Dr. Kara Fitzgerald | New Frontiers in Functional Medicine, Longevity, Epigenetics

Lyme disease (and co-infections) can be tough to treat. The Lyme spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi, has adopted loads of devilishly clever cloaking devices – from thriving in biofilm to existing in pleomorphic forms – to ensure survival despite aggressive treatment. Enter botanical therapy. With or without concurrent antibiotics, botanical combinations are an essential component of the FxMed clinician’s toolkit.

DSL’s GI-MAP stool test is, as CEO Tony Hoffman states, “a clinician diagnostic tool;” it’s not a microbiome test. Yes, of course the GI-MAP looks at the microbiome, but it's not a broad sweep of the myriad of bugs taking up residence. Rather, it’s a carefully curated investigation of organisms with demonstrated imbalance potential, be it pathogenic or dysbiotic in nature. The test is designed to be user-friendly, interpreted rapidly, logically, providing clearly actionable data that, when addressed, gets results. I’ve known Tony for years; we were both involved in the development of the first stool test using PCR analysis offered to clinicians. He’s brilliant, fun to listen to, and offers loads of pearls in this conversation. Take a listen, share, comment, and let us know what you think!

A wide body of research—not to mention centuries of use in Chinese medicine—has shown the power of medicinal mushrooms in promoting health, and no one knows more about the cultivation, manufacture, and distribution of supplemental mushrooms in modern integrative health care than Jeff Chilton. The president of Nammex, one of the biggest medicinal mushroom extract companies in the nutritional supplement industry, Jeff talks with Dr. Fitzgerald in this episode of New Frontiers about how mushrooms are grown and cultivated (and why that matters for supplement quality) and how clinicians and consumers can tell if mushroom supplements contain any actual medicinal value or not.

Dr. Deanna Minich preaches: Eat a rainbow. Why? There are over 700 carotenoids found in plants – all bioactive, and generally pleotropic (ie: they do more than one thing in the body). We don’t need tons of any single carotenoid, and indeed – if anyone recalls the beta carotene smoker study from the early 2000’s, too much of a single compound could arguably be toxic. But variety is essential. And amazingly, certain groups of carotenoid colors favor certain organs. Think “orange for ovaries”; blue for brain and green for heart. Listen to my riveting conversation with Dr. Deanna Minich as she shares her own healing journey from endometriosis and how color, plant medicine and spirit converged…. carotenoid science to artist. Variety. ‘Bridging the gap between science, soul and art’ in medicine. And hear about the Scio and how you can test your food nutrient density in this cool, cutting edge, handheld device – and loads MORE! There are 25,000 plant phytonutrients that we are aware of, and probably many, many more that we are not. Listen to this revealing podcast with the incredible Dr. Deanna Minich, and be sure to comment, give a thumbs up, and share with a friend!

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is an urgent, often unrecognized concern. It’s the hepatic pandemic of the 21stcentury, and there is NO approved pharmaceutical therapy (the race is on, however…). Fortunately for us, there is MUCH we can do in functional medicine – indeed, our toolkit is powerfully effective in turning around NAFLD and even NASH – the next step progression. Listen to my conversation with my good friend and longtime colleague Dr. Robert Rountree (finally on NFFM!). Bob outlines the scope of the problem (did you know 80% of obese kids are at risk?) how to evaluate for it, and most importantly: what to do. This was such a content-dense discussion, I am most grateful Bob has made his full powerpoint deck available to you for download. Take a listen to the podcast, then circle back to the deck for all the specific details on what to do.

Dr. Joel Evans – you probably know him as long-time IFM faculty teaching in the Advanced Practice Hormone Module. He’s also donned a newish hat as KBMO’s Medical Director. Dr. Evans loves the FIT test for delayed hypersensitivities to foods, and states that the addition of complement fragment C3d to their test significantly reduced the incidence of false positive results found on standard IgG testing. Listen to our convo on the FIT test, how he’s using it in practice, who he uses the test on, and why its essential in preconception planning. Also: this just in! We’re the first to hear about his study using KBMO vs healthy diet on 100 individuals with IBS – get the outcome data here.

The centrality of gut health in overall health cannot be overstated, and for many years researchers and practitioners have encouraged probiotic use to promote gut health. But their recommendations have been based on early and inchoate research. Today, several decades after the emergence of gut health as the ground zero of overall health, science has been able to correlate specific bacterial strains with specific health outcomes—and one man has spent years anthologizing all that research and making it available to practitioners and patients. Dr. Jason Hawrelak is a scientist, educator, and naturopathic physician. He’s one of the leading experts in microbiota manipulation and the use of specific strains for specific conditions. He is also the creator of probioticsadvisor.com, where practitioners and patients can access information about specific bacterial strains. Check out my conversation with Dr Hawrelak on NFFM. I am thrilled to be introduced to his work (have referred folks to him already), and so appreciate his dedication to crunching the data for us clinicians on Probioticadvisor.com.

In my Tour de Force conversation with the brilliant Dr. Theoharis Theoharides, we covered all things mast cells, from “bench to bedside.” In case you have not yet encountered his work yet, he is one of the most highly decorated, well-published clinician researchers in the world. The focus of his life’s work has been on all things mast cells, and mast cell associated conditions. Given the meteoric rise in said conditions (and our improved understanding of the role of mast cells in most chronic diseases), as clinicians, we need to understand how to diagnose and treat. Buckle up for this podcast, and get your pen and pad ready – the depth and breadth of Dr. T’s knowledge requires careful listening. Give a listen, then give a thumbs up for this brilliant, generous clinician!

Some of our most popular podcasts have been with Dr. Corey Schuler: he’s down-to-earth, practical in his approach to patient care, and very evidence-informed. And today is no exception! Join me and Corey as he talks through his “4 Pillar” approach to treating anxiety and depression. He discusses the multifactorial biochemical underpinnings of both conditions, his assessment tools (including labs), treatment (for acute presentations, chronic and co-managing those on pharma) and expectations of outcome. You won’t find the usual arsenal of natural therapeutics in Corey’s approach – he rarely uses 5HTP or St. Johns Wort – rather, he starts with full functional medicine and drills down into his 4 Pillars to determine next steps. We chat on new research – I think you’ll be impressed – and citation links are in show notes – including a recent study on Theracumin for memory and mood. Give us a thumbs up, leave a comment, and let us know what you think! ~ DrKF

It’s not often that I get to spend an hour chatting with a busy clinician on pearls learned over years of practice. In today’s podcast, I’m talking with long time integrative medical clinician and anti-aging expert Lynne Mielke, MD about her approach to bioidentical hormones and why the Precision Analytical DUTCH is her preferred test for assessing HRT response. It’s her experience that the “gold standard” blood tests often lead to over-prescribing, and she commonly finds herself initiating tapers for those patients who come to her already on biHRT. Lynne also shares with us her journey to integrative medicine- as a psychiatrist, she faced the limitations of her training when her son was diagnosed with autism. As she puts it, she entered another world as she dove into integrative, biomedical treatments for autism decades ago: “Given the complexity of spectrum disorders, If you know how to treat them, you know integrative medicine.” From there, she leaped into anti-aging medicine, as parents of autistic children sought her care. Dr. Mielke discusses her transition into practicing integrative medicine, and what her clinic looks like today. ~DrKF