Your empowerment through information is the underlying principle of our site. Our mission is not only to provide information that relates to specific medical issues, but even more importantly, information that reveals the keys to maintaining health and preventing disease. Welcome!
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It has been estimated that some 50 million Americans have been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. As such, we have become all too familiar with things like rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and multiple sclerosis, to name a few.
On our program today we are going to speak with the authors of a new book entitled Chronic: The Hidden Cause of the Autoimmune Pandemic and How to Get Healthy Again by Dr. Steven Phillips and Dana Parish. Dr. Phillips and his patient, Dana Parish, reveal the role that chronic underlying infections, like Lyme disease, may play as it relates to autoimmune conditions. We will explore not just Lyme disease, but other chronic infections that also may have long-term manifestations. We explore how these diseases present, how they are diagnosed, and of course, treatment, as well as the politics that may well be keeping this information from gaining widespread acceptance or at least recognition. Continue reading
How well we age is actually something we can control. We are learning more and more that there are correlations between our “aging,” in other words how long we remain healthy versus suffering from some form of chronic disease, and the length of the ends of our DNA called telomeres. Certainly, the idea of “lengthening your telomeres” is so much a part of the public discussion that products are using this as a catchphrase for marketing.
So I think it’s important to bring this whole notion of telomeres as markers of disease risk and perhaps more importantly as playing a mechanistic role in aging to a better level of understanding. Continue reading
Is high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) really as much of a problem as people would like us to believe? And in fact, what about fructose in general? After all, the actual biochemistry of fructose metabolism does not activate insulin, and therefore it might not be as big of an issue in terms of representing a health threat compared to other sugars, like glucose or dextrose. Right?
Well, let’s dig into the science a little bit and see what we can learn. In a new study published in the Journal of Hepatology, researchers wanted to explore how fructose, sucrose (common table sugar, which is made up of 50% glucose and 50% fructose), or glucose affected the body in terms of some fairly important parameters like the generation of fat in the liver.
The study evaluated the effects of these sugars in 94 healthy young men over a seven-week period. The subjects consumed, on a daily basis, drinks containing fructose, sucrose, or glucose, 80g per day, or a drink that did not contain sugar. Continue reading
These days, probably the number one topic of conversation in the health world is immunity. Never has our dependence on a healthy immune system been so obvious. So, it’s very timely that Dr. James DiNicolantonio has published his new book, The Immunity Fix.
The Immunity Fix explores, first, the notion that we can have a huge impact on the functionality of our immune systems based on the choices we make every day. He talks about the fundamental role of nutrition and especially the threat of deficiency of various trace minerals like magnesium and others, as well as how we should go about repleting our deficiencies. Beyond minerals, he describes how to use other, more exotic nutritional supplements appropriately to augment immune function and why the balance of immune function is particularly relevant in COVID-19. Continue reading
Over the past several years a mechanistic concept has arisen that seeks to explain the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease. This has been called the bioenergetic theory. Basically, it describes a situation in which the highly energy demanding cells of the brain are somehow compromised in their ability to use fuel. Make no mistake about it, brain cells require an incredible amount of energy to perform their function. In the resting state, the brain, which typically represents only 2 to 5% of total body weight, consumes up to 25% of calories burned.
The brain’s primary fuel is glucose. And one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive failure of the brain’s ability to use this source of fuel, basically a situation in which brain cells are not able to utilize glucose for energy. In fact, specialized PET scanning of the brain can visualize signature areas of the brain that are less functional in terms of glucose utilization that correlate with Alzheimer’s disease. Continue reading
Our world today has certainly become far more chaotic than we had anticipated. As such, it becomes challenging to avoid toxic threatening thoughts and downstream manifestations like depression or anxiety. As our guest today makes clear, we don’t have to settle into this mental mess as if it is just our “new normal.” There is hope and there is help available to us, and the road to healthier thoughts and more happiness may actually be shorter than we think. Continue reading
Your brain is always listening and responding to an incredibly large number of hidden influences, and unless you recognize and deal with them, they can steal your happiness, spoil your relationships, and sabotage your health. My good friend Dr. Daniel Amen calls these influences “dragons” in his new book Your Brain Is Always Listening, and with good reason as he explains. Importantly, this book will teach you to tame the dragons and regain what, for many, has been so elusive, especially these days. Continue reading
There is so much discussion these days about things like intermittent fasting, time restricted eating, and caloric restriction, and with good reason. There is robust research data that supports the health benefits of these practices.
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