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Complementary and alternative medicine Computers and social media Medicine Quackery

Why does Dr. Mercola sell supplements? Cognitive dissonance at its finest

A characteristic of real doctors and real health care providers is that they usually don’t sell the drugs and remedies that they recommend. Indeed, physicians are generally not allowed to in most states, as it’s considered a conflict of interest. Also, the Stark Law forbids physician self-referral, which is the referral of a patient to […]

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Biology Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery Science

Epigenetics. You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Epigenetics. You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. I realize I overuse that little joke, but I can’t help but think that virtually every time I see advocates of so-called “complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM) or, as it’s known more commonly now, “integrative medicine” discussing epigenetics. […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking Television

Dr. Oz versus science—again

That Dr. Mehmet Oz uses his show to promote quackery of the vilest sort is no longer in any doubt. I was reminded yet again of this last week when I caught a rerun of one of his shows from earlier this season, when he gazed in wonder at the tired old cold reading schtick […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine Naturopathy Quackery

Joe Mercola: 15 years of promoting quackery

Let’s travel back in time fifteen years. It’s a time that, for me, at times seems as though it were just yesterday while at other times it seems like truly ancient history. Back then, certainly, I wasn’t the blogging powerhouse that I am today. I didn’t even know what blogging was because it was so […]

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Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

Nicholas Gonzalez on Steve Jobs: If only he had come to see me…

I debated a while about whether I should take this particular post on. It’s not because there isn’t a lot of fodder there deserving of that special form of not-so-Respectful Insolence that only Orac, in his usual inimitable fashion, can provide. There most definitely is. The problem, as is sometimes the case when I get […]