Interesting article in the NY Times about the Nobel Prize going to Dr. Tu Youyou, the woman who “discovered” that Artemisinin, an active ingredient from the plant Artemisia annua was effective against malaria. Turns out she leaned heavily on the ancient Chinese medicine concepts and texts in her work on the extraction process, but the…
DetailsElephants: about a 4% incidence of cancer despite way more body mass and comparable life span to humans. Why?According to this just published JAMA study, elephants have 20 copies of tumor suppressor gene P53. In comparison, humans have just 2, and have cancer rates of about 11-25%. Arguably , humans are exposed to more carcinogenic…
DetailsAn extract of wild blueberries (super rich in polyphenols) was recently shown to have antimicrobial and biofilm (plaque) busting activity-specifically with regard to Fusobacterium nucleatum, the bad bacterial actor in periodontitis. Potent anti-inflammatory activity was demonstrated by the WB extract’s inhibition of NFkB induced by F. nucleatum. Read more here!
When I was a youngin’ in my early 20’s, the low fat craze was gaining some serious traction. I imprinted hard on the concept. In fact, I specifically remember going to the grocery store with “low fat” in mind and discovering the cornucopia of foods I could consume. I was SO excited! Twizzlers? Fat free!…
DetailsThis week, I was asked “What benefits do I see for my kids from all the home cooking I do with them?” “Well,” I said, being in somewhat of a mood to be difficult, “on one hand it’s hard to say definitively since my kids are not growing up in a ‘controlled’ science experiment!” But…
DetailsIn 2011, WHO categorized cell phone radiation as a possible carcinogen—with good reason. If you’re not using a head set or speaker setting with your phone, it’s time to switch. Seriously. And don’t carry your phone in your pocket- or ladies, as I’ve seen done- in your bra! It’s been demonstrated that radio frequency (RF)…
DetailsJust today I was reviewing a nutrient intake evaluation with a patient of our clinic, let’s call her Trish, who is on (among other things) a dairy-free Food Plan. Since we are sometimes implementing relatively complex elimination diets in our patient population with severe allergic disease, nutritional balance requires careful attention. We regularly request diet…
DetailsWhen we moved from our tiny New York City apartment out to the ‘burbs’ some nine years ago now, I rubbed my hands with glee. No longer was I constrained for veggie-growing locations (growing food was something I’d longed to do more of). Space was abundant! I began planning my first ‘real’ garden, eyeing up…
DetailsCommentary From Cass Nelson-Dooley (Podcast on Oral Microbiome): This a great study about the Human Microbiome Project comparing microbes through ALL points of the GI tract. It revealed some interesting things about normal, healthy subjects. For instance, they have oral bacterial pathogens, but no disease! This finding disputes the one bug-one disease paradigm (Koch’s Postulates). …
DetailsDr. Kara Fitzgerald discusses a quick, cheap method for detecting lead on the surface area of household items. Check it out!
DetailsCommentary from Jessica Drummond (podcast on Chronic Pelvic Pain): When working with interstitial cystitis (IC) clients, this study shifted my thinking from simply applying “the IC diet” as a strategy for reducing IC symptoms to looking for the root cause of the IC as a potential manifestation of another more systemic issue such as SIBO,…
DetailsDid you know that LESS THAN 8% of the US population actually achieve adequate potassium intake? So outrageous. And on average, ALL ADULTS ingest a full 200% of our daily sodium requirement. We SHOULD be ingesting way more potassium than sodium, about three times as much. And we don’t. Not even close. We are the…
DetailsAre you enriching their lives with good, healthy food choices and lifestyle habits or are you angering your trillions of guests, pushing them towards causing disease? I wrote my thesis in medical school on stealth infections, where I concluded that health had much to do with how well we tended our microbial garden… I was…
DetailsThose gut microbes are one busy “organ!” Aside from honing our immune system, balancing our metabolism, protecting our gut lining, neutralizing pathogens, and helping our brain function, did you know that these little critters are also making nutrients for us to use… One such nutrient is folate, which is a critical nutrient for methylation pathways…
Details“Your cholesterol number is high…” a phrase still scary enough to many of us. Cholesterol is still so controversial these days. Yet, for the first time, the scientific advisory panel for the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans suggests that we should no longer advise the public to be concerned about their cholesterol intake from food.…
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