by Sara Gottfried, MD and Bianca Garilli, ND, IFMCP Introduction We’re just starting to understand the full spectrum of toxic threats to the human body, including obesity. What’s clear is that the body doesn’t know what to do with our myriad exposures to toxins. They clog the liver, then get stored in fat, and ultimately back up into the brain. Since the brain is almost two-thirds fat (the fattiest organ in the body), it makes sense that it’s likely the…

Host: Deanna Minich, PhD, CNS, FACN, IFMCP Guest: Deborah Maragopoulos, MN, FNP "The hypothalamus is like the CEO of your entire body. Everything else are workers." – Deborah Maragopoulos, MN, FNP In this edifying discussion, Deborah Maragopoulos, FNP and Deanna Minich, PhD explore the neuro-immune-endocrine system and how the hypothalamus, specifically, is at the core of many patients’ chronic health issues, from mood and metabolic disorders to insomnia and autoimmunity. Over 30+ years of working in healthcare, Deborah explains that her…

by Bianca Garilli, ND, USMC Veteran The estimated cost of diabetes in the US was $327 billion in 2017, which reflects both direct medical costs ($237 billion) and indirect costs ($90 billion).1 After adjusting for inflation, this amounted to a 26% increase in diabetes costs from 2012 to 2017 and accounted for 1 in 4 healthcare dollars spent in the US.1 In 2015 it was estimated that 30.3 million people of all ages, roughly 9.4% of the US population, had…

by Bianca Garilli, ND Globally, 39% of adults aged ≥18 years were classified as overweight and 13% obese in 2016, totaling a jaw-dropping 1.9 billion adults overall.1 With obesity rates soaring, tripling worldwide since 1975, most of the Earth’s population now lives in countries where overweight and obesity cause more morbidity and mortality than being underweight.1 Keeping pace with these gains in adiposity is the behemoth weight loss and weight management market, which consists of fitness centers, slimming centers, consulting…

by Bianca Garilli, ND Obesity, a preventable condition, has tripled worldwide since 1975, with 340 million children and adolescents between 5-19 years of age with overweight or obesity in 2016 according to the World Health Organization (WHO).1 In children and adolescents, BMI-for-age growth charts are used to determine weight status; >85th and <95th percentile is considered overweight, while ≥95th percentile is obese.2 In the US, overweight and obesity disproportionally affect children of low-income households, whereas the risk of overweight and…

Host: Deanna Minich, PhD, CNS, FACN, IFMCP Guest: Christopher Keroack, MD, IFMCP You may have heard about the ketogenic diet. This high-fat, low-carbohydrate, moderate-protein dietary pattern has experienced a revival of sorts in the mainstream media and dieting world. But, before “keto” was a contemporary fad, how was it used? In fact, there is ~100 years of science supporting the ketogenic diet. To shed light on its history of use and elucidate practical areas of clinical application, Drs. Deanna Minich and Christopher…

by Bianca Garilli, ND Body mass index (BMI) is used in the medical community for defining anthropometric height/weight characteristics.1 An individual’s BMI categorizes them as normal, overweight or obese and is often used as a risk factor for various chronic health issues including coronary artery disease (CAD).1 It has become apparent however that BMI is a gross estimate of adiposity; BMI is a poor indicator of percent of body fat and does not indicate site of body fat distribution, an…

In this presentation Jaclyn Chasse, ND and President of AANP discusses the role of nutrition in naturopathic medicine and how it has significantly changed over the years for the naturopathic doctor. Dr Chasse points out a few of the key diets that are used in managing nutrition today, among them are the ketogenic diet, the Mediterranean diet and the Paleo diet. She describes the methods many naturopathic doctors use that have had the most impact on improving patient outcomes, including the importance of incorporating phytonutrients…

There is extensive evidence showing that the intake of healthy fats can reduce incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Dr. Frank Hu of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School discusses the evidence from several studies showing the benefits of healthy oils and fats for reduction of CVD incidence and CVD risk factors. Overall recommendations include keeping intake of saturated fatty acids low, replace saturated fat with unsaturated fats, and consume mono-unsaturated…

Part two of Dr. Penny Kris-Etherton’s presentation entitled Clinical Evidence Supporting the Role of Healthy Fats to Reduce Cardiovascular (CVD) Risk Factors is shown in this presentation. Here, Dr. Kris-Etherton discusses more clinical trial evidence regarding the support of unsaturated fatty acids, new research on minor fatty acids, and how these recommendations can be applied to dietary patterns in the real world. The role of the Mediterranean Diet in preventing cardiovascular disease was investigated in several studies, with additional focus…