Obesity and Change - The Tech IntersectionWelcome to the podcast! Today, I am thrilled to host Dr. Deborah Tate, a distinguished professor in the Department of Nutrition at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, with joint appointments in Health Behavior and Nutrition. She also holds a faculty appointment at the Nutrition Research Institu…

Section IUnderstanding the Action and Use of GLP-1 Agonists in Children – A Pediatrician’s ViewpointThe United States, like much of the developed world, is facing increasing rates of childhood obesity and related health concerns. Despite years of research and various efforts, addressing this public health issue remains a complex challenge.This arti…

Section IAre Smart Phones a benefit or a curse for the teenager in school? This is becoming a huge topic this past year or so. Logic would seem to dictate that this is a curse more than a benefit, but what does the data and expert opinion show?The Scientific American article "Do Phone Bans Help Students Perform Better in School?" examines the growi…

Welcome to the podcast! Today, I am thrilled to have a true pioneer in the field of metabolic health, Dr. Robert Lustig, MD, joining us. Dr. Lustig is a neuroendocrinologist and Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco. He is best known for his groundbreaking work on the inters…

Upcoming Podcast and Current Book Review.For all parents who love the content of this newsletter, I have a book for you to enjoy. It is a comprehensive look at parenting a child in modern times through the struggles of food, technology, stress and life in general.My good friend Elisa Song is a Stanford, NYU and UCSF trained pediatrician and lover o…

Section ILiterature Review1) Long Covid in children - the symptoms are getting more clarity in who has what . From JAMA: 898 school-age children (751 with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection and 147 without) and 4469 adolescents (3109 infected and 1360 uninfected) were included in the analysis. The time between infection and symptom analysis was 1.5 year…

Children are and always will be a marker of a society’s quality and focus on their health. When we look at the landscape of childhood health trajectories, we see a declination in quality and an inclination toward diseases of immune dysregulation and underlying chronic unchecked inflammation. What is the genesis point, or where is ground zero?For me…

David L. Katz, MD, MPH is a specialist in Preventive Medicine and Lifestyle Medicine, with particular expertise in nutrition.He earned his BA at Dartmouth College (1984); his MD at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine (1988); and his MPH from the Yale University School of Public Health (1993). He completed sequential residency training and board…

Literature Review1) Does oral health affect your life if you are sick and in intensive care? According to a new study in JAMA, the answer is yes. From the study: 10,742 patients - "toothbrushing was associated with significantly lower risk for Hospital Acquired Pneumonia and ICU mortality. Reduction in pneumonia incidence was significant for patien…

This week I sit down with Dr. Elisa Song to discuss her new book, Healthy Kids, Happy Kids. Dr. Song is a graduate of Stanford University with a degree in political Science. She then attended New York University for her medical degree and finally a stop at the University of California San Francisco for pediatric residency training. In her own words…

Sleep Part IVContinuing the sleep education from a few weeks ago.Sleep is a most special event that we all need to continue to focus heavily on in order to live a healthy and long life. It may be the single most important event that we do daily.Here are a few more quick hits on sleep from the Matthew Walker's Book and other publications.1) Aim for …

Sleep Part IIIFinally, the other elephant in the room related to sleep is STRESS. Stress alters the function of the hormone cortisol and can significantly alter night sleep function. There are three major chemicals that affect sleep: cortisol, adenosine and melatonin.In normal conditions, adenosine rises during the day making you sleepy, cortisol h…

This weeks guest is Dr. Colleen Cutcliffe.Dr. Colleen Cutcliffe is a researcher and a thinker with persistence. Throughout history, these are the human qualities that lead people to develop amazing products and lead projects for the world to benefit from. Her story is one of discovery, passion and caring.Dr. Cutcliffe holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry …

Epigenetics and PregnancyEpigenetics is the study of environmental signals and their effects on our genes. Our genes are not altered so much as they are read and used differently based on the environmental inputs. Epigenetic effects are critical during the pregnancy period as the environmental signals can alter an offspring’s outcome both in good a…

Sleep Part IILet us pause here! So far we now know that humans at all ages will suffer from memory dysfunction and brain sewage cleanup problems leading to inflammation and damage long term. What ages are most at risk? They are likely mirrored by other physiologic events that are at risk based on age. Teenagers, infants and toddlers are rapidly gro…

Kenneth R. Pelletier, MD, PhD is a Clinical Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine; Department of Family and Community Medicine, and Department of Psychiatry at the University of California School of Medicine (UCSF) in San Francisco. He is Director of the Corporate Health Improvement Program (CHIP) which is a collaborative research program b…

Sleep Update for 2024Sleep has always been a necessary function of everyday life for all mammals. From an evolutionary perspective this cannot be a mistake as during the period of sleep you are vulnerable to predation. Therefore, there has to be a really good reason for mammals to sleep for extended hours. What is that reason? Why are toddlers and …

Klotho Part IILast week we discussed Klotho as a protein that has pleotrophic effects in the body as it relates to cellular aging. This week let us focus specifically on the brain. What are the effects of klotho as it relates to cognition and function over time? Klotho has neuroprotective effects based on studies that show that better cognitive per…

Jeff Kessler, FACHEAllergy ChoicesThis week I sit down with Jeff Kessler to discuss allergies and sublingual immune therapy.Jeff Kessler is a business leader and a thought leader in the allergy therapy space. His relevant backstory goes back to 1999 when he had the fortunate opportunity to work on a project to select and implement an Electronic Med…

Klotho Part IOk, it is time for a potential log step shift in the human understanding of neurological decline with age starting from birth.Enter the peptide, (C)Klotho, named after the greek goddess of fate who spins the thread of life for all. The Klotho protein was discovered by researchers looking at mice that aged faster than the general mouse …

Sleep Restriction and Immune HealthIt has long been known that sleep is a truth teller of mood. The poorer the sleep quality, the poorer the emotional response. Every parent knows this with a child short on sleep. What are the cellular effects?From an abstract looking at catch up sleep and human inflammation we find the following: "Despite its prev…

Reading Part IILet us follow up on last weeks newsletter on reading as a cultural advantage and a human need in truth. What do we know about the neuroscience of reading dysfunction or weakened ability to achieve the goal of reading proficiency? What is the frequency of concern?Depending on the study, 5-10% of children have reading issues like dysle…

ReadingIf you want to spend any amount of time with your child beyond hugs, feeding and basic life duties, I would recommend reading above all else. I find it hard to believe that this is the first article that I have written on reading. I pondered that for a minute and concluded that this, in effect, was me taking this information for granted. Tha…

This week I sit down with Philip Bugaiski to discuss ocular tracking, reading difficulties and vision therapy.Dr. Bugaiski was born in New York and first developed an interest in optometry as a result of childhood vision challenges, requiring vision therapy. He studied science as an undergraduate at the Penn State University graduating with honors.…

Stress and a Woman's Ability to Conceive - The Healthy Mind Is Key.How was it meant to be? Humans were designed to be excellent at handling acute stress while chronic stress on the other hand was never expected to be part of our day to day existence. We run from the tiger and survive the event or we die. That being said, chronic mental stress is th…

Demographic DeceptionThis week I sit down with Dustin Whitney to discuss population growth and its relevance to everyday life.Dustin is an author, an entrepreneur and a man looking at the world through a different lens. He recently published book the Demographic Deception which outlines the reality that the global population is contracting as oppos…

What are the main preventable etiologies for childhood death under the age of five years?According to the data compile by UNICEF, we see the following for the world:1) Prematurity 18%2) Pneumonia 14%3) Birth Asphyxia 12%4) Malaria 9%5) Diarrhea 9%6) Congenital anomolies 8%7) Injuries 5%8) Blood infections/sepsis 3%9) Tuberculosis 3%10) all othersFr…

Excess Weight Gain, Obesity and Immune Related Diseases in 2 casesI want to share a few recent case experiences that shed light on the patient provider experience in the context of a collaborative clinic model based on prevention and the patient first mentality.In the struggle against the US based disease onslaught that is excess weight gain, longe…

This week I sit down with Dr. Blaine Leeds to discuss oral health, sleep apnea, bedwetting and more.Dr. Leeds is a leader in the dental field. He speaks nationally on tele-dentistry, oral health and dental treatments for sleep disordered breathing and sleep apnea. He is a graduate of Arkansas Tech with a Bachelors degree in Chemistry before attendi…

“It is your reaction to an adversity not the adversity itself that determines how your life’s story develops.”Dieter UchtdorfWHY?What are the Underpinnings of Disease?What have we really learned over the last one to two hundred years of medicine?We left an era where infections killed the majority of children and adults, especially during childbirth…

The Book that I never published. It is time for me to take another look at the mother child story in book form. In 2019, I embarked on a project of writing a book about maternal health and WHY it matters tremendously that we address the issues driving offspring dysregulation. The time since has ushered in an era of podcast guests that in some insta…

Enuresis, Encopresis and ConstipationThis week I sit down with Dr. Steve Hodges to discuss bedwetting, constipation and more.Dr. Steve Hodges is a Urological surgeon and expert in the field of enuresis, encopresis and child urological health. He received his BA in classical and ancient studies from Duke University before completing medical school a…

Unraveling the Mysteries of the Amygdala: A review of a section of the book Behave by Robert SapolskyIn the world of neuroscience, Robert Sapolsky stands as a luminary, a maestro of unraveling the intricate dance of our brain's circuitry. Among the many deep dives that he delves into, his perspective on the amygdala resonates profoundly for me. The…

Literature Review1) In a first of its kind study in mice, we see concrete evidence for how the mitochondria in obese individuals are a root cause of disease based on nutritional input. This fascinating animal translational study gives us insight into how a high fat diet is also a major component of mitochondrial damage through fission and fragmenta…

This week I sit down with Dr. Stan Gabryszewski to discuss allergies from multiple angles.Dr. Gabryszewski graduated from Princeton University with a degree in Molecular Biology before attending Columbia University for his MD as well as a PhD degree in Cellular, Molecular and Biomedical Studies. He then completed his pediatric residency and is a se…

Teenagers and tweens are a challenge to any parent as they embark on their identity development. These are years filled with angst, joy, love and pain, as our kids develop physically, mentally, and emotionally. As we attempt to guide but not control, we struggle watching them make and maybe repeat obvious mistakes. We, so dearly, want them to make …

Micro/nano-plastics (MNP) - the new ultra threat to our healthIn a first of its kind study, a group out of Italy has found quite disturbing results in the hearts of a few hundred tested individuals. From the study: 257 patients completed a 35 month study where they detected polyethylene in the 59% of the patient's heart's carotid artery plaque. In …

This week I sit down with Dr. Stephen Porges,He is a Distinguished University Scientist at Indiana University where he is the founding director of the Traumatic Stress Research Consortium. He is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina, and Professor Emeritus at both the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Mar…

Allergy Season and School - What is your plan?Spring is coming and maybe even here already in Carolina. School is in full swing for kids and they are filled with joy and excitement. They are back outside enjoying sports and play. For the parents of allergy suffering kids, this is a time for check ups, medicines and the countless forms required by s…

To ForgiveThe act as defined as I see it - to release consciously another person from your negative feelings based on an event that was hurtful toward you from them whether it is perceived on your part or known by both parties.What I find fascinating is that often the act of forgiveness may have to push past an unconscious threat injury in order to…

This week we sit down with Dr. John Warner, an Emeritus professor of Pediatrics at the Imperial College of London in the United Kingdom and also at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. We discuss his recent paper entitled: Strategies and Future Opportunities for the Prevention, Diagnosis, and Management of Cow Milk Allergy. Dr. Warner compl…

Pregnancy is a super important time. Do not take by inhalation, ingestion or other exposure anything that is a potential toxin for the body.Things to avoid:1) Caffeine - in low to minimal doses, it is clear that caffeine is safe for pregnant women and their offspring. Caffeine easily crosses into the placenta and thus the baby's circulation. In ute…

Measles Overview AgainFrom the CDC: As of this week, there have been 35 cases of measles, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported including seven direct importations of measles by international travelers and two outbreaks with more than five cases each. Most of these cases were among children and adolescents who had not receiv…

Dr. Kate Kresge is the Head of Medical Education at RUPA Health and host of the Root Cause Medicine Podcast. Dr. Kate collaborates with clinicians to bring leading-edge root-cause medicine information to the world through bootcamps, courses, podcasts, articles and more. Before joining RUPA, Dr. Kate was the founding Director of Functional Medicine …

APOE4 and the history of human diseaseApolipoprotein E, discovered in 1973, is derived from a polymorphic gene called ApoE that encodes for a signaling protein on a class of fatty proteins that primarily carry cholesterol and other molecules around the body. We find ApoE primarily on VLDL, very low-density lipoproteins and HDL, High density lipopro…

Light and It's Impacts on Health - Circadian RhythmsCircadian comes from the latin Circa Diem or about the dayI have long believed that indoor sedentary behavior is profoundly bad for us beyond just the lack of movement and outdoor natural education. Today, we will look at another major concern: light. We will also get into a circadian rhythm post …

ADHD without Drugs - This is a reboot of this podcast from 2022 as it aligns with the podcasts of Dr. James Greenblatt and Dr. Kate HenrySandy Newmark, MD is the Director of Clinical Programs at the University of California at San Francisco's Osher Center for Integrative Health. He is an Integrative Pediatrician and a Professor in the Department of…

Literature Review1) Cancer is now a unique risk factor for Cardiovascular disease according to recent research. This is being discussed as a point of emphasis for those that have been diagnosed with cancer as the knowledge is a wake up alarm to the biological underpinnings of these disparate immune based diseases. (Melchiori R. et. al. 2023) If you…

{display_podcast]Attention Deficit and Upstream Personalized TreatmentsThis week we sit down with Dr. James Greenblatt, a pioneer in the field of integrative medicine/psychiatry. He obtained his MD and completed his psychiatry residency at George Washington University School of Medicine. This training was followed by a fellowship in child and adole…

This weeks podcast turned out to be so much more than expected when I first heard about Dr. David Clarke. His work transcends much of what I see in clinic and has given a name to the reality of puzzling chronic illness. From the PPDA website: Psychophysiologic disorders (PPD) are stress-related, brain-generated pain or illness. Even people who hand…