Kara Fitzgerald, ND, received her doctor of naturopathic medicine degree from the National University of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon. She completed the first Counsel on Naturopathic Medicine-accredited post-doctorate position in nutritional biochemistry and laboratory science at Metametrix Clinical Laboratory under the direction of Richard Lord, PhD. Her residency was completed at Progressive Medical Center, a large, integrative medical practice in Atlanta, Georgia.
Dr. Fitzgerald is the lead author and editor of Case Studies in Integrative and Functional Medicine and is a contributing author to Laboratory Evaluations for Integrative and Functional Medicine and the Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM)’s Textbook for Functional Medicine. With the Helfgott Research Institute, Dr. Fitzgerald is actively engaged in clinical research on the DNA methylome using a diet and lifestyle intervention developed in her practice. The
first publication from the study focuses on reversal of biological aging and was published 04-12-2021 in the journal Aging. She has published a consumer book titled
Younger You as well as a companion cookbook,
Better Broths and Healing Tonics and has an application-based
Younger You Program, based on the study.
Dr. Fitzgerald is on the faculty at IFM, is an IFM Certified Practitioner and lectures globally on functional medicine. She runs a Functional Nutrition Residency program, and maintains a podcast series, New Frontiers in Functional Medicine and an active blog on her website,
www.drkarafitzgerald.com. Her clinical practice is in Sandy Hook, Connecticut.
Additional publications
Buckle up everybody, because this conversation is a big tour de force of where we are headed in regards to longevity and innovative technology within healthcare. I am joined by my friend, longevity investor and visionary, Sergey Young, to discuss his incredibly important mission of extending healthy lifespans of at least one billion people using technological breakthroughs AND by making longevity affordable and accessible. Sergey is a top 100 longevity leader and one of the co-creators of AGE REVERSAL XPRIZE, a global competition designed to cure aging. Today’s conversation looks at the fundamental issue of healthcare inequality, the democratization of access to healthcare, and dives into the current paradigm shift of using technology for disease prevention and reversal of biological aging. I’m sure you’ll enjoy this conversation as much as I did, and be wowed by the work of Sergey Young. ~DrKF
Imagine accurately determining the status of your skin’s age to tell whether it is younger or older than your chronological age, and then use this technology to determine whether expensive anti-aging serums and creams are effective, or actually causing more harm than good. Amazing, right? This is precisely the technology today’s guest, Dr. Carolina Reis and her fellow stem cell biologists at OneSkin created. I think you will find this interview fascinating on so many levels – I know I sure did! After creating their skin clock, the OneSkin team discovered peptide OS1, which targets senescent cells, one of the root mechanisms of aging, and is being shown in current studies to have a positive effect on hydration, firmness, elasticity, and the skin barrier. Listen as Dr. Reis explains the science and ongoing studies exploring the possible benefits of OS1 for the skin microbiome, hair loss, inflammation, and overall health. ~DrKF
Eggs are one of those controversial foods that we were warned against for almost half a century. However, recent years have seen both the American Heart Association and Dietary Guidelines for Americans reverse their restrictions on eggs and dietary cholesterol intake. Rightly so – the evidence didn’t support them, and their redirected emphasis on dietary…
The therapeutic value of curcumin makes it a fabulous recommendation as both a foundational and medicinal supplement. And since finding a preparation that is bioavailable is key to efficacy, affordability, and patient compliance, I’m excited to have Dr. Sonia Malani (on behalf of Integrative Therapeutics) here to talk about the latest advances in curcumin deliverability and why it matters. Join us as Dr. Malani breaks down the progress of curcumin deliverability and the keys to bioavailability in a way that is simple to understand and easy to pass on to our patients in order to help them move away from the ineffective brands that are currently lining the shelves of local markets so they get the therapeutic influence we are hoping for. I know you’ll enjoy this curcumin talk, and learn a ton from this latest research. Thanks for listening! ~DrKF
Today we are taking on a revolutionary and provocative topic that can be quite liberating for women – a deep dive into how to optimize exercise training and performance from the perspective of pre/peri/or post-menopausal. This topic is of great importance to me as a cyclist, and I have to say, there’s a lot of nuance in the way we women should approach training depending on our hormones. My guest Dr. Stacy Sims is a huge talent and tremendous gift — listen as we discuss why women need to train differently than men, including specifics about protein intake, fasting, hormone replacement therapy, and what types of training are best depending on where you are in your cycle. Grab a pen, you’re going to want to take notes! ~DrKF
Dr. Fitzgerald’s latest research peer-reviewed publication (published March 2023 in the journal Aging) reports on a case series of women who followed a structured version of her 8-week bioage-targeting protocol. Collectively, the participants reduced their biological age by an average of 4.60 years compared to their baseline. In this month’s blog, we pose some key…
As we find ourselves entering this fourth year since the world was first gripped by COVID-19, on an individual and practice level many of us are still grappling with its post-viral after-effects (long COVID). Drs Patrick Hanaway and Kara Parker, as well as my long-time mentor and former IFM CEO Laurie Hofmann, join me on this podcast to share the important work they have been doing in building practitioner tools and training to address this ongoing challenge (check out the links in the show notes). I just really appreciate their doable, data-driven, and continuous-learning approach, as I’m sure you will too. And if you’re working with COVID-19/long COVID patients (as all of us do, or will, at some point), you’ll want to familiarize yourself with their patient registry so that you too can be part of that essential data collection. – DrKF
When a team of scientists from EPFL, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, set out to thoroughly study the health benefits of pomegranates, they discovered something truly remarkable – the power of a postbiotic nutrient, Urolithin A (UA) to promote cellular health and longevity. For the past 15 years, Urolithin A has been one of the most well-researched longevity molecules. Over 300 studies, 11 of which are clinical trials, show impressive benefits in UA’s ability to target some of the key biological hallmarks of aging. These same scientists and doctors developed the first and only clinically tested Urolithin A formulation (more on that below!)
New Frontiers in Functional Medicine® Podcast Sponsors Dr. Kara Fitzgerald is eternally grateful to our sponsors who, by blogging, podcasting and advertising with us, enable me and my team to devote energy and time to writing and publication. nuchido.com/karafitzgerald The Role of NAD+ in Aging, Chronic Disease, and Epigenetics with Dr. Nichola Conlon New Frontiers…
After exercise, food sources of antioxidants (in other words, all the ingredients in this recipe) are fabulously regenerative for the body. This recipe is also chock-full of electrolytes (such as the potassium, chloride, and magnesium in cantaloupe and coconut water) and trace minerals (from the small pinch of Himalayan pink salt) to replace what…
