by Bianca Garilli, ND, IFMCP A common concern in peri- and postmenopausal years is weight gain, typically 1.5 pounds per year during the fifth and sixth decades of life and shown to be independent of a woman’s initial body size or race/ethnicity. It was previously believed that the increase in weight coincided with the onset of menopause most likely due to the drop in estrogen levels. Although declining estrogen levels has, in fact, been shown to lead to an increase…

A review published in Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics showed alcohol consumption adversely altered gut microbiota and could lead to negative impacts on the liver. It is well known that alcohol intake directly and adversely affects the liver, but more recently, it has also been clinically shown to impact the gastrointestinal microbiota. To better elucidate this relationship the authors utilized the PubMed data base, to identify and review data from research articles addressing this topic. The studies that the authors identified showed alcohol…

by Bianca Garilli, ND An article published in the New England Journal of Medicine  reviewed data collected from 1998-2012 from adults in the Swedish National Diabetes Register with type 1 diabetes (T1D) and type 2 diabetes (T2D).  Information was analyzed for various end points including overall mortality rate and incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and coronary heart disease (CHD). Results from the study showed that during the observed time period the incidence rates of CVD and overall mortality rates decreased in both…

by Bianca Garilli, ND Anxiety comes in a myriad of forms from social anxiety to post traumatic stress disorder with an average onset at 11 years of age. Anxiety is estimated to affect 18% of the US population or 42 million Americans with 4% of the population suffering with severe anxiety.1,2 The more common and easily identifiable symptoms of anxiety include a feeling of dread, edginess or irritation, fear, worry, difficulty with concentration and focus; somatic symptoms may include increased…

In recent years, dietary guidelines have turned from emphasizing low fat consumption to embracing dietary patterns that are comprised of “whole” and unprocessed foods, such as the Mediterranean diet. The Mayo Clinic indicates that the Mediterranean diet emphasizes plant-based foods, healthy oils, fish and poultry, and red wine in moderation, with limited consumption of salt and red meat. It has been observed experimentally and in epidemiological studies that the Mediterranean Diet plays a beneficial role in health. For example, the PREDIMED study in Spain,…

by Nilima Desai, MPH, RD Most people who are on a quest for weight loss have all heard, “a calorie is a calorie” and that it doesn’t matter if the calorie is a carbohydrate calorie, a protein calorie, or a fat calorie. In fact, all calories do have the same amount of energy: one kilocalorie contains about 4184 Joules of energy, which is the amount of energy needed to increase the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius.…

It is well known that nutrition plays a major role in the prevention and management of several chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease, as well as cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, and overweight and obesity. Chronic disease is very common in the United States and nearly 70% of American adults are overweight or obese. Health conditions triggered by overweight or obesity such as hypertension or hyperlipidemia, among others, are commonly treated with prescription drugs. Indeed, in a study of prescription…

Dietary supplements are used by a majority of Americans on at least an occasional basis. The Dietary Supplement Health and Education (DSHEA) defines dietary supplements as“ vitamins, minerals, herbals and botanicals, amino acids, dietary substances to supplement the diet such as enzymes or tissues, or a concentrate, metabolite, constituent, or extract.” Supplements are popular across demographics in the United States, but use of dietary supplements by American adults over 50 years old has increased by 40% since the 1970’s.[1]The increase…

by Ashley Jordan Ferira, PhD, RDN Overview Vitamin D research and daily news headlines are ubiquitous. PubMed’s search engine contains over 81,800 articles pertaining to vitamin D.1 Information abounds on vitamin D, but the vetting and translation of that information into pragmatic recommendations is harder to find. Evidence-based takeaways and female-centric recommendations are crucial for healthcare practitioners (HCPs), their female patients and consumers alike. Women are busy, multi-tasking pros, so practical, personalized takeaways are always appreciated. In other words, women…

The gene MTHFR is one of the best-known and most relevant genes in the growing field of nutrigenomics. According to the National Institutes of Health, MTHFR provides instructions for making an enzyme that plays a role in processing amino acids, as well as converting one form of folate to another, a process that is required to convert the amino acid homocysteine into another amino acid, methionine. It’s not this complicated process itself, though that makes MTHFR so noteworthy and relevant to…