2023

Best of 2023 in Functional Medicine and Longevity

As 2023 draws to a close, here’s the content you liked most this year, and as usual it aligns with what we loved as well. Going beyond longevity and epigenetics, this year we covered a wide range of cutting-edge topics – from SPMs, urolithin A and OS-01 peptides, to nuanced thinking and recontextualizing established themes such…

Case Studies: Targeting Gut Health in Two Very Different Patient Scenarios

Dr. KF SPONSORED CONTENT I am 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, research, and education. All the companies who sponsor us are those I trust for myself, my patients, and my fellow practitioners. Please check out…

New and Notable Studies Using Epigenetic Biological Age Clocks

This blog was written by Romilly Hodges MS CNS CDN IFMCP   Last month I was honored to be invited to speak at the American Nutrition Association annual summit on the topic Targeting Biological Age with Diet and Lifestyle. Not only was it a much-appreciated opportunity to connect face-to-face with colleagues, but it was also…

Food sources of fiber

Fiber – Are You Getting Enough to Reap its Amazing Benefits?

Only 5% men and 9% of women are getting the recommended daily amount of fiber in the United States.[1] That’s almost 90% of the population not consuming enough fiber! To put this into perspective, in 2017–18 most Americans averaged 8.1 grams of fiber for each 1,000 calories, or just 58 percent of the recommended 14 grams per 1,000 calories. Insufficient fiber intake is associated with a myriad of chronic diseases. Let’s dive into what fiber is, why it is so important, and how you can get more of it in your diet!

Harnessing Nutrient Responsive Genes Against Breast Cancer

I am particularly interested in nutrient responsive genes, especially for altering the risk for and course of conditions such as breast cancer. Nutrient responsive genes, as their name implies, are those whose expression responds to their environment – specifically the nutrients we ingest. This effect is mediated via epigenetic alterations induced by those nutrients. This…

Women, Midlife and Longevity: Considerations for Successful Aging

Midlife is an extremely active time epigenetically. Pro-inflammatory genes tend to become hypomethylated and get ramped up, tumor-suppressor genes can become progressively more silenced, genes that code for antioxidant and detoxification enzymes such as glutathione transferase (which also happens to be an important tumor-suppressor gene!) also get dialed down, and genes that promote cancer (known…

menopause

Pesky Weight Gain During Menopause? Address Hormonal Changes

Weight gain is one of the most frequently seen complaints during perimenopause and menopause. In this blog we will explore why that is and how the female body changes during this magical and yet confusing life stage. Menopause and perimenopause typically begin for women around the age of 45 – 55 years. We start to notice changes in our bodies prior to the loss of our cycle including hot flashes or night sweats, change in frequency and how heavy our periods can be, and changes in mood. Perhaps the most unsettling for females is the change in weight and body mass distribution: clothes fit differently, your body feels different, your capacity at the gym and with physical activity feels futile! And this usually happens with little change to your current nutrition or activity routine.