The Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recently published the results of a study in post-menopausal women with early hypertension. The study provided daily blueberry powder to half the women and after 8 weeks, those receiving the blueberry powder had a statistically significant decrease in blood pressure. For systolic pressure (the top number)…
Experience with any identical twins quickly reveals that they are not clones one of another. Personality, demeanor, preferences, and other factors are very similar but not 100% copies. In terms of health, twins have a higher rate of sharing certain diseases, but rarely 100% there either. In the functional medicine world, we always say…
Have you ever run across an article that blows your mind by filling in connections that you were sure existed but could never put your finger on? This is one of those articles. Daily we at Sanctuary Functional see patients with autoimmune and metabolic diseases, either of which can lead to inflammation. From studying past…
As always, excited to see epigenetic research that has potential for clinical application in helping patients to live healthier lives. In this research discovery, a specific gene HDAC3 can be modulated to improve remyelination of nerve cells after autoimmune damage. Several disease processes can cause injury to the myelin covering of nerve fibers. This myelin…
The Neighborhood does not do well when it is on fire! Other burn patterns in other gut neighborhoods keep the inflammatory fires burning hotter at the local level. They primarily work on the gut landscape. An inflammatory bowel disease such as Crohn’s Disease will burn the gut lining to the point of visible ulcers and…
As many of you are aware, I can be skeptical of the government at times. However in this case I look forward to the research that this government based study may provide in the coming years. The National Institutes of Health are moving forward and enrolling 9 and 10 year olds in a tracking study…
Health education endeavors to motivate changes in habits and behavior patterns. Such changes are hard fought battles as people hold to habits tenaciously for four reasons. They are deeply rooted in our personality and culture. We do not understand our own culture well nor the origins of our habits. Likewise, we do not understand…
I’m always on the lookout for new concepts in research which have the potential to help patients live a healthier more Abundant Life. Researchers have been searching genetics, epigenetics and other reproductive factors to determine what impact both the father and mother have on the Next Generation. We know that the mother and father each…
The Neighborhood does not do well when it is on fire. In our last neighborhood report, we uncovered the truth behind the myriad of neighbors in our gut. In fact, the research now reveals that we journey through life with more bacteria neighbors in just our gut than the number of cells in our entire…
I regularly stumble upon research findings which shock others, yet provoke a sighing “of course” from the functional medicine MD crowd. In functional medicine, we recognize the amazingly interdependent metabolic network in which one process touches a hundred others. Our bodies function as an intricate interplay of millions of process simultaneously dancing together. So when…