Tag Archives: health

Dr. M’s Women and Children First Podcast #59 – Randy Jirtle, Ph. D. – The Imprintome and Hope

Randy Jirtle, Ph.D.
This week’s guest is Professor Randy Jirtle.
Dr. Randy Jirtle joins the show for the second time today to discuss his new research on the imprintome, the regulatory regions that at the earliest stages of fetal development control our epigentic and thus our genetic outcome. This is the Hope locus.
Time Magazine nominated him for person of the year in 2007 and had this to say about him: “Dr. Jirtle’s pioneering work in epigenetics and genomic imprinting has uncovered a vast territory in which a gene represents less of an inexorable sentence and more of an access point for the environment to modify the genome. His trailblazing discoveries have produced a far more complete and useful understanding of human development and diseases” — Time Magazine. This interview is ground zero for the Women and Children First Podcast as we discuss the underpinnings or mechanisms of disease risk for all humans as it relates to the environmental inputs of our lives that are driving health or disease at both the pregnancy and post natal periods. We look specifically at how maternal nutrition and later chemical exposure directly affected the health of the agouti mouse offspring. This experiment was the first of its kind and paved the way for a complete shift in human disease understanding. For parents, this podcast is really the beginning of everything that I am trying to convey regarding a healthy pregnancy and childhood. Without this interview, the following interviews will be more difficult to understand. The picture becomes very clear once his research is cemented in our minds.
His biography is as follows: Professor of Epigenetics at the Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, and a Senior Scientist at McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI. He was previously professor of radiation oncology and associate professor of pathology at Duke University, Durham, NC, where he had been a faculty member since 1977. He graduated with a B.S. degree in nuclear engineering in 1970 and a Ph.D. degree in radiation biology in 1976, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His awards list is long but the key to Dr. Jirtle is that he is a curious thinker and we are grateful for this.
Please enjoy my conversation with Dr. Randy Jirtle,
Enjoy,
Dr. M

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

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

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 SPA Newsletter Audiocast Volume 13 Issue 40

Maternal Microbiome Part II
Mom has a gut microbiome that directly seeds her babies microbiome. This microbiome dictates human long term and short term health. Eating a diet loaded with fiber based fruits, legumes and vegetables will cause a highly diverse bacterial microbiome to exist and this existence is correlated with better long term health……plus a section on mate matching as well as 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

Dr. M’s SPA Newsletter Audiocast Volume 13 Issue 38

Literature Review

1) “Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common mental behavioral disorder in children. Alterations in gut microbiota composition are associated with neurological disorders….Also discussions on CTE, Covid, Omega 3 Fats, and more…
Part II is about learning how to talk to your children and finally the recipe of the week.
Enjoy,
Dr. M

Dr. M’s Women and Children First Podcast #55 – Ryan Conklin – The Grief Journey

This weeks guest is Ryan Conklin a self described – light chasing, storytelling, thread puller, adventure bound tracker and student of myth and maps. He is transformational coach by day, and bartender and hospitalitarian by night. He is a thinker that has a beautiful way of seeing grief and leaning into it in a grounding and therapeutic way. We dive into the deep end of the pool as it relates to grief processing and life after a death. 

Dr. M

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