Josh Axe is famous for his podcast, supplement line, and Wellness Warrior status on social media. According to his biography from the Health Institute:
“Dr. Josh Axe, DC, DNM, CNS, is a doctor of chiropractic, certified doctor of natural medicine, clinical nutritionist, leadership expert, and highly successful entrepreneur, with a passion to help people eat healthy and live a healthy lifestyle.”
With a slew of initials after his name that make him sound credible, understanding the differences between what those initials stand for and the vibes they are meant to induce is an important distinction. He is a nutritionist, a doctor of natural medicine, and a chiropractor. He is not a registered dietitian, a physician, or a naturopath.
Until recently, he had two websites that focused on supplements and himself. He’s now expanded into the business of wellness trainings, a natural transition from selling products (supplements) to selling authority (certifications).
The Pivot: The Health Institute
The Health Institute website is heavy on Axe’s origin story and credentials. Axe is described as a "cellular and organ regeneration expert" and a "functional medicine expert." These wellness buzzwords and phrases are meant to make a potential consumer believe that they are investing in real expertise. They are jargon-y sounding words, just legitimate enough to sound real to the uninitiated.
I’ve covered the grift of Functional Medicine and some of its leading players before. Anyone can identify as a “functional medicine” expert, especially if you’re happy to sell supplements and push unnecessary lab tests. As for “cellular regeneration,” it’s all the rage in the biohacking and longevity circles.
According to The Health Institute Website:
“Since our inception, The Health Institute has come to define cutting-edge cellular health products, programs & services with an unwavering commitment to both regenerative practices and our clients’ wellbeing… we champion a regenerative approach to elevate your physical, emotional, mental, and environmental health—empowering you to flourish… while rediscovering your true purpose on your path to lasting wellness.”
This is a vague hodgepodge of highlights from the Wellness Industry, empowering you to take control of your own health, access cutting-edge products, and find your true purpose.
The products offered are mostly dubious training and consultations. The Health Institute offers a certificate in functional nutrition/health coaching, essential oils certification, and "regenerative and precision medicine" consultation.
The Product: Functional Nutrition Certification
The linguistic bait-and-switch begins with the titles. While the 'Functional Nutrition' certificate implies a clinical focus, the marketing materials quickly pivot to 'health coaching'—a strategic move into an unregulated space where 'feeling authoritative' is the primary graduation requirement. As the website states,
“Gain the confidence, credibility, and training you need to launch your own health coaching business and change the world. Our students have told us that, when they receive a certification, they feel more confident and authoritative.” [emphasis added]
The idea is to give people the confidence to launch their own health coaching business for less than the cost of a college degree. However, finding a price is difficult. All over this page are buttons with “Enroll now for 30% off.” However, the price for the training is revealed only after you click one of those buttons. If you click through, you learn that for $3,600, allegedly down from $6000 (actually 40% off!), you can have a certificate that allows you the confidence to feel as though you can speak authoritatively about health coaching and/or nutrition.
Health coaching is an area I’m paying very close attention to, specifically because it is unregulated and attracts those who want to help people and are interested in healthcare. As a result, health coaching is ripe for people to flood the zone with dangerous health advice dispensed under the guise of expertise.
The Product: Essential Oils Certification
The essential oils training also offers confidence.
“This university certified course gives you in-depth training you need to become a confident essential oils coach and transform lives.” [emphasis added]
Similar to the Functional Nutrition Certification, finding a price is tricky. For $1500, you can become confident enough to believe you should have your own coaching business. In the peer-reviewed article I published in 2025 on health coaching, I examined health coaches who sell supplements and “other wellness products.” The biggest “other wellness product” that I saw was essential oils. Essential oils lack strong evidence of health benefits and have been the topic of multilevel marketing schemes.
The Impact
Josh Axe has been making money from supplements for a long time. Expanding into the world of dubious trainings is the next logical step and the inevitable evolution of the wellness grift. There's real money to be made in offering training to people, especially when those trainings fall into regulatory gray areas. These offerings—specifically the essential oil and nutrition certificates—rely on the same regulatory loopholes that have long allowed the wellness industry to bypass scientific rigor. As I have written
“Furthermore, many of the health coaches included in the sample went to non-accredited organizations for a certificate in health coaching… they are not a substitute for a relevant degree and likely vary in educational content quality.”
Trainings from websites with official-sounding names, such as The Health Institute, run by Wellness Warriors, can be very appealing to people who are feeling stuck, want to make a change, have good intentions, and want to work in a health-related field. While the cost is far less than attending a university for a degree, the training does little more than provide confidence. But confidence without competence is a recipe for public health harm, especially in an unregulated field like health coaching.
Ultimately, The Health Institute isn't selling education; it is selling a shortcut to the appearance of expertise. By emphasizing vibes and buzzwords, Axe is arming well-intentioned people with a dangerous cocktail of confidence without competence. In the unregulated wild west of wellness, the 'Health Coach' isn't the primary beneficiary of this $3,600 certificate—Josh Axe's bottom line is. And the cost of that transition will be paid by the public, one 'cellular regeneration' consultation at a time.
Katie Suleta, DHSc, MPH
Katie Suleta is a regional director of research in graduate medical education for HCA Healthcare. Her background is in public health, health informatics, and infectious diseases. She has an MPH from DePaul University, an MS in Health Informatics from Boston University, and has completed her Doctorate of Health Sciences at George Washington University.
