According to a study released just last year in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA Network Open), having high levels of bisphenol A (BPA) in the body is associated with a 49% increased risk of death within 10 years.
Within the realm of functional medicine, we are quite successful at restoring some order to this cacophonous symphony of chronic illness, and getting our patients better to an extent. However, there is a final piece – a missing piece, if you will – and my guest today, Ashok Gupta, shares how neuroplasticity affected his own healing journey of chronic fatigue syndrome and why this final piece is integral to restoring optimal health. Ashok is a speaker, filmmaker, and health practitioner who created a program for retraining the brain using interventions to facilitate neuroplasticity. In this episode of New Frontiers, we discuss neuroplasticity dysfunction, how to rewire the brain’s survival response, and so much more. Folks, this conversation goes well beyond the patient-physician encounter and explores the depths of our homes, our communities, and how we experience the world around us. Stay tuned, leave us a comment, and subscribe to stay up to date on our latest content! ~DrKF
Have you ever looked at serum hormone levels and scratched your head, wondering why there was such a difference between your patient’s clinical signs and the numbers on the report? Felt unsure whether to look at bioavailable hormone markers or their metabolites? Not surprisingly, when it comes to endocrinological health, there are just as many questions as hormones (and there are over 50!). My guest in this podcast, Dr. Lylen Ferris, gives us very clear and user-friendly guidance on appropriate hormone testing, interpreting results from different specimens and, most excitingly, using novel biomarkers, such as allopregnanolone. Having completed her naturopathic residency with Dr. Kimberly Windstar, and after years of teaching and mentoring medical students on gynecology and women’s health, Dr. Ferris has plenty of brilliant clinical pearls to share with us! Please share, comment, and leave us a starred review if you wouldn’t mind! Thank you!
I am always eager to learn from other clinicians about how they approach complex patients and layer various healing modalities into the therapeutic encounter. My guest today, Dr. Bruce Hoffman MD, has combined his passion in integrative medicine with psychiatry to explore cellular health to best guide his patient’s health journey. Dr. Hoffman is based in Calgary, Canada at the Hoffman Centre for Integrative Medicine and the Brain Center of Alberta. He’s an IFM-certified functional medicine practitioner, board-certified in anti-aging and regenerative medicine (Shoemaker’s mold protocol), a certified Ayurvedic practitioner (Bredesen’s ReCODE treatment), certified as a family constellation therapy specialist, (ILADS for Lyme and co-infections), and trained in Chinese medicine, to name just a few of his substantial specialties. He knows his stuff. Tune in for this thought-provoking conversation as we explore the role the psyche plays in disease and healing, including clinical pearls, interventions, and effective supplementation. Listen, share, and leave a starred rating, if you wouldn’t mind! Thanks for listening.
In the Functional Medicine space, we all desire to be described under the banner of “Evidence-Based.” What does that mean, and how do we get there? In this article I will attempt to address the laboratory component of this question from the perspective of a company in the middle of this ongoing journey. The value of self-critique and continual self-examination: There is a pattern I have witnessed in the Functional Medicine Lab industry that needs to be challenged from within. We develop tests, leverage them as much as we can, and then wait for competitors or critics to raise objections or questions. If those objections never come, we may be tempted to push forward without continuing to pursue both analytical and clinical validation. Continuous self-critique is critical!
Biological age is the gradual accumulation of damage and loss of function of our cells, tissues, and organs. This damage is what turns into disease.
Iodine was discovered in 1811 by French chemist Bernard Courtois while processing ingredients for gunpowder. In extracting sodium salts from seaweed by treating it with sulfuric acid, he observed a purple vapor rising from the seaweed. This substance was eventually named iodine, from the Greek word for the color violet, ioeides. Iodine is an essential trace element necessary for the production of all hormones in the body and proper function in the immune system.[2] It plays a vital role in several aspects of health, including:
We’ve been eager to put together a podcast on men’s health – prostate cancer, low testosterone, foundational vitamin and botanical supplements, nutritional interventions – and folks, it’s finally here! There’s a wealth of GREAT pearls to bring into your own practice from this month’s interview with our guest Dr. Geo Espinosa, ND. Dr. Geo is a long-time friend, a fellow naturopathic functional medicine physician, and a (if not “the”) definitive voice in neurology and men’s health. His passion about men’s health helped him bridge the gap between conventional and naturopathic medicine. Together we discuss how to engage men in self-care, specific nutritional interventions to support men’s health, laboratory panels and optimal ranges, and some of his favorite vitamins and botanicals for his male patients.
Uterine fibroids are a huge, underappreciated issue. They are the most common gynecological disorder, affecting nearly half of women younger than 40 years old, and far more (~80%) for those older. Frankly, I don’t think we are doing enough to help these patients. Fibroids are the leading indication for hysterectomy in the US, accounting for 39% of all hysterectomies each year, and while some are asymptomatic, symptoms include heavy and prolonged periods, difficulty with intercourse, bowel dysfunction, non-cyclic pelvic pain, low back pain, urinary frequency and urgency, and constipation. Because not all fibroids cause heavy bleeding, their impact can be missed, think: refractory constipation or incontinence. Conventional treatments include pharmacotherapy, surgical interventions, and uterine artery embolization, however, these treatments leave much to be desired. Oral contraceptives are used to manage bleeding, and even after myomectomy, fibroids often recur and 10% of women will undergo hysterectomy within 5 – 10 years.
I am particularly fascinated by new advances in testing biological age and how these biomarkers relate to disease risk. My podcast guest today is Dr. Joseph Raffaele MD, a leading expert, researcher, and clinician on the topic of biological aging and telomeres. We talked last year on New Frontiers, and I’m psyched to continue the conversation!
This time, Dr. Raffaele and I explore the various tests he uses to determine physiological age and disease risk, and go big into how senescent T cells and infections, such as cytomegalovirus, increase COVID-19 risk, particularly in a younger, seemingly healthy population. You’re going to love this enticing convo on the role of aging as it relates to disease and COVID-19 risk, and might find some great take-away clinical pearls to use in your own practice. Settle in, this is a good one, and let me know what you think by leaving a review or comment! ~DrKF