cofactors/micronutrients

Dr. M’s Women and Children First Podcast #65 – Mark Houston, M.D. – Cardiovascular Health

Dr. Mark Houston is a thinker and researcher into the root causes of cardiovascular disease and metabolism. He graduated from Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee summa cum laude in Chemistry before graduating with honors from Vanderbilt Medical School. He completed his medical internship and residency at the University of California, San Francisco, then returned to Vanderbilt Medical Center where he was chief resident in medicine and served on the full- time faculty until 2012. He is the current director of the hypertension Institute where he and his team develop novel approaches to hypertension and ASCVD by attending to root biological causes of disease. He also has a Master’s degree in Human Nutrition from the University of Bridgeport, Connecticut, and a Masters of Science degree in Functional and Metabolic Medicine from the University of South Florida in Tampa Florida. He has written hundreds of papers, books and chapters on cardiovascular disease. He is one of the top researchers in the preventative cardiology space and he is here today to share his wisdom.
His book credits:
Handbook of Antihypertensive Therapy
Vascular Biology for the Clinician
What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Hypertension
Hypertension Handbook for Students and Clinicians
The Hypertension Handbook
What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Heart Disease.
Please enjoy my conversation with Dr. Mark Houston,
Dr. M
Hypertension Institute

Dr. M’s Women and Children First Podcast – The Growing Brain and Autism

The Growing Brain and the Upstream Etiologies of Neurodevelopmental disorders – AUTISM
This weeks guest is me! I re-recorded a lecture that I gave in Florida this month at the Annual International Conference for the Institute for Functional Medicine. My goal in this lecture is to look at the upstream reasons that we are seeing more Autism and neurological diversity in children year upon year. It is a wide ranging look at the current state of the science and my thoughts on a unifying theory. As with Dr. Stone’s interview last week with Grow Baby, this is a follow up discussion that is a critical primer for “mother’s to be” regarding disease avoidance measures that can be taken for the best health of the maternal child dyad.
Enjoy,
Dr. M

Dr. M’s SPA Newsletter Audiocast Volume 13 Issue 14

Cholesterol Part V – What to do?
I hope that over the last four weeks I have sufficiently laid the case for heart disease as a complex disorder that is far from just a cholesterol/lipoprotein issue. It is vastly more complex than this especially with the new emerging data on the actions of high density lipoproteins, HDL, in reverse cholesterol and other molecule removal from circulation. In the next weeks newsletter, we will look at HDL. Somewhere in the near future, I will synthesize further recent work linking CVD, immunobiology and obesity.
Also, GLP Obesity drugs for teens and others….
Enjoy,
Dr. M

Dr. M’s Women and Children First Podcast #43 Subinoy Das, MD – Ear Infections and Sinus Disease

This weeks guest is Dr. Subinoy Das. Dr. Das is the chief executive officer and medical director at US institute for advanced Sinus Care and research. He is the former Director of The Ohio State University Sinus and Allergy Center, and an Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University. He is widely recognized as one of the nation’s best sinus surgeons and has received multiple awards as a U.S. board-certified otolaryngologist including a Presidential Citation in 2015 from the American Rhinology Society. In addition, he is a former Research Associate of the Center of Microbial Pathogenesis at the Research Institute, Nationwide Children’s Hospital. His NIH funded research was awarded the 2013 Fowler Award (top basic science research award in otolaryngology) for his work on detecting the cause of sinus infections.
We crossed paths at the University of Virginia where Dr. Das received the Alfred Burger Award for the top pre-medical student at the University before completing his medical degree at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, where he was elected President of his class, received Alpha Omega Alpha Honors, and received the Richard Bowman Scholarship for the top clinical performance. He then attended the University of North Carolina for residency and completed a fellowship in advanced sinus surgery and anterior skull base surgery at the Medical College of Georgia.
He is a leader in minimally invasive sinus surgery, does not use nasal packing, and has helped to develop leading instruments/techniques used in sinus surgery including working on diagnostic tests and therapies to reduce the use of antibiotics for sinus disease, advanced computer guided surgery systems, hydrodebridement therapies for sinus disease, and custom molecular-based therapies to avoid sinus surgery.
Today, we dive into the upstream causes of sinus and ear disease of children and adults. This is especially interesting because of the changes that occurred during COVID leading to new understandings of viral induced disease in humans.
Enjoy,
Dr. M

Dr. M’s Women and Children First Podcast #38 Donald Layman, PhD – Protein

Donald Layman is currently a Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences in the department of Food Science & Human Nutrition. Dr. Laymen earned his Bachelors Degree in Science in Chemistry and Masters Degree in Science in Biochemistry at Illinois State University. He then completed his Doctorate Ph.D. in Human Nutrition Nutrition and Biochemistry at the University of Minnesota.
His laboratory is working to define protein and amino acid requirements and the interrelationship between dietary protein and carbohydrates in adult health. The research is focused on the impact of diet and exercise on adult health problems of obesity, type 2 diabetes and the Metabolic Syndrome. Exercise is of obvious importance to health in maintenance of lean body mass, energy expenditure and weight control. Surprisingly little is known about amino acid requirements during exercise or the impact of amino acids on metabolic regulation. His group has helped to define roles of the branched chain amino acids (BCAA) in skeletal muscle metabolism. BCAA provide an important energy source for muscle during exercise and also serve as a critical regulator of muscle protein synthesis during recovery. During exercise, oxidation of BCAA increases, resulting in production of the amino acid alanine and a rapid decline in plasma levels of BCAA. Amino acid supplements prevent this decline in plasma amino acids, enhance recovery of muscle protein synthesis and interact with insulin to help stabilize blood glucose. They are continuing this research to define mechanisms for control of muscle protein synthesis and differences in dietary protein needs for men versus women and for adults with sedentary versus active lifestyles.
A very important conversation for all to understand. All ages are impacted by this knowledge.
Dr. M

Dr. M’s SPA Newsletter Audiocast Volume 12 Issue 48

This week we take a look at: Drug Induced Micronutrient Loss, Soleus Push Ups and Miror Neurons

To function at the highest and most optimal state requires providing our human engine with nutrients, both macro and micro types. By macro, I mean fats, carbohydrates and proteins. By micro, I mean minerals and vitamins which are cofactors for enzymatic activity driving the machine to normalcy of action whatever that action is. What dictates sufficiency? How do drugs disrupt this optimization success?
and much more…
Enjoy,
Dr. M