Biohacking Your UV Defense: How Antioxidants Optimize Your SPF

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Protecting your skin from UV radiation isn’t just about minimizing sunburns—it’s about slowing a significant accelerant of biological aging that triggers oxidative stress, immune suppression, and cellular senescence. While traditional sunscreens are a barrier to limiting UV exposure, they aren’t perfect alone. They can wash or rub off easily, degrade when exposed to heat and sunlight, and don’t address the downstream photodamage that continues long after exposure. That’s where antioxidants come in—they target oxidative stress, support cellular repair, and fortify your skin’s intrinsic UV defenses. Let’s explore the mechanisms of antioxidant-driven photoprotection and how integrating these compounds into your regimen can enhance skin longevity and resilience.

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How to Start and Grow Your Practice (for Clinicians, not MBAs!)

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Starting and growing an integrative medical practice is a transformative journey that requires careful planning, commitment, and adaptability. Often, integrative and functional medicine providers are great clinicians when it comes to helping their patients, but feel inadequately prepared to run the business side of their practice. Dr. Linda Matteoli, at Origins Incubator, has the solution to this conundrum, walking physicians through the process to increase confidence, maintain authenticity, and achieve outcomes. The strategies they share in this article are valuable for all of us. – DrKF

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Tracking HRV: Is it Worth It?

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By the end of my book tour in 2022—one of the most amazing but intense experiences of my life—you could scrape me off the floor. (Who knew? I certainly didn’t expect it.) I was wiped out. My Oura data corroborated what I was feeling, and, particularly devastating, my HRV was stuck in the low teens. Thank goodness I’d layered an extremely needed vacation into the book experience, and we headed off to Baja California Sur. It was this vacation—and my almost immediate HRV rebound—that prompted me to trade the high-stress East Coast lifestyle for a more balanced, nurturing environment in Mexico longer term.

MitoQ

Is Mitochondria-Targeting the Best New Strategy for Longevity?

Functional Medicine for Consumers, Functional Medicine for Professionals2 Comments

Mitochondria are crucial for life, and increasingly research is finding that they hold the key to better aging and longevity, as a critical hallmark of aging. While optimising mitochondrial health through exercise, diet, and stress management is essential for maintaining their function, targeted, research-backed mitochondrial solutions are proving effective at unlocking a new level of longevity-focused results.

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Research & News RoundUp – January 2025

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This month: Yes, yes, yes: intensive lifestyle interventions (4 papers); omega-3 fatty acids and exercise all WORK on preventing and/or reversing cognitive impairment, including in those with genetic risk (including APOE4). Do adipocytes house epigenetic memory leading to the inevitable weight regaining phenomenon we have long seen? The longevity potential of phytonutrients (you know I am bullish here!). And what about that wildly popular Nature Aging paper on aging happening in two bursts—am I hanging up the towel when I hit 60? (Short answer: no.)

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A Year of Legends: Best of 2024 at Dr. Kara Fitzgerald

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Happy holidays everyone! As you enjoy the festive season, I wanted to take a moment to share with you below some of the highlights from this past year here at Dr. Kara Fitzgerald. It’s been quite a 12 months, and I’ve been so honored by the participation and contributions of those who continue to work so hard to deepen our understanding of functional medicine, epigenetics, and longevity. I would like to call out some notable highlights for me including my conversations with the legendary Drs. Greg Fahy, Janine LaSalle, Artemis Simopoulos, and Vittorio Sebastiano. However, there were so many other heavy-hitters and I encourage you to look back over all the year’s content to see what you may have missed.

GI360 Test Results

Utilizing Advanced Stool Testing to Explore the Impact of Diet on the GI Microbiome

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Hippocrates is said to have stated “All diseases begin in the gut.” 2000 years later, advancement in gastrointestinal testing, like the GI360™ stool profile from Doctor’s Data, allows medical professionals to ascertain what is in the gut, and how it might be contributing to health and disease. The gastrointestinal tract (GI) is a person’s first line of defense and the largest interface between the outside world and our bodies. The microbial ecosystem in the GI, referred to as the gut microbiome, is partially responsible for maintaining human health and is also associated with various diseases. A healthy gut microbiome needs greens, beans and berries to steer clear of dysbiosis.

happy family

Lead Toxicity: What you need to know for you and your family.

Functional Medicine for Consumers, Functional Medicine for Professionals1 Comment

Since my time in a laboratory at the start of my career in 2006, where I was a contributing author to Laboratory Evaluations for Integrative and Functional Medicine (including principal author on the Nutrient & Toxic Elements chapter), I have had lead on the brain, as it were. Given the fact that the research is pretty clear that ANY lead exposure is a problem (especially in kids and in pregnancy), I pay attention to lead – in all of my patients, in myself and my daughter. In my wider family. I am a firm believer that we need to make, at a minimum, an annual sweep of general toxin status in the body. And when we identify something, move forward with appropriate steps for removal and treatment.

Scientific research

Research & News RoundUp

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This month, we are sharing short summaries of some of the key research and news pieces that we have been paying attention to. Our focus spans intriguing questions about health and nutrition, from the potential risks of fish oil supplementation to the role of grip strength in aging. We also dive into the effectiveness of different protein sources, the temporary aging effects of pregnancy, and the controversial impact of multivitamins on longevity. These five topics shed light on emerging findings and the need for a nuanced understanding of nutrition and health. Join us as we explore these important insights!

Brain Health 101: How To Nutritionally Support A THRIVING Mind For Years To Come.

Brain Health 101: How To Nutritionally Support A THRIVING Mind For Years To Come

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If you prioritize your health, you’re likely familiar with the foods and supplements that support muscle growth, heart health, and a robust immune system. But have you considered your brain health? Our cognitive well-being underpins our aspirations, achievements, and life experiences. We all aspire to be among the remarkable few whose minds seem as sharp and vital at age 80 or 90 as they did at 30 or 40. So, how can we start nurturing our brain health today, to maximize supporting for a healthy mind for decades to come?