Top 12 Most Misunderstood Supplements & Therapies (That Actually Work)

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Together, let's drive. You've probably already heard of supplements like vitamin D, magnesium, or turmeric, but what about nicotine patches for memory, or methylene blue for mitochondrial health, or even ivermectin for parasites and cancer? Well, some of the most powerful tools in functional and cellular medicine are often the most misunderstood.

And on this episode, I'll be walking you through how people like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Joe Rogan are using many of these different compounds and herbs for their own health, along with many other doctors and scientists, and also be going through the 12 most controversial yet potentially life-changing compounds and exactly what you need to know about them. Welcome to the Dr. Josh Axe Show.

So there's this sort of gray area in functional medicine that includes compounds that straddle the line between medicine and biohacking, or even between being controversial and cutting edge. And these include ingredients like peptides, THC from cannabis, psilocybin, colloidal silver, creatine, ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, nicotine, and so much more.

And on today's episode, I'll be diving deep into all of these individual compounds, saying which ones you should consider, which ones you should stay away from, and the right dose and the things you need to know about exactly how to take them. And also, make sure to stay on until the very end because the last compound I'm going to talk about, I can't even talk about on YouTube.

You're not going to want to miss that one. And all of these ingredients have one thing in common. They are either underestimated, misunderstood, or often misused, but when applied correctly with the right dose and guidance, they can have surprising potential healing, cognitive, and longevity benefits. I'll just share with you, I had him on the show here a couple months ago.

My cousin, Dr. Pete Sulak, was given less than a 1% chance to live. Do you hear that? Less than a 1% chance to live because he was diagnosed with a type of glioblastoma and a brain tumor. And one of the things that he personally took was ivermectin, along with some of the other things we've talked about here. And today he is cancer-free.

And there— so there are a lot of things out there that are misunderstood or misused. But I would also say this: ivermectin is not something I'd recommend for everyone to take, only for a specific condition in a specific dosage. And so there's this old saying that's something like this: the dose determines the poison or the medicine.

So basically, you know, if you take the wrong dosage of something, of one of these things I'm getting into, It can either be incredible medicine for healing your body or be a poison as well. So we'll get into the dosage and all those things as well. I want to start off here with THC, CBD, and psychedelics.

Now, these were banned for a very, very long period of time, up until recent years when studies started to be released on some of their potential medicinal benefits. And I have very strong stances on these, and I'll get into these here. As well. So first, I want to dive into what are they and then get into who should take them and who should not take them. The first one here is THC.

That stands for tetrahydrocannabinol. Okay? And CBD is cannabidiol. And these are active compounds in the plant cannabis. And THC is psychoactive. CBD is non-intoxicating. And then psilocybin is the hallucinogenic compound in magic mushrooms, classified as psychedelic with growing therapeutic use. And here's how they work.

THC binds to these receptors in multiple organs in your body, especially your brain, and it helps regulate your, uh, pain receptors, your appetite, your mood, and even your memory.

And then CBD interacts with something called CB2 receptors, and that's more connected to Your serotonin, your inflammation balance, your stress response, your neurological function, but really tied to your mood and inflammation more than anything else and your stress levels.

And then psilocybin is converted into psilocin in the body, which binds to serotonin receptors, altering perception, mood, and cognition. So here's who might benefit from some of these different compounds. Those— number one would be those with chronic pain. Okay. Pain. This is where THC, CBD together, typically CBD and low-dose THC, have the most benefits. Okay.

Also, people with epilepsy or seizure disorders could benefit from CBD in particular. Those with treatment-resistant depression or addiction could benefit from psilocybin under clinical guidance of a doctor, and in some cases, Even someone like a pastor at a church. And then biohackers and spiritual seekers.

We see a lot of people in this sort of realm who are using microdosing of psilocybin for issues like mood and focus. Now, I want to dive into my belief and my recommendations on all these things. The first here, the thing you need to know about CBD is in clinical studies, it's been shown to reduce anxiety, promote calm without sedation, Support pain relief, inflammation, and sleep.

I think CBD, generally speaking, can be used by almost everybody. Now, the one side effect is known in Chinese medicine, it's more yin-producing, so it could create some dampness. So if you have a lot of Candida or bad bacteria overgrowth in the body, doing excess CBD or doing it regularly might not be ideal for you.

But if you have general chronic pain, Inflammation, or biggest thing is you're not sleeping well and you need to get your body more in that parasympathetic rest and digest state, CBD is a great option. Almost everyone can benefit from CBD. I even have— kids can benefit from CBD. Now, THC is a very, very different story.

Now, it tends to be used for nausea, for appetite stimulation, chronic pain relief. It can help you sleep, but there are side effects long-term Of THC. In a similar way, psilocybin may promote neuroplasticity, emotional healing, spiritual insight. It can even reduce some symptoms of depression, anxiety, and addiction. However, it has some major side effects as well we're going to get into.

Before we dive into that though, I want to talk about CBD a little bit more. And there was a study done on CBD. This was published in a medical journal. It found that CBD was effective for helping to manage anxiety disorders, Panic disorder, and social anxiety disorder. So CBD, what it does, almost like a lavender or a valerian, a lot of these calming floral compounds, it helps reduce stress.

It helps get your body to that fight or flight state. Loads of benefits there for that reason. So it's really calming, okay, for that example. Now, with psilocybin, studies show a single high dose of psilocybin session significantly reduced depression, With results lasting for at least 1 year in many people. I know a friend of mine, and she's talked about this on her show, Michaela Peterson.

She did this once and said she felt like she had a great sort of spiritual experience from it, and it really helped deepen her faith and connection with God from that experience. And I think historically, people have gotten into these states via Spending just really deep sessions in prayer and soaking in worship, or via actually doing some really deep breathing, things like that, or fasting.

Different sort of things, different sort of therapies, or depriving ourselves in certain ways changes our biochemistry, and I think better allows us getting into a state of this spiritual connection.

A faster way to do it, and I don't necessarily believe a healthier way, But a faster way to sort of get into that state that you might get into with deep breathing or fasting or spending a lot of hours in deep states of meditation or meditative prayer, that's the sort of state that sort of instantaneously psilocybin can help get your body into.

And I can tell you some of the most sort of euphoric, deep, and meaningful times of my life is when I've spent time Sitting there listening to praise and worship music in prayer and really asking God and the Holy Spirit to speak to me. And it took a lot of patience. Fasting was another time of doing this while doing meditative prayer.

But I felt like I had a deeper spiritual experience when I was, again, fasting or spending hours in prayer or spending a long time in meditation by myself in peace and quiet. I felt like I was able to better dip into some of those states while doing that. Again, psilocybin is sort of a shortcut there.

And again, I don't think it's necessarily a better shortcut, but I think for some people, again, who have maybe been through some major trauma in life, it could make sense as a therapy under the guidance of a physician.

And when you look at the medical literature, By far, the biggest benefit of psilocybin is for when somebody has been through an incredibly traumatic experience and has post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD.

That's where, if I'm going to say there's evidence that psilocybin could be used as a medicine under the guidance of a doctor, and sometimes bring in a pastor or somebody spiritually to counsel them as well to get the greatest benefits, it's really those with PTSD. And I'll give you an example of this. I've known people that have gone through war and had post-traumatic stress disorder.

I have a family that I know who lost a child, and this was really the thing they felt like helped them heal and overcome, even after years of counseling and therapy and being in the church and doing a number of things. They felt like that doing this with a spiritual— some, you know, a pastor and with a doctor walking them through it. This helped them heal.

So, all that being said, I think that there are benefits. However, I also want to tell you another story. I had somebody I knew who said, hey, I'm going to go and do this on my own, okay, the psilocybin. And he ended up somewhere lost in the woods and ended up getting a divorce as he went through this because he ended up getting addicted and having all these issues.

So, I just want to say here, I do think that when it comes to these types of medicine, even though they're found in nature and more natural, There are major side effects in what it does to the psychological system.

And that's why if you're going to ever use something like that, and only because you have an issue like PTSD, then do it under the care of, I think, ideally simultaneously a doctor and a pastor. And at the same time, when you're using it, partner it and couple it with these other therapies like prayer.

Like deep meditation, like spending time soaking in the right music and really connecting with God. I think that that's the way that it should be used, and only for a short-term, as a short-term treatment, not as something to do on a long-term basis. But again, the research shows for PTSD specifically, psilocybin does have benefits in that way.

Now, when it comes to CBD, it has almost no side effects. Okay? Again, can cause a little bit of excess dampness. It can interact with a few select medications, but very few. But CBD is something almost everybody can use. And then THC, I believe, is really best for use only in small doses combined with CBD for chronic pain and for those with insomnia.

Now, long-term, I do want to say THC is going to have some side effects, and I want to get into what those are in just a moment. But this, you know, we know the short-term side effects are anxiety, paranoia, risk and dependency, impaired memory, impaired judgment. There's all kinds of side effects there of THC, and I would say use it cautiously. And part of it is the dose as well.

With CBD, I tend to recommend starting off with about 10 to 20 milligrams per day and then getting up to about 50 milligrams per day for some people. I would also say for THC, typically the max dosage you want to get into is typically 1 to 2.5 milligrams daily. And I really think that's the max most people should ever do of THC and combine it with CBD.

And with psilocybin, really starting off with 100 micrograms under the care Of a doctor and maybe a pastor in that case as well. So 100 micrograms up to 300 micrograms for those people, but again, always under the care of a physician. So here's what you need to know. CBD, amazing compound. Everyone can benefit from it. Great for sleep, great for inflammation, loads of benefits.

THC should be combined with CBD and done in microdoses. Okay. For short periods of time, but not a long period of time. By the way, THC, like I knew of, I had a friend growing up who had all of these things going for him and then started using cannabis, smoking weed, and then ended up just losing all his motivation and having some really hard times in life.

And we all know people like that probably. And what THC does long-term is it starts to pull something called your kidney or your adrenal energy. And so what happens is it basically sucks all motivation out of you.

So a lot of times people, before they use it, they're sort of inspired and they're hungry, and maybe they sort of go through a hard season in life and then they start using it, and maybe it mellows them out so their anxiety goes away. But what also happens with that is their motivation goes away, okay? Because it sort of sucks out your adrenal energy and your testosterone levels.

So THC is not good to do long-term. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely will burn out in Chinese medicine, what we call that kidney qi, or in Western medicine, what we call that adrenal energy and mitochondrial energy of your cells. And so that's why you don't want to do that long-term.

And psilocybin, in a very similar way, it's going to start to sort of affect your serotonin and a number of other levels long-term versus doing it once or twice or as a short-term treatment isn't going to have the long-term effects if it's done safely under the guidance of a— Yeah. Uh, of a doctor. Okay, let's dive into number 2 here, and that is nicotine.

Okay, you can do this as a low dose or a patch. It's a stimulant compound found in tobacco, used typically in patches today or gum without the risk that you have with smoking. And here's how it works. It acts on the brain's acetylcholine receptors, which binds to nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, which are involved in attention, memory and alertness.

So biggest benefits are you're going to have greater attention, better memory, and better alertness. Think about it as a type of Ritalin or Adderall, like an ADHD medication, but in a more natural form. Now, one of the most memorable uses of somebody using nicotine gum was, if you remember during the hearings of when Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was trying to become HHS Secretary.

People pointed out during some time in the meeting, he pulled out this piece of gum, put it in his mouth, started chewing it. So RFK was using nicotine gum during when he was being grilled by, you know, by the Senate on if he's qualified to be HHS Secretary and run healthcare for the entire country. And again, think about what this did for him. It helped his attention. It helped his memory.

It allowed him to be more alert. Sort of locking in in that way. So we saw Robert F. Kennedy Jr. using this specifically to help him focus. Now, I do think this is a better alternative to ADHD drugs like Ritalin and Adderall, which over time really start to damage these dopamine and serotonin receptors.

However, I will say I do think nicotine long-term, even though it's not quite as strong, it has the similar effect on the body and will cause side effects if used long-term on a regular basis. Basically, nicotine patches or gum increase neurotransmitters like dopamine, acetylcholine, norepinephrine, so adrenaline, serotonin. It boosts mood, focus, and motivation.

It also enhances cognitive performance, useful in people that are sleep deprived or have memory decline. So it does have some of these major benefits. It's going to benefit people the most who probably have issues like brain fog, dementia, or mild cognitive impairment. Again, people with ADHD who are looking for non-stimulant alternatives to Ritalin and Adderall.

A lot of biohackers might benefit from doing even small doses of 1 milligram daily occasionally to enhance productivity, and those in nicotine replacement therapy for smoking cessation. Okay, so those are the people that probably would most benefit from Nicotine, and there's a few studies on this, by the way.

A study that was published in the Neuropsychopharmacological Journal found that nicotine improved working memory and attention in nonsmokers without causing significant addictive behavior when given in low microdoses. Another study found that nicotine patches significantly improved attention and memory in patients with mild cognitive impairment. So there's studies proving this.

However, here's the thing to know. It stimulates reward pathways in the brain, increasing the potential for dependency. So it's not as dependent as actually smoking cigarettes. However, there is slight addiction with nicotine gum and patches. Here's the other thing is it raises the heart rate and blood pressure. It can stress the cardiovascular system, especially in those with heart conditions.

Listen, in a much minor way, it impacts the body like cocaine would. Much, much more mild, but it does that in the same way. It is a cardiovascular stressor. It can impair sleep. It is not good for those with any sort of sleep issues or insomnia. So it's not good for those people either.

So again, any heart conditions, any sleep issues, any addictive behavior, kids where their brains are still developing. None of those people should use nicotine at all. And if somebody's going to take it, it should be about 1 to 2 milligrams of gum, maybe 5 to 7 milligrams of a patch, and not even daily, just on occasion. And in Chinese medicine, here's the properties of nicotine.

It's known as being hot and pungent and bitter. It affects most the lung and heart channel, a little bit the liver, but basically what it does is it causes dryness. So you're going to get sort of this fast-acting energy and focus and concentration, but long-term it starts to burn up your body's fluids. This is called yin in Chinese medicine, especially of the lung.

So long-term use can lead to dry throat, cough, irritability, possible heart palpitations, and insomnia with frequent long-term use. Again, one time, let's say for instance, you've got something really important coming up and you use it a few times. There really should not be a side effect for most people there. However, long-term use is not healthy for nicotine.

Again, here or there on occasion, once a week, something like that, most people are going to get away with. But daily, it will dry up your fluids, causing lung qi deficiency in Chinese medicine, heart fire in Chinese medicine, and other health problems. So again, boosts yang long-term, depletes your body's yin, which most people are deficient in the first place.

Not great long-term, but okay as a short-term sort of nootropic. Cancer, dementia, heart disease, they're coming for so many people. And it's not just because of what most people think, which is that it's bad luck or bad genetics. The truth is your daily choices are either creating health or setting the stage for disease, and your doctor is probably reading your blood work all wrong.

They're missing the cellular issues behind the symptoms. I'm currently offering a simple at-home blood test that actually tests for the right things. And just as importantly, it comes with proper interpretation of the results. This new test flips the script. The future of interpreting test results is here.

If you want to check it out and grab one before they're gone, just go to mybloodwork.com now. All right, number 3 here is creatine. Creatine is a compound made from amino acids, specifically arginine, glycine, and methionine. It's actually known as a peptide, a tripeptide is what creatine is. And so most people don't realize it's part of that peptide family.

And it's naturally found in the body, particularly in your muscle cells. And it's also found in the highest doses in eating red meat.

In fact, if you ate a steak, about an 8-ounce serving, I believe it has about 500 milligrams of creatine, and it's also found in the highest dosage in heart tissue, in your own heart, or if you eat glandulars of animals, that's the highest in terms of an organ meat in creatine itself as well, in the heart. Okay, so has benefits for the heart and the muscles in particular.

And you probably know this, but your heart is essentially a muscle pumping blood and working actively all day long. Now, here's how it works. It increases a type of creatine in your body called Phosphocreatine. This is stored in your muscles and it allows faster ATP regeneration in the muscle source. So this is why it increases strength, it increases stamina, there's a lot of benefits.

So it boosts muscular power, short-term bursts of energy, and cellular hydration. In the brain, it supports mitochondrial function and may protect neurons from oxidative stress. And it can also— one particular benefit— cross the blood-brain barrier. Aiding brain energy and metabolism and function.

So really the biggest benefits are for your musculoskeletal system, for building muscle and strength, and for supporting brain health.

Biggest people who will benefit: athletes and bodybuilders for improved strength and recovery, older adults with muscle wasting and cognitive decline, people with depression or fatigue-related disorders, vegan and vegetarians who get almost no creatine in their diet because they're not eating meat or red meat in particular.

In those with certain neurological conditions like Parkinson's and Huntington's disease, creatine can benefit. But biggest benefit here, and by the way, I use creatine on and off.

I typically do about, I don't know, about for a while I did 1 gram daily, sometimes I do 2, but typically I try and do it more in a dosage maybe a little higher than what I would normally get from if I were doing a lot of organ meats or food. Now, I also do heart glandular on a regular basis. I get red meat on a regular basis.

But I do typically about, I don't know, 1 to 2 grams, let's say about 5 days a week, something like that is what I tend to do. And I notice a difference with sort of muscle mass and strength when I am using it. And that's typically why I use it. And a little bit with maybe mental endurance as well, sort of the big benefits there as we talked about.

And by the way, there are great studies on creatine. There was a meta-analysis where they've brought together multiple studies. That was published in a nutrition journal and it found to have a big improvement in short-term memory and reasoning in healthy adults. Another study found that it actually improved the response of SSRI antidepressant drugs in women with major depressive disorder.

So actually combining creatine with other things that are good for depression like omega-3 fatty acids and St. John's wort is a great combination for depression. And then of course, we know there are great studies on it supporting muscle and strength. Now, here are some of the cons for some people.

It causes you to hold more water, so water retention, which for some people is causing them to gain weight. But if you're really focused more on building muscle, which we should be, that's really not much of an issue. For some people with sensitive gastrointestinal tracts, it can cause some mild gastric discomfort.

In some people with kidney issues, it can cause mild kidney stress, so it's not recommended for anybody. With kidney disorders. And here's one other thing, the overuse, if you're doing 5 milligrams every day or 10 or 20 milligrams as some people do, it's going to blunt the body's own creatine production. Your body does produce some of this peptide on its own.

And so again, it's not always more is better for most people. Typically, the typical dosage is around 1 gram to 5 grams daily of a creatine monohydrate. That's the studied and the safest dose. Yeah. For most people. Now, some people go up to 15 to 20 gram loading phase. In fact, there's a famous golfer named Rory McIlroy who was having a conversation with somebody that was overheard on camera.

And he told another golfer he uses about 20 grams daily. Okay? So these very, very high doses. And of course, for a golfer, it's going to help with power. It's going to help with strength hitting the ball farther. It's also going to help with his— Okay. Focus and his memory on being able to hit the ball well. So again, this is something that can benefit athletes.

I will say though, here's another side effect. It can cause cramping. And if you are going to use creatine, you want to really increase your hydration, probably do some electrolytes, extra fruit, extra water, especially if you're an athlete that's sweating a lot. And it's best taken with food and water for increased absorption for anybody taking creatine.

But I do think overall, of all the things I'm covering, It's probably the safest and most effective for the general population with major, major benefits. Number 4, controversial supplement and compound I want to talk about is methylene blue. So methylene blue is a synthetic compound first used as a textile dye in the 1800s, later developed for medical use.

It is FDA approved for a couple specific conditions, but now it's gaining greater popularity for its benefits for the brain and mitochondrial health. Now, here's how it works. It supports mitochondrial function by acting as an alternative electron carrier in the electron transport chain.

You might remember that from high school science class, but basically it does this: it improves cellular energy and ATP production. This is important for hypothyroidism, chronic fatigue syndrome, just overall yourselves having more energy. Because of its benefits on mitochondria, it also has antioxidant effects and anti-inflammatory properties. That helps with oxidative stress.

Another thing it does, it crosses the blood-brain barrier, which may enhance memory, attention, and neuroprotection. Now, I took methylene blue, really one of the only times I took it, when I was diagnosed with a spinal infection and I was looking to heal my body. What I did was I would do methylene blue via an IV, and then what I would do is I would lay in a red light bed.

It's been shown that red light After taking methylene blue or with it simultaneously actually helps activate it more. And so, it actually has a bigger impact on your mitochondria.

So, if you're somebody who needs major mitochondrial repair, one of the things you can do, you could take methylene blue tablets or as a supplement or as an IV, and then lay in one of those photomodulation beds with red light or do a red light panel simultaneously or right after, and it will actually increase the benefits Theoretically, of mitochondrial function for those people.

And so there's a lot more people looking to use this on a regular basis. Now, the big benefits here again are mitochondrial energy, brain health, memory, neuroprotection. There are some good benefits there. And then studies, I want to hit on 2 studies here. One, a study showed that low-dose methylene blue enhanced memory retention and brain activity in regions related to short-term memory.

Another 2017 study found that methylene blue protected against mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress related to brain degeneration. So here's the thing you need to know, though. High doses can be toxic. It's not more is better. So here's the deal. If you're going to take methylene blue, just do low doses. You don't need to do high doses. Here's another thing. It may interact with SSRI drugs.

So if you're on an antidepressant drug, It can increase the risk of serotonin syndrome and have negative side effects. And listen, I do want to say this. SSRI drugs are not healthy for you. They're terrible, terrible drugs. No one should be on those more than just a few months. And generally, there are much better alternatives.

If somebody has depression, number one, they really need to find their purpose in life and connect with the divine. They need to seek relationship with God, go to church, go to synagogue, but they need to go and actually get to the root of why they're depressed in the first place.

In addition, taking high-dose omega-3 fatty acids, getting a lot more vitamin D and getting— testing those, those, your numbers and getting that up, spending more time in nature and sunshine, doing St. John's wort, exercise, using food as medicine. Do that. And then maybe some things like methylene blue. Doing a holistic protocol like that is the root cure.

SSRI drugs are not They have major side effects long-term. And one of the other major side effects of methylene blue, which really is not harmful, it's harmless, but surprising for some people, is your urine will turn blue or green. Okay? I had this happen. My urine was blue when I took methylene blue as an IV when I had this spinal infection.

No real issues there, but that is how— that is a side effect. And then, who should avoid it? Again, anyone on an SSRI drug or any sort of serotonin-based medication, those with a G6PD deficiency, this is a rare enzyme disorder, and those who are pregnant or breastfeeding as well.

So again, I think methylene blue in small doses on occasion for specific conditions can have benefits, especially when combined with red light therapy. Really, I think your body just needs 0.5 to 2 milligrams per kilogram of body weight is really all your body needs.

And it's not needed to be taken long-term, just intermittently as you would do a cleanse for some general benefits is the way you want to take methylene blue. Next up is ivermectin. Now, this is an antiparasitic medication traditionally used to treat infections like river blindness, scabies, and intestinal worms, so parasites. Specifically nematodes is where it's most effective.

And recently, it's explored for its antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and immune-modulating effects in functional medicine. Now, you might remember back years ago when CNN tried to disgrace and shame and discredit Joe Rogan. And so I remember this, and you might remember this very well as well. Joe Rogan covered this on his podcast that CNN had these big headlines. Joe Rogan uses horse dewormer. Okay.

And so they made it— they tried to discredit Joe Rogan, saying that he took this when he had COVID-19 to help himself heal and recover. He was getting some consultations from a medical doctor who said, hey, this is a good thing to take to combat COVID. And CNN trying to discredit him. Now, listen, yes, it actually is used as a dewormer and an anti-parasite in animals.

So were a lot of things, everything from oil oregano, which is natural, to thyme, to black walnut. So just because it's used in animals doesn't mean it's not greatly beneficial in humans. And ivermectin, again, was originally used as an anti-parasite drug for humans. Okay? And today it's used both for humans and animals to help kill parasites.

The way it works is it binds to glutamate-gated chloride channels in parasites. Paralyzing the parasites and killing them. And in humans, it exhibits anti-inflammatory effects and may reduce cytokine production, which are these inflammatory compounds that are created in the body. And it's shown to inhibit viral replication in some cell studies, though human data remains mixed.

And this is why many doctors recommended both ivermectin or sometimes hydroxychloroquine in people who were dealing with COVID-19 because both of those compounds have antiviral properties. Now, who is going to benefit from ivermectin the most? Here's what you need to know. Number one, it's going to be people with parasitic infections.

I really— that's who I recommend it for generally, is people with parasites. I mentioned earlier my cousin who had a 1% chance to live. The reason they believe he was diagnosed with brain cancer was he did mission trips for 20 years to India and Pakistan. They believe he got a parasite. It was in his body for 20-plus years.

And that— and studies show that if you have a parasite, your chance of cancer goes up dramatically because your body has to spend so much energy dealing with the parasite that it can't effectively kill cancer cells. So then if you kill off the parasites, well, now your body can better fight cancer. Okay, so the number one benefit of ivermectin is anyone who has a parasitic infection.

Now, there are also some studies and theories around it being beneficial for rosacea or inflammatory skin conditions. This is for off-label use. Also potential use for certain types of viral infections like COVID and for chronic inflammation. And basically, again, it's a broad-spectrum antiparasitic. It's the most effective for a type called nematodes.

Also benefit if somebody has a mite infection, ivermectin is used as well. Now, there's a 2021 study that was published in the Journal of Frontiers in Pharmacology, and it noted that ivermectin's anti-inflammatory and potential antiviral effects need to be studied even more because so many people talked about its benefits for COVID-19 and them experiencing quicker healing because of it.

Research also suggests ivermectin can regulate signaling pathways involved in cancer development. And promote programmed cell death of cancer cells. So, so here's the deal about ivermectin. It is very controversial, but we do know it is beneficial for parasites. Okay. So if you have a chronic parasite infection, ivermectin is something you should consider.

If you have a parasitic infection and cancer, it's absolutely something you should consider. And also potentially for certain issues like rosacea, it may be considered as well. If you are on blood thinners, you've got to be very, very careful with something like ivermectin. It's contraindicated in its use.

And then, of course, if you're pregnant or breastfeeding as well, not something you want to use. But again, I had somebody reach out to me recently. They said, Dr. Axe, should I be taking ivermectin as a supplement? Somebody was trying to take it as like a longevity supplement. I said, listen, absolutely not. Listen, ivermectin is not a vitamin, okay? It's a medication.

Now, it is more of a natural medication, maybe more attuned to something in nature than some other medications, but it still is a medication and it shouldn't be used as a supplement.

Really, the only people that should use it in my mind are those people with— when you know you have a parasitic infection, or maybe if you're going through a viral infection That's the case, but it should not be used long-term regularly because it's going to be hard on the liver. It's going to be hard on the gut microbiome. It's not healthy to take as a supplement. And so here's the reality.

Joe Rogan was probably doing the right thing as he was going through and fighting COVID and using ivermectin in that case. And common dosages for if you have a parasite are about 150 to 200 micrograms Per kilogram of body weight as a single or repeated dose.

I would say typically under the care of a physician for typically anywhere from 2 weeks, maybe up to a month typically is about what you would take it for, but it's not meant for long-term use. It's meant for treating parasitic infections and on occasion cancer as part of a therapy and viral infections. You can take back control of your metabolism, your energy, and your hormones naturally.

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All right, the next controversial compound is NAD+, known as nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide. And it is a coenzyme that's found in all living cells, essential for energy production, DNA repair, and metabolic function. And NAD+ level declines when we age, which has been linked to fatigue, cognitive decline, and basically aging too quickly. Okay?

So fatigue and aging too quickly when you don't have high enough levels of NAD+. And basically the way that it acts is as a cofactor in generating ATP for cellular energy. It also supports these really unique enzymes in the body called sirtuins that regulate longevity and inflammation and DNA repair. It also enhances mitochondrial function and stress resilience at the cellular level.

So I would say that NAD+ is probably the most important compound at improving your cellular energy. So this is critically important if you have hypothyroidism, chronic fatigue syndrome, many types of cancer. Basically, if you're tired and fatigued, NAD+ is very important.

Historically, in Chinese medicine, when somebody had this sort of depletion, They would take herbs like ginseng and rhodiola, these sort of really powerful adaptogenic herbs and cordyceps for boosting NAD+ reserves or cellular energy. But NAD+ itself is also a great thing to take if it's in its right form, which I'll get to.

So big benefits are, again, brain decline, fatigue, poor metabolic health. So even if you have diabetes or type 2 diabetes, it's beneficial. It's also beneficial for longevity as well, or if you have stress and burnout. There is a twist.

2021 Study that was published in the Journal of Nature Communications, and it showed that NMN supplementation, which is similar to NAD+, increased muscle insulin sensitivity and NAD+ levels in older adults. And a 2016 study in the journal Cell Metabolism found that NAD+ precursors like NR and NMN improved mitochondrial function and physical performance.

Now, I want to mention NAD+ is poorly absorbed, so you don't want to take NAD+ orally ever. You can take NAD+ as a subcutaneous injection as you do a peptide. You can do that at home or you can do it as an IV. Okay? Now, if you're going to do it orally, the best forms to take are NR and NMN. And by the way, NR is more absorbable and better than NMN. Okay.

Especially if you can find a liposomal NR supplement. So sort of the ranking list of absorption are going to be IV or an NAD+ subcutaneous injection. The next, the best orally will be a liposomal NR. And then after that, lower dose that isn't absorbed as well but still has some benefits is going to be NMN. The side effects can be— Nausea, flushing, fatigue in some people.

And here's the thing to know. Again, you want to do the right dosage here. The high doses where you feel nausea and fatigue and those sort of things, if you're doing that via an IV for short-term, it's not necessarily bad if it's a couple times. But overall, you don't want to feel that strong sense of nausea or almost fatigue afterwards. It's basically like this. And I've done this, by the way.

I was taking an NR supplement at 400 milligrams daily, along with a lot of other supplements, and I started feeling nauseous every day. This happened for a week. And I realized it was NR, I was taking too much.

It's kind of like, you know, if you take a computer battery and you plug your phone into it, it's actually so much of a charge, even though your battery charges up really quickly on your phone, it actually will burn out your battery and harm the battery on your phone long-term. It's sort of like, it's just too much. It's like caffeine. It's like, okay, a little bit's okay.

Too much actually will harm your body. The same thing with NR. For some people, especially, by the way, if you have an MTHFR gene mutation or gene variant, you probably want to do closer to 150 milligrams daily of NR. Okay? That's going to be probably the ideal dosage for you and taking it with a CoQ10. That's going to be better. Than doing higher doses of NR.

So remember, not more is better for you. If you're a very sensitive person to B vitamins or you feel nauseous easily, or again, you have this sensitivity, 150 milligrams of NR or 250 milligrams of NMN, or if you feel like your body can handle a lot and you don't get any nausea at all, then you could do upwards of 300 milligrams there of the NR supplement, which is that precursor to NAD+.

But I would say for mitochondrial function, I did blood work recently And after I was coming out of my spinal infection, I couldn't move for the year. I was just— it was a lot of stress on my body. And the biggest thing when I did a blood test that was deficient was my mitochondrial function was harmed.

And part of it was I had to do an IV antibiotic for a few weeks, even though I was supposed to do it a few months. I was glad to be able to get it down, but it's still— if you ever take an IV antibiotic or a lot of medications, that really damages your mitochondria. So that was the thing that was most deficient in me.

So that let me know that I really needed to increase and focus on getting my NAD+ up. So what I did was on occasion I'll get an IV or do an NAD+ subcutaneous injection, and then I take 150 milligrams of NR regularly. But again, this is sort of controversial, like NMN was sort of banned for a while and so was NR and NAD+.

And now people are doing it again because there's not a whole lot of regulation on it. But overall, for mitochondrial health, if you know you need to heal your mitochondria, doing an NAD+, uh, IV or a precursor supplement like NR has major, major benefits.

Number 7, in terms of supplements and compounds that you can benefit from that there's all this controversy around, are peptides and bioregulators. Now, peptides work by binding to specific receptors, triggering beneficial physiological responses by the body, and they really act in your body as certain compounds in foods and herbs would.

We know peptides occur in the highest levels in organs and glands. And this is why I think this sort of trend of eating more organ meats and glandulars is such a positive thing. In fact, if I had to rank my top 10 trends over the past 10 years that people could benefit from, getting organs and glandulars are at the top of that list, very, very high on the list.

And it's because it's something that we are really missing today. Our ancient ancestors, would have eaten— they wouldn't have just eaten the muscle meat and thrown out the liver. No, they would eat liver or they would dry it and use it as medicine later on. Okay? So there are all these benefits of organs and glandulars like liver and kidney and heart and others.

And peptides basically are extracted from organs or they are synthetically created As the same peptides that you're going to find in organs and glands.

For instance, BPC-157 stands for body protective compound, and it is a peptide that's created in— by your— in your— it's found in your stomach acid and in your stomach lining and duodenum, and it promotes tissue healing, gut lining repair, and angiogenesis. So the formation of new blood vessels. So think about this.

When your stomach acid creates all this acid, part of also what it has to do is heal and protect the gut lining with that acid that's created. So what it does is it helps regenerate and heal stomach lining tissue, which is also going to help when you take it as a supplement, heal and regenerate your stomach lining tissue.

In fact, the thing I like BPC for the most, BPC-157, is if somebody has inflammatory bowel disease where they have damage to their gut and their colon. That's number one where it's most effective. Number 2 is any other injury in the body.

It could be a herniated disc, it could be knee pain, but any other sort of thing where your body needs tissue repair and regeneration, BPC-157 has major benefits. So peptide, that's just one of many peptides with so many benefits. I love thymulin and thymosin alpha-1 and 11. Those are great for autoimmune disease and boosting the immune system. I love epitalon.

That's a bioregulator that's found in the pineal gland in your brain, and it supports melatonin production. So loads of benefits there. It's also great for longevity and anti-aging. So loads and loads of benefits of peptides. Basically, for almost every condition you can think of, there's a peptide that's going to benefit the body. It sort of goes back to this ancient principle.

Used in ancient medicine called like supports like or like heals like. If you have a heart issue, you should eat heart. If you have a liver issue, you should eat liver, right? If you have hormone imbalance, like going through menopause and all these hormones, then you should be eating uterus and ovaries of lamb and bovine, of cow. Okay?

So there's those benefits, but you can also do it in the functional medicine sense today. Where you're taking those peptides that are found in those granulars that are in higher doses and take those as a form of medicine when you're doing peptides and bioregulators. And so, that's where those are really beneficial.

Of course, pharmaceutical companies today, they don't want these in the hands of people like you. They want to mark these up to where you're having to spend thousands of dollars and insurance is covering them so they can make their trillions of dollars of peptides. So, there's a battle raging right now on peptides.

In terms of are they going to be owned by pharmaceutical companies or can everyday people take them as supplements? We're going to see this war waging in the future. And bringing up RFK Jr. again, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in a Twitter post said this is one of the things he wants to protect. He himself has mentioned him using peptides.

I'm sure the ones he's using are things like BPC-157 and TB-500 for slowing age and longevity and building muscle himself. And, I do want to say, remember though, these are forms of medicine in a way, so they're not good for everybody. For instance, I wouldn't recommend BPC-157 for somebody with cancer or tumor growth because it does cause growth in the body.

And so, it is contraindicated for certain conditions like women that are pregnant or with certain conditions, certain types of peptides are, though there are certain types of peptides that have been used for a long time, like taking thymus gland, that actually have anti-cancer properties. So again, it just— you want to make sure you're taking the right peptide for the right condition.

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The number 8 controversial compound we're going to talk about is hydroxychloroquine. Okay, now this also got press around COVID when you had people like Dr. Malone and Dr. McCullough talking about the benefits of hydroxychloroquine. And this was originally used as an anti-malaria drug during World War II. So throughout the 1900s, this is something used for fighting malaria.

What it does is it alters the pH of your intra— inside your cells. And basically, it affects the immune cell signaling and autoantibody activity. So basically, it blocks a sort of inflammatory immune cascade by the body. And it does this again by reducing activation of immune complexes, which is— which also happen in autoimmune disease.

So in autoimmune disease, your body starts essentially overreacting. And so what it does is it sort of helps calm that overreaction within your body. The people that benefit the most from hydroxychloroquine, or could be, are those experiencing A viral infection or post-viral inflammation. So those with long COVID are typically where it's recommended the most.

Patients with lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, or Sjögren's syndrome. So these autoimmune diseases. Also those seeking mild immune regulation or anti-inflammatory support. So again, I think generally here are the categories. Number 1, as an antiviral. That's the number 1 benefit. For those with autoimmune disease is probably the second. Okay, outside of that, I wouldn't recommend it very much.

Again, remember, this is not a supplement. This is a medication that has some benefits for short-term use in very, very specific conditions. You know, there's a 2023 study published in the Arthritis Care journal, and it found that hydroxychloroquine reduced disease activity in flare frequency in lupus patients, and those who took hydroxychloroquine had 71% lower odds of active lupus.

Another study showed that hydroxychloroquine significantly improved rheumatoid arthritis outcomes and reduced inflammatory rashes. Now, again, I want to say this, this is not a medication.

This is a more mild drug that has antiviral properties for those, especially with things like long COVID, and For those with autoimmune disease, but maybe to help with flares, but it's not something that people should take long-term.

You're much better off taking actually a peptide I mentioned earlier, like, like, or a glandular, like thymus gland and thyme essential oil and some other— you're much better off taking herbs and organs and supplements long-term than you are taking hydroxychloroquine.

However, for short-term use, For very specific conditions like malaria, like viral infections, and like autoimmune disease, there are some benefits. In fact, there are studies showing that long-term use can damage your retina and risk increases really highly after 5 years of damaging the retina of your eyes.

It can also cause heart rhythm issues in some people and can weaken your immune system long-term. So again, not a vitamin, yet very controversial. Should be used for very specific conditions, but not taken long-term for really anybody. Number 9 here, sort of controversial compound people are talking about a lot today, is hydrogen tablets.

What hydrogen tablets or hydrogen water is, it is molecular hydrogen gas that's dissolved in water. And this hydrogen acts as a selective antioxidant for the body. So here's how it works. Molecular hydrogen can penetrate cell membranes and mitochondria, neutralizing harmful free radicals in the body.

The people that are going to benefit the most from hydrogen tablets are going to be athletes who are seeking faster recovery and want reduced fatigue, people who are under high levels of oxidative stress from toxins, illness, or aging, also those with inflammatory or mitochondrial issues, and then just those seeking help with longevity.

So I do think there's lots of benefits of hydrogen if it's done just in moderate, low to moderate levels daily. Now, I do want to point out it is not a miracle. Okay? It is a type of antioxidant in a way that reduces oxidative stress and low-grade inflammation in the body. So I do think it's beneficial. It's not a miracle, but this is one that you could do on a daily basis.

And so I want to highlight a couple of studies here. One was published in the Molecules journal, and it found that hydrogen therapy significantly reduced oxidative stress. And inflammatory stress, especially on those with radiation-induced heart disease. Another study showed that athletes who drank hydrogen water experienced less muscle fatigue and lactate buildup after high-intensity exercise.

So there are benefits there. One other thing I want to say about hydrogen is that the benefits are subtle and sort of build up gradually over time. So you're not going to do it and be like, wow, this is a miracle. I feel different overnight outside of a pool. Placebo effect, but it does build up and have some benefits long-term with some of these small-scale studies.

Basically, what you're going to do is take 1 tablet, dissolve it in water twice daily, and drink it that way, or get a hydrogen water filter and just drink that throughout the day. That's sort of the dosage and how you'd get those benefits. Number 10 controversial compound, and this is an important one that you need to really hear me out on. Activated charcoal.

Okay, activated charcoal is a fine black powder made from coconut shells, bamboo, or other natural sources, and it's heated at high temperatures. It becomes activated with tiny pores that bind to toxins and chemicals in the digestive tract. It works by absorption, so charcoal binds to toxins, gas, and unwanted compounds in gut and carries them out through your stool.

It acts locally in the digestive system and it's not absorbed into the bloodstream. It's used also in emergency rooms to treat certain types of poisoning or overdoses, especially alcohol poisoning.

People that will benefit the most from activated charcoal supplementation are those dealing with bloating, gas, or mild food poisoning, those doing gut detox or mild binders after mold or mycotoxin exposure, Those wanting to reduce histamine or chemical sensitivity symptoms, and people seeking emergency toxic binding support such as foodborne illness or alcohol poisoning.

These are the people that can most benefit from charcoal. So the big benefit is charcoal acts like a magnet and it binds to all of these different chemicals and toxins in your body, bad bacteria, mold. Heavy metals, it will bind to these things in your body and help excrete it via the gut.

I have had patients do this most frequently when they were going to go have their amalgam or their silver fillings removed. I would have them do activated charcoal the morning of, right after, and the next morning, and then do lots of water and high-dose vitamin C. Okay? So I had a very specific protocol with vitamin C and glutathione and activated charcoal. Okay.

When people were getting their silver fillings removed to help bind to any toxin they could be exposed to. So there are benefits there. And I do want to hit on a couple studies here. Research shows that activated charcoal can significantly reduce intestinal gas and bloating after meals in healthy adults.

And another study found that activated charcoal can reduce systemic inflammation by binding to endotoxins in the gut. Showing promising condition in issues like sepsis and liver disease. Now, but here's the big thing you need to know, okay? This is not something you should take every day.

It's something you should only be taking if you're doing a cleanse or going through a very specific functional medicine protocol, okay? Or of course, for number one, it's used for emergencies. If you know you've drank too much alcohol or you have somebody who has been exposed to toxins or food poisoning, take activated charcoal, okay? Okay.

But in addition to that, it should only be taken as you're doing a detox protocol. Here's why. It binds to minerals and nutrients in your body and medications. So especially if you take it at the same time as that, it'll bind to kind of everything. And so if you're going to take vitamins and supplements, you want to take it at least 4 hours, if not 8 hours apart.

So if you do activated charcoal at night, you want to take your supplements in the morning and vice versa. Okay? So you want to take them apart. Because it's going to bind it to nutrients. The other big side effect is for most people, it will cause constipation.

Now, if you drink a lot of water and you do a lot of oils like cod liver oil and take high-dose probiotics, which I believe you should do, by the way, if you're taking charcoal, it's also really good to pair with 100 billion to 1 trillion dose of probiotics. But it can cause constipation. It can back you up, which is not what you want if you're toxic, right?

So lots of water, lots of Foods like peeled apples and pumpkin and cod liver oil, flax oil, those sort of things to really move your colon, high-dose magnesium as well. I would say probably 300 to 600 milligrams daily along with a probiotic. That's going to help those symptoms of constipation it might cause. But again, it's not a daily supplement.

It can interfere with your supplement absorption, your medication absorption, and even the absorption of your foods if it's taken within 3 to 4 hours. Okay. Of whatever you're eating. Okay, so just know that.

But again, if you're going through a mold cleansing protocol, or heavy metal cleansing protocol, or, or temporarily we need to heal your gut, you can do it like that for maybe a month-long protocol as you're going through and doing your, your healing protocol. Typically, you want to do about 500 to 1,000 milligrams. That's about 1 to 2 capsules is about all you need.

And sometimes I try and do it in lower doses by doing about 500 milligrams of charcoal and maybe also doing some zeolites or chlorella or citrus pectin or clay along with charcoal because they might bind to some different things a little differently. So you can do it that way as well, along with all the things I talked about.

Remember, lots of probiotics, lots of magnesium, lots of high-fiber foods, lots of water. That's going to help with the constipation issues. The number 11 controversial compound is Dasatinib. Okay, this is a senolytic compound for senescent cells. And this prescription cancer drug, which is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, was originally developed to treat leukemia.

In recent years, people have started to use it off-label as a senolytic therapy to clear out senescent cells. And these are these zombie cells that accumulate in our body that cause inflammation and disease in the body. And, and so it can do that. What this drug does is it targets senescent cells, helping clear them out of your body.

Sometimes it's used synergistically with a natural compound called quercetin. And there are studies on these 2 paired together getting rid of senescent cells. And I will say, I'm not really a fan of this drug. I think we're better off just doing quercetin and proteolytic enzymes and doing fasting and a number of other things to clear senescent cells rather than taking this drug or medication.

Okay. Or doing NK cell therapy as an IV. I'm much— a much bigger fan of those. I do think people could do this in the short term. But again, I think taking a drug without true need is not necessarily always beneficial. Now, let me say this. If somebody has major, major senescent cell buildup in the body, maybe there is a time and a place to take this.

But I do think doing the higher doses of quercetin long term, The other inflammatory herbs is better long-term than taking this. Now, again, there are studies showing it does clear senescent cells when taken with quercetin. We saw significant reduction. Okay.

There are multiple studies on this and it being especially good for people with fibrosis, liver issues, kidney issues, certain types of autoimmune disease. So there are some benefits. But remember, it's a chemo drug. Yeah. Not a casual supplement. It can cause side effects and not legal for anti-aging use without a prescription.

And so again, I think you're better off doing high-dose quercetin and doing fasting rather than taking this drug in most cases. But if you're going to take it, short-term use paired with quercetin and an ideal diet as well. Last but not least, and by the way, I couldn't even post this one on YouTube because I had videos banned when I talked about this last one, and it is colloidal silver.

Do you know that? Literally, I mean, if you go and try and watch my videos I've done on colloidal silver on YouTube, they were banned and removed. My account was banned for a week because I recorded a video in 2018 that talked about colloidal silver and the many benefits of this trace mineral that's found in our soil. So let's talk about what colloidal silver is.

Basically, it is silver that's suspended in water. Okay. It, by the way, this was widely used as a natural antibiotic and antimicrobial before antibiotics were used and developed. And still, it's still very popular in certain health circles and in certain countries, especially for immune health and skin health. Basically, silver disrupts microbial activity.

Silver ions can bind to proteins in bacterial cells, damaging their structure and interfering with their replication. It's often used for wounds. So you can, if you have an open wound, doing one of my favorite healing blends is doing colloidal silver gel with Manuka honey over infected areas of the skin, using it as sort of a natural Neosporin.

Also, it's very controversial to use orally, but people have done this for hundreds of years in small doses to help fight viruses, colds, and flus. So here's what you need to know about colloidal silver. It's a natural antimicrobial that can help kill bacteria, viruses, and some fungi. It's great for internal use in small doses for short periods of time and topically on your skin.

And there are a couple great studies on silver. There was a study published that found that silver nanoparticles significantly enhanced wound healing in diabetic patients by reducing inflammation and infection. And some research shows that colloidal silver can be effective against various dangerous pathogens, including Staphylococcus aureus, E. coli, and Candida albicans in laboratory conditions.

Now, we all know the con of this. There's a couple stories over the past 100 years where people drank— I'm not kidding— Like jars and jars and jars of colloidal silver a day. So I'm not talking about that little tincture you take, like a teaspoon worth. No, they were drinking jars. And they got a condition called argyria, which is where their skin started turning a blue-gray color. Okay?

So again, if you drink it by the gallon in big Mason jars every day, as some people did, your skin could— it didn't even kill them, by the way. But their skin turned bluish-gray. Okay. And it's— that's not healthy for you. However, doing a teaspoon a day for 2 weeks, if you're sick with a cold or flu, it's very, very different. Okay.

It kills bad bacteria in their gut, has antiviral and antifungal properties. Let me just say this. The FDA, I don't know why yet, there have not been enough studies done on it for its approval. So it's not recognized as safe or effective for internal use.

According to the FDA, they are afraid of heavy metal accumulation if somebody intakes it excessively, which I'm worried about as well, if somebody drinks pints of it daily in Mason jars.

But if you're not doing that, if you're sick for 2 weeks, 3 times a year, and you're doing a teaspoon twice a day of the recommended dosage, it's safe, it's effective, people have done it for a long time, and it's extremely beneficial. For those people. So who should be careful with it?

Like always, women that are pregnant or breastfeeding, very young children, and it's not to be used for long-term use. Again, ideally very small doses, a spray in your mouth or as, you know, the recommended dose on the label for a couple weeks if you're sick, topical application or nasal spray, short-term use as well for supporting the immune system as well.

And so again, colloidal silver, completely healthy, safe, and effective. In microdoses long-term? Well, remember, there are so many compounds, everything from ivermectin to methylene blue to peptides to nicotine to CBD, all these things we talked about. But here's the key: the dose determines whether it's medicine or poison, okay?

And the right situation— listen, most of these, many of these things, uh, you don't need to take, okay, unless you have a very specific condition. Now, I do think peptides In particular, creatine in particular, which is a peptide, remember it's a tripeptide, those sort of things you can do long-term. There are many benefits from it.

But however, some of these others like ivermectin we talked about, it's very beneficial, but only for those with very specific conditions like parasites, because they're very strong. And they're only meant to be for specific conditions, because if not, there are going to be side effects.

And there are so many— the reason I want to do this episode is there's so many influencers online saying, Take ivermectin every day. Take methylene blue in high doses every day. Hey, I'm doing activated charcoal every day. You should not take those every day long-term. It's going to have a side effect on your body. They're not vitamins. They're not herbals. They're not food in that way.

So many of them are really just to treat specific conditions done in the right dosage. So remember, if an influencer tells you that you should take one of these things every day, uh, just again, find a, find a few good studies on it.

Listen to people who have, who have spent time researching these things and are recommending the dosage and how to take it the right way and for what conditions, okay? Just to be safe and effective and get the biggest benefits from these controversial compounds. And also remember, just because something sounds fringe doesn't mean it's ineffective or unsafe.

Sometimes it's safe and effective, but you have groups like these pharmaceutical companies coming in with peptides trying to own the space so they can make more money from it. So sometimes things are just ahead of its time and they need to be used widely. They need to be used with wisdom and in the right situation. Hey, thanks so much for tuning in here to the Dr. Josh Axe Show.

Remember, each and every week we're diving deep into the science of principles of how you can heal physically, mentally, and spiritually. As we cover, these compounds are often used by some really noteworthy people. We talked about Robert F. Kennedy.

Kennedy Jr., Joe Rogan, even people like Andrew Huberman, um, who have used these at one time or another for very specific conditions in order to help them get an edge. You can do the very same thing if you do it the right way. And hey, do me a favor, help share this show.

And remember, there are so many people that don't know the truth about peptides, about psilocybin, about ivermectin, and they need to know the truth. So thanks so much for sharing this episode and helping get the word out. And thanks so much for subscribing. I'm so grateful for your support, and I'll see you on the next episode.