Immune Health

Dr. M’s Women and Children First Podcast #58 – Mahmoud Ghannoum, Ph. D. – Microbiomes – Bacterial and Fungal

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Email | RSS | More

This week’s guest is Professor Mahmoud Ghannoum. For over four decades, Dr. Ghannoum has been exploring a critical but neglected inhabitant of the human body, the fungus. Born and raised in Lebanon, Dr Mahmoud Ghannoum is the current Director of the Center for Medical Mycology at Case Western Reserve University. He began his scientific journey at Loughborough University in England where he studied the fungus candida and its health associated diseases. Coupling this work to his curiosity about the whole area of intestinal microorganisms in the human body, he has become one of the leading researchers in the world in this space.
His discoveries include the knowledge that fungal organisms constitute an essential part of the microbiome. In fact, in 2010, Dr Ghannoum was the first scientist to identify over 100 native species of fungi in the oral cavity and that they are mostly friendly to us. Like with bacteria, there are good fungi as well as bad fungi. And just as it was startling to discover that we need positive bacteria in our guts, most people today are shocked to learn that their health depends on flourishing colonies of helpful fungi. Symbiosis in all things seems to be the flavor of the day and history has proven this to be what we should have always assumed.
He is widely published in top journals as well as being the founder and director of Biohm, a company dedicated to microbiome analysis and management from the perspective of fungal and bacterial communities. He is the author of Total Gut Health. This week, Dr. Ghannoum and I look critically at the microbiome of humans from the well trafficked bacterial road to the less travelled fungal road.
Enjoy,
Dr. M

Dr. M’s SPA Newsletter Audiocast Volume 13 Issue 41

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Email | RSS | More

Literature Review:

  1. Over the past 15 years we have noted a connection between the intestinal microbiome and allergic/autoimmune disease activity in humans. This study continues to pull on this thread of knowledge. We see a direct correlation between a dysbiotic microbiome and human disease risk as young as 5 years of age. The upstream targets remain the same. Healthy food, avoidance of chemicals, consistent daily movement, exposure to normal macrobes and microbes, chronic stress mitigation, vaginal deliveries, breast feeding, avoidance of antibiotics/antacids and more…..Then Section II with – Are we addicted to food? and the recipe of the week.

Enjoy,

Dr. M

Dr. M’s Women and Children First Podcast #56 – Robert Roundtree, MD – The Autoimmune Story

Robert Roundtree, MD
This weeks guest is Bob Roundtree.
Robert Rountree, MD, received his medical degree from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine at Chapel Hill in 1980 before completing a residency in family and community medicine at Penn State Hershey Medical Center. He augmented his medicine training with extensive postgraduate studies in nutritional and herbal pharmacology along with certification as a master practitioner of neuro-linguistic programming. Dr. Rountree has provided his unique combination of traditional family medicine, nutrition, herbology, and mind-body therapy in Boulder, CO, since 1983. He has recently opened Boulder Wellcare, a private practice specializing in individual healthcare consulting. He is coauthor of three books on integrative medicine,Immunotics: A Revolutionary Way to Fight Infection, Beat Chronic Illness, and Stay Well (Putnam, 2000); Smart Medicine for a Healthier Child (Avery Publishing, 1994); and A Parent’s Guide to Medical Emergencies (Avery, 1997). He is an amazing teacher about all things disease prevention based through a functional medicine lens.
This week we dive into the world of autoimmunity and human health. Why is it happening? How can we stem the tide of immune auto reactivity? What are some treatment options? And so much more….
Enjoy,
Dr. M

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Email | RSS | More

Dr. M’s SPA Newsletter Audiocast Volume 13 Issue 35

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Email | RSS | More

Here is a short written version of the fructose story in tandem with the podcast with Dr. Rick Johnson where we go deep. We are going to discuss the survival switch and fructose metabolism in specific as it relates to pregnancy. It will be another life changing discussion for many of us. Fructose is the natural sugar found in fruit, honey and root vegetables. Historically, humans consumed fructose in these natural whole foods and did so moderately. Since the 1970’s, there has been a major rise in fructose consumption, primarily as a beverage…. Also, a discussion of fiber and neurodevelopment as well as a review of the book the Carpenter and the Gardener by Alison Gopnik.
Enjoy,
Dr. M

 

Dr. M’s SPA Newsletter Audiocast Volume 13 Issue 34

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Email | RSS | More

Asthma and Nutrition Part V

Case presentation: DM is a 12 yo caucasian male who presented to integrative pediatric clinic for the first time at age 8 years with the chief complaint of moderate persistent asthma and allergic rhinitis. His past medical history relates one to three severe asthmatic flairs per winter requiring steroids and overnight hospital stays over the past few years. He had relatively mild disease in between major flares and was well controlled with a high dose inhaled corticosteroid making it difficult to predict these severe respiratory events. His mother brought him to our clinic for a different approach since they had failed to stop the flairs over the last 5 years…. and a blurb on choking prevention.

 

Enjoy, Dr. M

Dr. M’s SPA Newsletter Audiocast Volume 13 Issue 31

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Email | RSS | More

THE NUTRITIONAL STUDIES
We know that the foods that we consume affect our intestinal microbiome, our immune system, our metabolism and therefore have a significant effect on inflammation. Is this knowledge translatable to asthma? Let us look specifically at nutrition as it relates to Asthma. Are there specific diet studies available that lead us toward a unified diet for better asthma health? Can we make good recommendations for our patients on a macronutrient basis with fats, carbohydrates and protein ratios and types. Do we have data to support certain micronutrient needs in asthma and how a diet could provide these nutrients? How much can we trust the data?…..
Enjoy,
Dr. M

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Email | RSS | More

1 2 … 5