We all know picky eaters in our families or friends. They push the broccoli away or focus their attention on gets in foods. Of course functional medicine tells us that gut bacteria and yeast influence such preferences, but this research pulls interesting connections out of genome studies. Researchers compared food preferences and dietary patterns to…
As a functional MD, I keep my eyes out for articles which can benefit my patients. Yes, I have a bias going into reading for articles. Normally I’m not in the favor of benefiting rats, as I really don’t like them that much. In this case feeding blueberries to a bunch of lab rats, provided…
Or Food Epistemology Once upon a time, three pigs grew tired of their reputation for being snouts that would eat anything. The first little pig read a book about organic food and determined that would be the road to good health. The second little pig read a book about juicing and started juicing everything in…
If you don’t know what a polyphenol is, but are afraid to ask….basically a natural chemical class in many herbs, veggies, and fruits that posses numerous antioxidant properties. So what? In this case, they may be protecting your liver or even helping it to heal. The article lists many sources, but a short list includes…
Numerous supplements are proving to benefit diabetics and pre-diabetics in controlling their glucose control, however a list of supplements which might worsen glucose control garners little press. Maybe the good guys need to step back for a moment and allow the guilty parties to stand alone in the spotlight. Let’s take a moment to examine…
Eliminate the diet? Some may like the idea of an elimination diet…IF it means they can eliminate the idea of a diet. Well…it all depends on what you mean by the word “diet”. The functional medicine elimination diet is not focused on eliminating calories for weight loss. Rather, it aims to eliminate trigger foods. Those foods causing illness. By…
At the end of September, I was privileged to attend an AFMCP conference. This stands for Applying Functional Medicine in Clinical Practice and was hosted by the Institute for Functional Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. I wanted to share some of the things I learned and realized during that week. Not all of the thoughts will…
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)…
Just the other day, I asked myself why doesn’t someone come up with a test for choline deficiency. I constantly address this critical nutrient for patients, especially women of child bearing age and especially those with PEMT snps. Women of child bearing age are at risk of choline deficiency since they give away tons of…
Vitamins are BAD for you ?!? Hogwash. Try this. See how far you can read the anti-vitamin piece below before noting major bias and distortions. While they are correct that indiscriminate supplementation can be a problem, they dissuade away from all vitamins (title) with a study on D and calcium. In the study, there is…