The Mind-Gut Conversation

In this episode of The Mind Gut Conversation, I speak with Dr. Jennifer Fulcher, an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases at UCLA, and a rising star in the Goodman Luskin Microbiome Center at UCLA. Her research is supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institute on Drug Abuse, the Doris Duke Foundation, and the California HIV Research Program. Her current research focuses on the effects of HIV and substance use on the gut and oral microbiomes. In our conversation, we addresses some intriguing questions, including: 1) Does the gut microbiome play a role in resilience and resistance to viral infections? 2) Does gut dysbiosis and inflammatory blood markers precede HIV infection? 3) What is the role of the microbiome in susceptibility and severity of COVID-19?

In this episode of The Mind Gut Conversation, I speak with Dr. Rima Kaddurah-Daouk, Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Psychiatry at Duke University Medical School and internationally recognized thought-leader in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer disease. Dr. Kaddurah currently leads and coordinates an international multi-center research consortium, the Alzheimer’s Disease Metabolomics Consortium or ADMC which consists of more than 120 scientists from over 30 academic institutions. She has published over 140 peer reviewed scientific publications, leads a large number of active NIH grants and in 2018, she ranked as the highest funded researcher in departments of psychiatry nationally. Dr. Kaddurah has more than 60 patents or patent applications on use of metabolomics for the diagnosis and treatment of brain diseases. Topics we discuss in this podcast include: 1) What are the major scientific breakthroughs in our understanding of AD that have come from the ongoing research of the NIH AD consortium? 2) The scientific approach on which the AD grant is based on is radically different from the classical reductionistic biomedical research strategy and is based on systems biology and the paradigm of interconnectedness. Based on the lack of progress in effective treatments for AD to date, do you believe this new approach has a better chance of success? 3) Are there any new therapeutic strategies emerging from this new research?

In this episode of the MGC podcast, I talk to Dr. Wayne Jonas, a pioneer and world-renowned in integrative health and healthcare delivery. Dr. Jonas is President of the Healing Works Foundation, whose mission is to make whole person, integrative care regular and routine. He has published two paradigm-challenging books: How Healing Works: Get Well and Stay Well Using Your Hidden Power to Heal; and together with Dr. Alyssa McManamon, his most recent book: Healing and Cancer - a must read for anybody involved in the care of cancer patients. In this episode, we discuss a wide range of topics including: The purpose of Dr. Jonas' latest book, bringing the concepts of healing and whole person care further into oncology and healthcare so that people diagnosed with cancer feel better and live longer. Current cancer care focuses on killing the cancer cell, and in the process supports a major industry to do that more effectively. However, killing cancer cells isn’t the whole story. According to the concept of salutogenesis, when all systems are working well, a person with cancer can actively heal. Like a computer program running in the background, healing of the person is a process occurring all the time.

In this episode of the Mind Gut Conversation podcast, I speak to professor Joel Dore, an internationally known expert on the gut microbiome and Research Director at the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment, INRAE. Joel’s main research interest is the molecular assessment of the human intestinal microbiota in health and disease and investigation of the molecular cross-talk between intestinal bacteria and human cells. He has published more than 220 publications in peer reviewed scientific journals. We discuss a wide range of topics, including the following questions: 1. Utility of currently available stool microbiome tests. 2. Are the unique characteristics of the gut microbiome adaptions to a rapidly changing environment including diet, medications, environmental chemicals like forever chemical, microplastics, other xenobiotics, causing a mismatch with our very slowly changing innate immune system which isn’t able to keep up? 3. Is there solid evidence to say that gut microbial diversity and richness plays a role in resilience to several diseases? 4. What are the major clinical applications of microbiome science?

In this episode of the MGC podcast, I talk to Dr. Robert Lufkin, author of the recent book “LIES I TAUGHT IN MEDICAL SCHOOL. How Conventional Medicine is Making you Sicker and What You Can Do to Save Your Life”.Dr. Lufkin has been an academic radiologist who has taught at both UCLA and USC, and is an author of more than 200 scientific papers and 14 books. In this episode, I ask Dr. Lufkin a range of provocative questions, including: 1. Which of the 10 chronic diseases you deal with in your book is the one where you feel the most misinformation has been transmitted in Medical School? 2. Staying with the subtitle of your book: How Conventional Medicine is Making You Sicker and What You can Do to Save your Life. Even though I agree with you that conventional medicine hasn’t offered any solutions for the root cause of the current chronic epidemic of non-contagious diseases, and that the pharmaceutical industry is making billions of $$ keeping people alive without dealing with the underlying problem, it has been highly successful in increasing the life expectancy in most parts of the industrialized world, with an increasing percentage of the population living into their nineties and above. Let’s discuss. 3. With the important role of the medical pharmaceutical industrial complex, and the food agricultural industrial complex in the current chronic disease epidemic, why blame it all on the role of Conventional Medicine? 4. Bashing conventional medicine has become a popular topic for many internet celebrities, many of them MDs, only to recommend unsubstantiated treatments with no or little evidence with claims for longevity and miraculous solutions for obesity, metabolic syndrome and even Alzheimer’s disease. Would you include this misinformation under your book title as well?

In this episode , I speak to Nathan Price, PhD, co-author with Leroy Hood of The Age of Scientific Wellness. Nathan is Chief Scientific Officer of Thorne and was previously CEO of Onegevity, an AI health intelligence company that merged with Thorne prior to its IPO in 2021. We discuss a wide range of topics and questions, including: There is a seeming contradiction between the dramatic success of the 20th century model of healthcare and the realization that it is ineffective in meeting the challenges of the 21st century. What has happened? In your book, you state that the future of medicine is personalized, predictive, data rich and in your hands. Can you explain? You make a bold prediction in your book: We are on the cusp of time when we will have the capacity to begin to eliminate most chronic diseases of our time, including cancer, neurodegenerative diseases and metabolic diseases. Is this realistic? A growing number of self-declared health care providers take advantage of the situation by promoting quackery and snake oil approaches. What will it take to make an end to this proliferation of fake healthcare? A major challenge of implementing the transition to a new personalized healthcare system is the successful business model of the current system (The Medical Pharmaceutical Industrial Complex), which makes billions of $$ in corporate and individual profits by keeping people alive without preventing or curing their diseases. How can we meet this challenge?

In this episode of the MGC podcast, I talk to Dr. Rhonda Voskuhl, a Professor of Neurology at UCLA where she currently holds the Jack H. Skirball Chair. Dr. Voskuhl is the Director of the UCLA Multiple Sclerosis Program, and is the faculty neurologist for the UCLA Comprehensive Menopause Care Program. She is an internationally recognized expert on women’s health and the role of female sex hormones in cognitive decline and neurodegenerative disorders. With over 20 years of numerous grants and continuous funding from the NIH and NMSS, her lab discovered a novel estrogen treatment strategy that can be neuroprotective through actions on estrogen receptor beta (ER) in the central nervous system. Dr. Voskuhl has been the Principle Investigator on three clinical trials showing neuroprotective effects of estriol treatment on cognition and cortical brain atrophy underscoring the translational nature of her research. In this podcast, I talk to her about the following topics: • The role of estrogen on specific receptors in the brain and its implications for the development of neurodegenerative disorders • Why women are more likely to develop early cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease • Why the earlier clinical trials with estrogen receptor replacement failed • What women can do to slow cognitive decline after menopause

In this episode of the MGC podcast, I talk to Matthew Lancor, the founder of the startup company, Kombuchade. Matt combines his background in material science engineering and a passion for rugby into his entrepreneurial venture. With a keen understanding of the science behind fermentation and a personal commitment to fitness and health, nurtured through years of playing rugby he has successfully created a kombucha brand tailored for athletes and fitness enthusiasts. Under his leadership, Kombuchade has quickly grown from a home-brew project into a popular wellness brand, emphasizing organic ingredients, sustainability, and community involvement. His journey from an engineer and rugby player to a health-focused entrepreneur embodies a fusion of science, sports, and sustainable business. In this podcast, I talk to him about Kombuchade, the benefits of fermented drinks for elite athletes, and the following: What is unique about Kambuchade? You are a startup family business competing with a lot of big companies in the space of kombucha and fermented drinks. A fermented carbonate drink is not the first thing you would think about as a beneficial beverage for elite athletes. What are the functional benefits of fermented beverages like Kombucha for "Peak Performers"? What are quantifiable/measurable differences that someone could expect from drinking Kombucha and exercising on gut health/overall health? How would someone know that their gut health might be inhibiting them from "Peak Performance"? How many days does it take to balance the microbiome if you were to start a new routine of fermented foods and exercise ... 30 days or more? Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with nor receiving compensation from Kombuchade.

In this episode of the MGC podcast, I talk to Larissa Trinder, Assistant Vice President of Arts in Medicine at New York City Health + Hospitals who is responsible for stewarding a collection of more than 4000 works of art, the largest such collection in New York City. In addition, she has been creating and implementing programs for patients, staff and the community that utilize the arts as a tool in healing. Larissa is a staunch advocate for the importance of the arts and humanities within a healthcare system to advance patient health outcomes, enhance staff engagement, morale and retention and to empower communities. In this podcast, I talk to Larissa about the emerging role of art as an important component of healing environments. Here are just some of the topics we address: 1. What is the new Department of Arts in Medicine at New York City Health + Hospitals? 2. How did it develop in the 1930s, and how has it been able to survive economic downturns and financial crises? 3. What is the role of art in an effective healing environment? 4. How does art affect patient health outcomes, staff engagement and morale, and entire communities? Follow Dr. Mayer: https://linktr.ee/emayer

In this episode of the MGC podcast, I talk to Shawn Stevenson, creator and host of The Model Health Show, featured as the number #1 health podcast in the U.S. with millions of listener downloads each year. Shawn recently published the The Eat Smarter Family Cookbook, a companion cookbook to his acclaimed Eat Smarter book. Here are just some of the topics we address: 1. Can you describe the most important steps in your transformation from growing up with your grandparents in Ferguson, Mo to becoming a nutrition expert, #1 podcast host and bestselling author of two very important books? 2. Some of your early experiences make you some kind of “wounded healer”, in particular your health issues. It seems your own experiences stimulated your interest in science about food. Can you expand on this? 3. You call yourself a “nutritionist who no longer believes in food in the conventional sense”. And you make a key point that you no longer make the mistake that many people make, considering food primarily as fuel. 4. You write about how eating with others can have profound benefits on overall health. On the other hand, eating with others during celebrations and holidays is a major cause of weight gain for many people. 5. Can you expand on the relationship between stress and unhealthy eating patterns. You write that 1/3 of people make unhealthy food choices because of stress.