become more susceptible to conditions like chronic infections or an issue like long COVID because they've just absolutely burned through all their cellular energy.

So the thing I want to mention is I am a fan of nootropics and many of these herbs I'm going to talk about, but don't use them as a crutch or simply to be able to go more and more and more and more until you totally crash and burn. The way that I use nootropics are Like, this week on Friday, my next book I'm writing, I've got to turn in the manuscript. Okay?

And when I'm working on writing and being creative, I like doing a matcha green tea with my special blend I have of lion's mane mushroom and ginkgo biloba, L-theanine, rhodiola, cordyceps. I like doing that. Okay?

And I'll use that if I'm going to really go in for a session of maybe I'm going to write for a half day, do a 4-hour session, I want to be really creative and focused and locked in, I will do that maybe once a week. Okay? But I'm not taking nootropics every day and relying on them and also pounding caffeine.

I mean, I found for myself, I can handle one matcha daily or a half-half of coffee and a half decaf, half caffeine, but that's all my body can handle. Now listen, some people can handle much, much more caffeine than I can. But overall, Relying on caffeine and stimulants is not healthy. It's not healthy.

However, there are natural things you could do like these nootropics that I am a fan of, and I want to walk through those with you right now. Here are some of the benefits of many of these nootropics. One is increased blood flow to the brain, which by the way is also great for reducing the risk of Alzheimer's disease.

Ginkgo biloba is the single best herb for that, but kopa is also beneficial for that. But overall, ginkgo is the absolute best for blood flow to the brain. Neurogenesis and nerve growth factor, lion's mane mushroom is great for that. So helping create new neural pathways and repairing the brain, lion's mane mushroom is great for that. Stress resilience and mood balance.

So if you feel like caffeine gets you a little bit too hyper, L-theanine can sort of bring you down, reduce stress levels. There's big benefits of that. And then there's sustained energy. MCT oil, matcha, cordyceps are good for that. Rhodiola is kind of a blend of stress resilience and sustained energy, which is great.

Another thing I love about Rhodiola rosea is it's a mitochondrial booster, so it's even good for people with things like hypothyroidism. So I'm a big fan of Rhodiola for that reason as well.

And as I mentioned with Rhodiola rosea, there is a study on it showing it reduces fatigue, it improves exercise performance, but also It's been shown to increase attention during stressful tasks, and it can improve ADHD symptoms, including in teens. So that's why I'm a huge fan of rhodiola, maybe one of my favorites on this entire list.

Another great nootropic for cellular energy are cordyceps mushrooms. Those have shown in studies to improve your VO2 max and aerobic capacity, but also your endurance in being able to study for longer periods of time. L-theanine is another favorite, as I mentioned. This also improves sleep quality. L-theanine is naturally found in green tea. So you've got both caffeine and theanine in green tea.

So this is why I prefer— I do better with matcha than coffee because I've noticed that I don't get the jitters. I sort of have this natural calmness and focus when I do matcha versus coffee. Not to say coffee isn't beneficial for some people, it can be. I just personally prefer matcha for that reason.

Of course, the longevity studies on matcha and its compounds, like on its EGCG content, are really amazing as well. But overall, listen, I'm a fan of nootropics. I think it's a great wellness trend if it's done cyclically, typically not daily, to where you are simply just adding it on to your stressful lifestyle of busyness and loads of caffeine.

And, you know, and you're just adding it, adding it on to that. But I do think using it periodically, a few days a week, to get in a zone of focus has major benefits. And of course, much, much healthier alternative than using an ADHD drug like an Adderall or a Ritalin or another, you know, drug that's in that class of drugs.

Number 5 wellness trend I'm constantly asked about that's been really popular in 2025 and going into 2026 is nicotine. Nicotine is a stimulant compound naturally found in tobacco. It's mostly associated with cigarettes, but today it's being used in gum and lozenges and patches as a nootropic.

It activates the nicotine acetylcholine receptors in the brain, which are involved in attention, learning, memory, and arousal. And I see a lot of biohackers and productivity influencers are promoting low-dose nicotine as a cognitive enhancer and appetite suppressant. And studies suggest that nicotine can improve mental performance, especially in those people that are sleep deprived.

And there are some early studies showing it may be beneficial for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's because of how it brings blood to the brain. You know, another benefit is it can be good for people who are trying to transition away from cigarette smoking and breaking that addiction. There are some benefits there as well, and it works by stimulating dopamine and acetylcholine.

These are key neurotransmitters for motivation and learning. Now let me share with you the clinical view from my perspective and the ancient view from Chinese medicine. Nicotine in Chinese medicine is known as a hot An acrid compound, which means it stimulates yang and moves qi. Okay?

Which in Western medicine, let's say you are really low in testosterone and you just— you're not getting much movement. Your body is really sluggish. Doing a little nicotine on occasion can be helpful.

However, if you would do this every day or even several times a week for a long period of time, It does something in the body called it dries up yin and agitates the heart and also depletes kidney essence long-term. Here's what this means in Western medicine. It dries up your fluids. It's going to cause dryness of skin, dryness of mouth.

Think about— it's a very similar thing that happens when people use THC, right? THC, which is found in cannabis, people will notice when they do it in larger amounts, it causes that dry mouth, dry eye. You get that dryness, right? And that heat. It's going to cause that nicotine very similar way.

In fact, it's very similar in its properties to THC in terms of the effect it has on the body physiologically. So it's going to drop this. Now listen, this would be really bad for a woman going through menopause, right? Women are having hot flashes, their skin's getting drier, sometimes their hair thinner.

I mean, they're noticing changes because when estrogen, progesterone decrease, those are yin Hormones. Of course, they're feminine hormones. Yin is more feminine, yang is more masculine. You are drying up your yin. So nicotine patches for a woman going through perimenopause or menopause would be about the worst thing you could ever do.

So I just want to say nicotine in small amounts, probably men that are older on occasion, that would be fine. For them, like once a week. Again, like I was talking about nootropics earlier, once a week, you're trying to get in a really focused zone. I remember Robert F. Kennedy Jr., many of you remember this, he's in this hearing where he is just being grilled for days on end.

And the guy's probably exhausted. He's been traveling over the country, he's been campaigning, he's been doing a number of things. And you see him kind of slip in this gum, nicotine gum. And so, for someone like him, Doing that for that one stressful period of time, hey, that might make sense.

And for you who are saying, hey, I've got this deadline coming up, I want to do it for 2 or 3 days once a month or on occasion, as long as you're not very dry and you don't have major heart issues or chronic fatigue or adrenal issues, right? If your adrenals are really depleted, it will make you worse as well.

But as long as all those things line up and you just use it on occasion, you'll be just fine. But again, as you can see though, nicotine is not good for everybody long-term because of how it dries the lung and dries out certain areas of the body and causes excess heat within the body. Now, here's some other reasons why it's controversial.

It can be highly addictive even in the gum form, can raise blood pressure, heart rate, and increase cardiovascular risk. I just mentioned the TCM on how it affects the heart. Western medicine shows it also impacts the heart. Long-term use can contribute to oral health issues. Again, the dryness and what it's doing into your oral microbiome.

And not a good option for those with anxiety, insomnia, or yin deficiency constitutions like major menopausal symptoms, not ideal for those people. But it can be used on occasion for those for mental clarity and focus. For short periods of time. Next up is kratom. Now, some of you maybe have not heard of kratom.

Some of you might be very familiar with it, but it's a tropical evergreen tree that is native to Asia. Its leaves contain alkaloids that act on opioid receptors. Now, when we impact opioid receptors, think about opium. What is that? What do people typically take for that today? As a sedative and as a pain reliever, right? So, so that's why kratom is typically used today.

Now, it also does have some other compounds that can oftentimes be used for energy, mood elevation, and of course, tied to being a sedative, anxiety relief and pain management there as well. And it's used as a natural alternative to opioids and stimulants and antidepressants. And it's promoted on social media typically for chronic pain, anxiety, and fatigue.

Some people use it to wean off of other addictive substances like cannabis or opioids or other things that might have more serious side effects.

In fact, there was a 2018 study that was published in the Journal of Drug and Alcohol Dependence, and they found that the most common reason people took kratom were for 91% of the time for pain relief, 67% of the time anxiety relief, and 65% of the time depression. You see, so again, it's pain relief and it's anxiety and depression are why people are taking it today.

Now, from a traditional Chinese medicine point of view, Again, very similar to nicotine, very similar to THC, it is hot and it is dry. So you're going to use up all of these yin fluids and you're going to experience for a period of time this calming of your Shen, this calming of the body. But it's going to deplete your yin and impact the liver negatively with long-term use.

Again, here's the thing, you got chronic pain, you're going to need to Let's say you just had surgery and you're trying to decide between, do I take this oxycodone that I know is very hard on the body, or do I try and do less of that or none of that and I try and take kratom instead? Of course, kratom is going to be much— it's more natural.

It's going to have less severe side effects, less hard on the liver. It's a much better option if you can do that compared to these, again, OxyContin, oxycodone, some sort of drug like that that is typically prescribed.

But still, over time with long-term use, you are going to dry out the body, okay, those fluids, which is going to age you in certain organ systems like your liver, your heart, and your adrenal glands. So it's not something you want to do long-term. But again, as a medicine, as a natural form of medicine for short-term use for a week or two, yes, kratom can be great. For those reasons.

If you struggle with allergies, poor sleep, or just feeling off at home, you might not realize how much your indoor air quality is to blame. And unfortunately, most air purifiers don't actually clean the air. They filter a few particles, but they miss the mold spores, the VOCs, and even wildfire smoke that can trigger inflammation in your body. And that's why I personally use Jasper Air Scrubber.

In my own home, and I can honestly say the difference is incredible. Jasper's medical-grade purification actually scrubs the air, not just filtering it. And you can feel the difference too. It's fresher, it's lighter, it's easier to breathe, and it's whisper quiet so you forget it's even running. On top of that, filter changes take 30 seconds. No tools, no mess.

If you want to support your family's health naturally, Head to jasper.co/Axe and use Axe to save $400 off your Jasper Air Scrubber. Again, that's jasper.co/Axe to get $400 off your Jasper Air Scrubber today. Now, I want to say this, you know, what was oftentimes done in Chinese medicine is very rarely did you take a single herb. By itself. That's very popularized in Western medicine today.

What you would typically do in Chinese medicine, and of course, Ayurvedic medicine as well, is you would tend to combine multiple herbs so where you didn't— you could take certain herbs longer term. Okay? So what's happening today is somebody might be taking, I don't know, whatever dosage of kratom or other herb like 1,000 milligrams.

Okay.

Well, what they would do in Chinese medicine is you might only take 200 milligrams, but then you would take other things with it that might even offset the damage that something like kratom would do. And here's an example, okay? CBD is very yin-boosting. It's going to have the opposite effect of kratom or even THC.

So when you are taking CBD with a THC or kratom or nicotine, It is helping balance it out some. Now, you can still have those side effects, but if you do a half dose and then you add CBD to it, you're able to take it longer term. So one of the things that I consult and recommend patients do, let's say you're dealing with chronic pain, okay?

You can take kratom for a period of time, but let's also add in CBD and turmeric and magnesium and some other things that are also going to relieve pain. But also help bring some more fluids to the body, support heart health, and nourish those organs that maybe where kratom is being too drying in the body.

So a lot of times you can combine kratom and other herbals that might have certain side effects with other herbs that help offset that and do lower doses and do it for a longer period of time. Our next wellness trend that I am a huge fan of is ozone therapy. Medical-grade ozone is a triatomic oxygen gas, so it's O3. So when we tend to think of oxygen, what's oxygen? It's O2.

Okay, ozone is O3, and it's used to enhance oxygen utilization, reduce pathogens, and support mitochondrial health. And it can be administered typically through IVs, also through insufflation, also it can be due in something called Major autohemotherapy where you actually take your own blood, goes into a machine, they then add in ozone, and then they put the blood back in your body.

If you've ever heard of something called EBOO or a 10-pass ozone machine, these are these ozone that literally take your blood 10 times and add ozone to it. So there are many ways to do ozone. Okay. This is continuing to trend with biohackers and also doctors of functional medicine who use this especially for treating chronic infections, autoimmune disease, and for its longevity benefits.

In fact, there was a study in 2018, this was a randomized trial, and they found that ozone therapy greatly improved fatigue and mitochondrial energy markers in chronic fatigue syndrome.

Yeah.

One of the major, major benefits of using ozone, what ozone does from a Chinese medicine perspective is it clears out toxic heat and moves Qi stagnation. This improves circulation, it helps you fight pathogens. Now, too much ozone can deplete your body's yin and fluids. So it's, again, like anything, you don't want to overdo it. But I really like ozone for if somebody has chronic infections.

Now, if somebody is in a phase where they are are absolutely depleted and they know they have major overgrowth. I don't like doing that in phase 1 of a care plan for a patient. I like first strengthening their body, getting them in a little bit of an infrared sauna, and taking a couple months of building their body up and using nutrition first.

Then I'll have them do ozone or even something like plasma exchange as part of a mold detoxification therapy or Lyme disease protocol. But again, ozone as part of a phase 2 or 3 plan for chronic infections is absolutely amazing. Also amazing for even the common cold or flu. So a lot of benefits there for immune systems and fighting infections.

So again, ozone has major benefits for fighting infections. Number 8 wellness trend is taking shilajit. Shilajit is a mineral-rich resin from Himalayan rock layers containing fulvic acid, humic acid, and trace minerals, and it's marketed as a testosterone support, energy booster, and longevity support.

A clinical study showed that 250 milligrams a day of Shilajit for 90 days increased total and free testosterone in healthy men. And so overall, Shilajit helps raise testosterone and replenish something called chi in the body or cellular energy in the mitochondria. So I am a fan of shilajit. I think it's a great supplement for a number of people.

The only thing I'll say, I found in some people that if they have weak digestion or loose stools, that shilajit may not agree with them. Okay. So if you've got digestive distress, then you may not want to take shilajit. But for most everyone else, especially men with low testosterone, great benefits there of shilajit. The number 9 wellness trend, maybe the most popular of all.

Ice baths and cold plunging. Cold plunging is immersing yourself in cold water that is below 60 degrees to stimulate the nervous system and support metabolic resilience. It's really trending because Wim Hof, his influence on mental toughness culture and its benefits of cryotherapy being tied to cryotherapy and reducing inflammation, especially post-sports recovery. That's why it's trending.

Here's a few studies. Cold exposure has been shown to increase norepinephrine by 200% to 300%, improving focus, mood, and resilience. So there are studies showing that ice baths reduce inflammation, improve recovery in the short term, and have some benefits. However, again, however, doing too much too fast or just doing it whatsoever for certain people is not ideal.

If you have hypothyroidism, Or chronic fatigue syndrome or low body temperature, you just get cold more easily, you have poor circulation, you should not cold plunge. It's not great for you. Okay?

What you can do is while you're taking a warm shower, turn it cold for 1 minute and do some deep breathing exercises in the shower where the water's hitting you at, I don't know what it is, 65 degrees, 60 degrees, that's fine. And then that's it. And then you turn it back up to warm. That is probably the ideal thing for the majority of people. Okay.

Now listen, if you're in the Tour de France or you're a CrossFit athlete and you're a male creating a lot of heat, generating a lot of heat, getting in something cold, especially if you're looking to recover more quickly, if you have a competition coming up like you'll see NFL football players do or the men in the Tour de France, yeah, it makes sense doing cold plunge.

But this cold plunging— and listen, it will make you feel more mentally tough and maybe will make you more mentally tough. So I think doing some cold plunging on occasion can be fine, but doing it every day, all the time, it absolutely is going to hurt your body. In fact, from the Chinese medicine perspective, cold strengthens yang by challenging it, but excess cold injures your kidney yang.

It's like this. Think about it like this. You're weight training. Okay? And you go to the gym, and your body can handle the 25, 30-pound dumbbell curls. Okay? You're sitting there, you're doing those curls, you do a normal amount of sets, you put them down, you move on. Okay? And then let's say you go in there, and then every day you do arm curls, not one day a week, every day.

And then you're like, I'm gonna start doing 40s and 50s. And you're kind of like, you know, straining every— just constantly, you're eventually going to injure yourself, you're going to tear a ligament, a tendon, The same thing is true with cold plunging. Okay? It's not meant to do every day, maybe 1 or 2 days a week. Okay?

And then even then, some of you need to start off with the 10-pound dumbbells. That's a cold shower. Okay? You're not ready for the 50s. Okay? So, and for— and again, for people that have weak constitutions, if you're not healing well, you don't want to do a lot of cold. If you have digestive issues, you do not want to do cold.

If you've got cold, damp, hypothyroidism, chronic fatigue syndrome, do not do cold plunge. Okay? Now, again, if you're a fairly healthy male or— and women, the reason I'm saying male, if you're a woman, you can recover and do some cold plunge, but your body's still a little bit more sensitive. You have less testosterone, which testosterone is very warming and anabolic. Okay?

So a male can handle cooling their body for a little bit because it will challenge it, but not overchallenge it. It's easier for a woman to have their testosterone overchallenged and it to break their body. Okay? Just like men can lift typically more weight, not all men, okay? But typically have the ability to due to the higher levels of the hormone testosterone, very similar thing.

So listen, here's the reality.

Okay.

Cool your body in the way that your body can handle. Okay? For a lot of you, it's no cold whatsoever. You're much better off getting an infrared sauna, much better off. Okay? In fact, almost everybody can benefit from an infrared sauna. For some of you, it's a cold shower for 1 minute, a few days a week. Okay?

And for some of you, it's maybe 2 days a week of a cold plunge in the 50s, And then also you're doing other things for, you know, you're also lifting plenty of weights and doing other things that's going to help offset that cold plunge. Okay, so that's the Chinese medicine perspective, my professional opinion as well, and based on the medical studies.

The number 10 wellness trend is sourdough bread. This is bread made with live yeast, lactic acid bacteria, rather than commercial quick-rise yeast. Why it's trending? Partly due to my wife loving it so much. You know, we've got celebrities like Carrie Underwood. Of course, Carrie's a friend. She's been on the show here. And so many homesteaders and influencers are now making sourdough bread.

I was just having a conversation with Mallory Irvin. You might also know people like Shawn Johnson. These are women who are also getting into making sourdough bread because they're amazing family women. And what kid does not love sourdough bread and butter? We all love it. Okay. The benefits are when you do sourdough processing, it's breaking down the gluten.

You're getting more absorption of the minerals because you kill off phytic acid. It's lower glycemically. There are lots of benefits to sourdough bread, and it's been shown to, in studies, have less impact on your blood sugar. Now, I do want to say this, that you can have too much of a good thing. Okay?

If you have— let's say you have diabetes and major insulin issues and you're eating bread and bread and bread and more bread, even though it's sourdough, It's going to impact your blood sugar, okay? Less than traditional bread, and if you add butter, it's going to impact it even less.

But overall, it's not ideal for those trying to— who need to lose a lot of weight or supporting certain levels of metabolic health. But again, it's much better. So again, I'm a big fan of the wellness trend of sourdough, especially if it's done in small to moderate amounts. And then the last wellness trend here is parasite cleansing. I started the show talking about this.

Parasite cleansing is all about ridding your body, your liver, your intestines, your bloodstream of infections and parasites. I see a lot of TikTok influencers talking about how doing a parasite cleanse cured their bloating or their skin problems or some other health issue. That can be true. Parasite cleansing can be amazing.

The most powerful herbs typically used as part of a parasite cleanse are black walnut, wormwood, clove, Mimosa pudica, berberine, major benefits. But many of those herbs, it's important to know, are very hard on the gut.

And so it's important to know that if you do not have a parasite, it's not doing you good and it actually is probably going to deplete your digestive system some, putting you more at risk of a digestive issue. So again, I'm a big fan of parasite cleansing. Only if you have a parasite. Okay?

Only if you have a parasite, you're certain you have a parasite, or you likely do, then let's do a parasite cleanse and you can get lots of benefits from that. So those are some of the most popular wellness trends I've seen in 2025. I know we're going to continue into 2026. I've tried to expose the truth about how these should be used for your benefit.

And as you can see, it's so dependent upon your own biology. Some people are going to really thrive on some, some not as much on others, but overall, you really need to listen to your body, be aware of your own internal body, and typically use them on occasion based on need.

I want to say thanks so much for tuning in here to the Dr. Josh Axe Show, where each and every week I'm diving deep into the science and principles of how you can heal physically, mentally, and spiritually, and take your health And your life to the next level. Make sure to subscribe, like, and share. By the way, subscribing is the number one thing you can do to support the show.

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