In this video presentation Annalouise O’Connor, PhD provides an in-depth overview of homocysteine, its function in the human body and why it is clinically important, as well as the risk factors for raised homocysteine. Dr O’Connor describes the link between homocysteine and methylation, and the pathways involved in homocysteine metabolism for the function of SAM and SAH. During the presentation, she covers specific nutritional supplementation for the management of raised homocysteine.

by Nilima Desai, MPH, RD Research has established that inflammation is a risk factor for several chronic conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and metabolic syndrome.1 But understanding how inflammation works can be overwhelming. Types of Inflammation Inflammation is classified as either acute or chronic. Inflammation is a natural and necessary component of innate immunity since acute inflammation is the normal physiologic response to injury, infection, or irritation1 and is often short-lived. This acute inflammatory process…

by Kara Fitzgerald, ND It is plain myth that there is nothing that can be done to prevent, slow or even reverse the progress of cognitive decline or Alzheimer’s Disease. The Institute for Functional Medicine held a 3-day international conference earlier this month, attended in droves, diving into the body of evidence that demonstrates this, and we also just really appreciate the work of Dr. Dale Bredesen and his team from the Buck Institute for Research on Aging who are showing that mild-to-moderate…

by Bianca Garilli, ND A Presidential Advisory on brain health was recently released by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association in September 2017. The goals of the publication were to provide a definition of “optimal brain health” in adults, and guidance on how to maintain brain health through the years. From these data, the following 7 metrics were brought forward as steps to implement for improving brain health where ideal brain health was defined as “having an optimal capacity to…

by Lewis Chang, PhD Hormone therapy may be the most effective treatment for reducing vasomotor symptoms. But for many symptomatic perimenopausal and postmenopausal women, the risk of hormone therapy outweighs the benefit. One of the non-pharmacological options that many women consider is acupuncture. However, there has not been a systematic review of randomized clinical trials (RCTs) assessing acupuncture’s effectiveness in the past few years. Researchers from the Center of Integrative Medicine at Wake Forest School of Medicine (Winston-Salem, NC) and…

Menopausal transition represents a critical period in women’s lives that marks an increase in cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Traditional CVD risk factors, such as reduced glucose tolerance, increased blood pressure and endothelial dysfunction, tend to become very present during menopausal transition and post-menopausal years which can partly explain the augmentation in CVD risk among women. The natural decline in oestrogen levels during menopause has been associated with the increase in CVD risk among post-menopausal women. Similarly, VMS are postulated to…

by Nilima Desai, MPH, RD In today’s fast-paced world it seems like most people are under some type of stress. In fact, the World Health Organization’s Global Burden of Disease Survey reports by the year 2020, stress-related conditions will be the second leading cause of disability.1 Stress is defined as, “a physical, chemical, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension and may be a factor in disease causation”.2 It’s important to remember that not all stress is bad,…

In this webinar, Dr. Osama Hamdy, the medical director of the obesity program at the Joslin Diabetes Center, discusses, “Dietary Fat: Should We Change Recommendations.” He begins with basic information on dietary fats. There are three types of lipids: free fatty acids, compound lipids (phospholipids, sterols/cholesterol). When we discuss fatty acids, we mean a chain of carbon atoms, one end called the alpha end, and one called the omega end. It is from that structure that we get the names of polyunsaturated…

by Lewis Chang, PhD  It has been suggested that oxidative stress contributes to the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease (PD), an age-related neurodegenerative disorder of the central nervous system affecting movement. As antioxidants may offset oxidative stress and damage to neurons, scientists have been interested in whether antioxidant consumption would reduce the risk of PD. Researchers from Karolinska Institutet (Stockholm, Sweden) and University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA) set out to investigate the association between antioxidant intake and PD risk…

by Ashley Jordan Ferira, PhD, RDN An analysis of the Nurses’ Health Study II (NHS2) cohort revealed that women with a history of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) who are also overweight or obese have a significantly increased risk of developing chronic hypertension (HTN) later in life.1 HDP includes pre-eclampsia and gestational HTN: obstetric complications increasing risk of maternal mortality.2 In the US, pre-eclampsia and gestational HTN affect 3% and 5-10% of pregnancies, respectively.2 Furthermore, HDP increases risk for chronic HTN. Conservative figures estimate that…