by Bianca Garilli, ND Obesity is not age-discriminate, affecting both adults and children quite dramatically over the past few decades. In the United States, nearly one in five children ages 6-19 years old are currently obese, resulting in both long-term health consequences and a financial burden to the individual, family and nation.1 One of the most detrimental effects of the rise in obesity prevalence is the corresponding elevation in cardiometabolic risk factors in the growing child. Commonly, the recommendations for children…

Pain Management: Symptomatic Relief of Inflammation: Robert Bonakdar, MD Inflammation impacts numerous systems and can be challenging to treat. In this talk Robert Bonakdar, MD Director of Pain Management at Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine, discusses these pathways and ways to approach the inflammatory response upstream to prevent silent and chronic inflammatory states. Understanding inflammation, its stages, and the pathways can help clinicians and researchers improve health outcomes. Presented at the Integrative Healthcare Symposium Annual Conference (IHS) in New York City…

by Ashley Jordan Ferira, PhD, RDN Diabetes has reached epidemic proportions in the US: 30 million US adults have diabetes (90-95% type 2 diabetes [T2D]), with another 84 million living with prediabetes.1 The most influential, modifiable risk factors for diabetes include overweight/obesity, lack of physical activity, and smoking.1 With diabetes-related medical costs and lost work/wages totaling $245 billion/year,1 the US cannot afford to let this epidemic remain unchecked. Clinicians who are equipped to implement successful, evidence-based lifestyle interventions for their…

You try to eat well to feel good and stay healthy. While it’s optimal to get your daily nutritional needs from the foods you eat, it’s just plain difficult. There is conflicting information out there on the benefits of supplements, but the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2015-2020 say that supplements may be useful for providing the nutrients you may be lacking from diet alone. Still on the fence? Consider these top five reasons to add a multivitamin to your daily regimen. 1. Healthy…

by Ashley Jordan Ferira, PhD, RDN Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental syndrome with significant social, communication and behavioral deficits and challenges.1 No cure exists for ASD, although early interventions (birth to 3 years) can yield developmental improvements.1 ASD impacts approximately 1 in 68 children in the US and is 4.5 times more common in boys (1 in 42) than girls (1 in 189).2 Vitamin D’s extraskeletal roles are numerous, including its role as a neurosteroid, impacting both…

Cells of the immune system have been shown to produce specialized pro-resolving mediators (SPMs), a group of lipid molecules that coordinate the active resolution of inflammation. However, the capacity for non-immune cells types to biosynthesize SPMs is not well understood. In this publication, Chatterjee A et al. aimed to examine this ability by using freshly harvested segments of aortic branch as well as vascular smooth muscle cells and vascular endothelial cells all isolated from human volunteers perioperatively. The vascular cells…

The application of precision medicine in integrative healthcare Jennifer Stagg, ND Jennifer Stagg, ND discusses methods and application for precision medicine in an integrative healthcare setting. Dr. Stagg explores how you can utilize advances in genomics and epigenetics in health promotion and preventative care. She includes recent clinical case studies focused on incorporating genomic wellness testing, telomere length testing, as well as establishing the 7 categories for matching a specific diet with a patient to optimize health outcomes. Dr. Stagg explains how a…

Total Patient Care Management: Knowing the Predisposition of Chronic Disease - Robert Martindale, MD, PhD In this presentation, “Total Patient Care Management: Knowing the Predisposition of Chronic Disease,” Robert Martindale, MD, PhD of Oregon Health & Science University discusses how to get ahead of chronic disease in an aging population by reviewing current research and clinical experience. Dr. Martindale explores unique challenges associated with aging, including malnutrition, sarcopenia and anabolic resistance, cognitive decline, obesity and chronic inflammation, and gut/microbiome health.…

15. Insights from the Metagenics Lifestyle Summit 2015 in Phoenix, AZ: Charles Serhan, PhD In this short video, Dr. Charles Serhan discusses the differences between specialized pro-resolving mediators (SPMs) formulations for clinical application. He indicates that different product formulations must be assessed for efficacy for specific uses. Further, SPMs themselves are natural molecules and are not all created equally. They are tissue-specific, so some promote tissue regeneration while others are more effective at phagocytosis, for example.

12. Insights from the Metagenics Lifestyle Summit 2015 in Phoenix, AZ: Charles Serhan, PhD Specialized pro-resolving mediators (SPMs) offer an exciting opportunity to treat and manage the inflammation often associated with chronic disease. The precursors to SPMs are omega-3 essential fatty acids, EPA and DHA. In this short video with Dr. Charles Serhan of Harvard Medical School, Metagenics Institute inquires about whether it is possible for humans to consume too much EPA and DHA. Dr. Serhan responds that it may…