Nutrition & Lifestyle

Plant Sterols: An Effective Alternative For Statin-Intolerant Patients

By Janet Gulland, Contributing Writer

A recently published case series from the University of Chicago underscores the value of plant sterol supplements for managing elevated cholesterol in statin-intolerant patients at moderate to high risk for cardiovascular disease. While statin therapy with accompanying lifestyle modification remains the preferred conventional intervention for treating dyslipidemias and reducing cardiovascular risk, many patients do not […]

Feeding Friendly Flora: Prebiotics Have Key Role in Immune Resilience

By Erik Goldman

The gut microbiome and the human immune system have a complex synergistic relationship that we are just beginning to understand. Research on this subject has exploded over the last decade, and the findings are redefining fundamental notions of what it means to be healthy, and, really what it means to be “human.” The immune system–and […]

Culinary Mushrooms Offer a Wealth Of Immune-Boosting Nutrients

By Sally LaMont, ND, LAc

As practitioners, we encourage our patients to eat more brightly colored, phytonutrient-rich fruits and vegetables, and there’s no question that color is strongly correlated with nutrient content. But we should not overlook nature’s white, tan, and brown-pigmented delights. And by that, I mean mushrooms! Edible mushrooms contain diverse immunoregulatory compounds, like chitin, β-glucans, sterols, terpenes […]

“Core” Values: How to Help Patients Build Strength and Improve Balance

By Stacy Collier, Contributing Writer

Balance is an essential concept in holistic medicine. The word is everywhere: we talk about work-life balance, balancing hormones and neurotransmitters, keeping an ideal acid-alkaline balance. All of those are important. But the reality is, many people struggle with the much more basic issue of physical balance. Especially as people age, the ability to stay […]

Biden COVID Plan Overlooks Vitamin D, Nutrition

By Erik Goldman

Search the Biden administration’s new National Strategy for the COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness for the term “Vitamin D” and you will come up with nothing. Vitamin C? Nothing. Zinc? Nope, nothing. The word “nutrition” does appear thrice, but only in the context of malnutrition, and the need to bolster the government’s food aid programs. […]

Mood by Microbe: Stress Response and the Gut-Brain Axis

By Erik Goldman

Multiple converging lines of evidence have shown that the primary cause of chronic systemic inflammation may be the dysfunction of the gut-brain axis. In this presentation, renowned integrative psychiatrist, David Scheiderer, MD, reviews the links between dysbiosis, meta-inflammation, and various psychiatric conditions. Dr. Scheiderer discusses the impact of medications, alcohol, diet, and lifestyle on the […]

Optimizing the Brain-Microbiome Axis

By Erik Goldman

The promise of the “psychobiotic revolution” is that many of the underlying drivers of chronic mental illness can be reversed with relatively simple interventions. “We cannot change the genes in our cells. But we can change the genes in our microbiota. That can have a positive—or a negative—health benefit,” says Ted Dinan, MD, PhD, a […]

Psychobiotics: Your Brain on Friendly Flora

By Grant Jackson, MD

The typical human body contains roughly 1.5 kilograms of microorganisms. That’s about equal in weight to the average human brain. It’s an interesting equivalence, given what we are learning about the myriad ways in which the gut microbiome influences the brain and central nervous system. Many common mental illnesses, including severe depression and anxiety, are […]

The Role of Micronutrients & Probiotics in Immune Health for Children

By Erik Goldman

The immune system is an elegant and complex set of cells, proteins, and tissues designed to protect our bodies from infections, both minor and life-threatening. Both the innate and acquired immune systems are dependent upon healthy nutrition, a healthy gut microbiome, adequate rest, and management of stress. The transfer of maternal microbiota is very closely linked to a […]

Maintaining Resilience by Supporting Healthy Mitochondrial Function

By Erik Goldman

In recent years, researchers and medical practitioners alike have taken interest in a particular molecule known to be the master regulator of cellular metabolism — nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+). NAD+ is a ubiquitous coenzyme involved in hundreds of metabolic processes, including: mitochondrial energy production, glycolysis, and DNA synthesis and repair. It also plays a vital […]