by Ashley Jordan Ferira, PhD, RDN There is a paradox occurring in American youth: obesity and dieting. National statistics confirm that pediatric overweight and obesity rates are high, steadily rising over the past few decades.1 In fact, over 20% of the 12-19 age group in the US are obese, with higher prevalence in Hispanics and blacks.1 Actual weight and the teenager’s perception of their weight can be incongruent. Furthermore, weight status misperception drives intent for weight change.3 American youth are…

by Bianca Garilli, ND  History of breast milk: then and now The “breast is best” and “liquid gold” taglines made their return to conventional pediatric conversations in recent years, diverging from a previous school of thought that led Western mothers to believe their naturally produced, free breast milk was inferior to factory made synthetic formulas with a price tag. Interestingly enough, this was not the first time natural breastfeeding had gone out of vogue. A brief history of infant feeding…

by Bianca Garilli, ND, IFMCP The Global Breastfeeding Collective (GBC), co-led by UNICEF and WHO, has a mission to rally political, legal, financial, and public support for breastfeeding, which will benefit mothers, children, and society. Seven key priorities have been set forth by the GBC to increase the rate of breastfeeding globally; their most recent data from 2017 evaluated 194 nations and found that, “only 40 percent of children younger than six months are breastfed exclusively (given nothing but breastmilk)…

Although the ketogenic diet has been used clinically since the early 20th century, with specific therapeutic use for seizure mitigation in children with intractable epilepsy, the “keto diet” is now discussed more broadly, having even entered colloquial use. With the ketogenic diet’s recent rise in mainstream popularity and increased clinical exposure, we compiled a Q&A with Mark Kaye, DC to answer specific questions from healthcare practitioners. Does a ketogenic lifestyle work for hypothyroid patients? Contributing factors to low thyroid function…

by Bianca Garilli, ND Although originally (and still) used as a therapeutic approach to reduce seizures in children with intractable epilepsy, nowadays the ketogenic diet is more well-known and broadly used for weight loss and cardiometabolic disease management. A question frequently asked when considering the implementation of a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet is whether there are potential negative health outcomes associated with this approach, such as worsening cholesterol levels. Unfortunately, the answer to this question is not cut and dry and…

by Ashley Jordan Ferira, PhD, RDN Almost 10% of the US population has diabetes, with another 34% in a precarious state of prediabetes.1 These diagnoses are not destiny. Research demonstrates that lifestyle interventions, particularly those incorporating nutrition therapy, produce clinically meaningful improvements in diabetes.2 Integrating this research foundation into the clinical setting is key. A study used an endocrinology private practice waiting room to deliver weekly group-based nutrition education classes for patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D), examining the effects…

Obesity and cardiometabolic disease are metabolic perturbations associated with inflammation chronicity. The Western diet is typified by a surplus of calories, low nutritional quality, and high pro-inflammatory potential, thereby fueling excess adiposity, which further leads to inflammation. To break this obesity-inflammation cycle, adopting a healthful dietary pattern and incorporating regular physical activity is critical. Furthermore, identifying foods and nutritional bioactives that can reduce or counteract inflammation is important for the development of targeted nutrition therapies. This blog focuses on a…

by Lewis Chang, PhD Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern where one alternates periods of eating and fasting. Overall, intermittent fasting has demonstrated efficacy in weight management and improvements in metabolism and body composition.1,2 However, it is unclear whether the observed metabolic benefits are the result of weight loss or due to other mechanisms. Also, there are a variety of fasting regimens which may have different physiological effects. Researchers from The University of Alabama at Birmingham (Birmingham, AL) Department of…

by Bianca Garilli, ND As the rise in obesity continues globally, questions remain: do all people with obesity have increased risk of long-term chronic health conditions, or whether is there a subset of individuals who are healthy despite having obesity? In fact, the concept that “not all obesity is created equally” is emerging in the literature1 to describe individuals with obesity but who do not (yet) carry the markers of disease. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as metabolically healthy…

by Ashley Jordan Ferira, PhD, RDN The digestive system begins in the mouth, which is home to 700+ unique species of bacteria.1 Research has shown that salivary2 and gastrointestinal (GI)3-4 microbiota possess diurnal rhythms; whether these daily patterns are a result of circadian biology and/or eating behaviors is unknown. The composition of one’s habitual diet has been shown to impact human GI microbiota, and emerging research suggests that eating frequency and timing of meals may also play a role,3-4 however,…