The Power of Genetics Where Planetary Health Intersects with Medicine and Nutrition with Dr. Robert Verkerk
Nov 23, 2021
36:57
"The food that we eat is the most intimate way that we experience the environment."
Robert Verkerk has spent the last 20 years unraveling complex natural and agro ecosystems and how to apply all that learning to healthcare.
Robert is a true activist who comes from a place of respect for nature as the teacher and in today's episode, he explains in detail why we need a broader approach that includes ecological interactions and an ecosystem thinking to better understand the real drivers of health.
Topics discussed in this episode:
- Robert's background and why his career path is different.
- How he became one of the leading environmental campaigners in Australia
- How his interest in cruciferous vegetables, glucosinolates and pesticides was the door to enter the world of functional medicine and food supplements.
- The beginnings of the Alliance for Natural Health.
- What Robert thinks the future of healthcare will look like
- How ecosystem thinking and regenerative agriculture are changing our understanding of health.
- Why healthcare needs to move out from a very disease-centric system.
- Understanding the difference between personalized healthcare and public health.
- How genome sequencing gives us too much information to understand and what the role of genetics will be in the future of health.