Digestive Health

Intelligent Medicine Radio Show for June 2, Part 1
June 4, 2018
Supplements in the cross-hairs again: What the latest study gets wrong; A caller with Crohn’s Disease; Taking antidepressants linked to weight gain; Strategies for weaning off Zoloft; Low-dose DHA for depression; A caller with abnormal liver function tests is told to stop taking her vitamins; Rethinking Super Size Me: Is it a Big Whopper? Diet rich in seafood boosts libido, fertility. Click HERE for part 2. Click HERE for articles and resources relating to this podcast episode.

ENCORE: Intelligent Medicine Radio Show for May 26, Part 1
May 28, 2018
Drug companies have a problem: Curing patients is bad for business; A caller with PVCs wonders if they may have something to do with her vagus nerve and digestive problems; Is the new shingles vaccine (Shingrix) worth taking? Study concludes it’s nearly impossible to achieve a totally gluten-free diet; Pharma launches new celiac treatment trials; A prebiotic supplement shows promise in alleviating osteoarthritis; Underused coronary artery calcium testing bests stress tests for predicting heart risk. Click HERE for part 2. Click HERE for articles and resources relating to this podcast episode.

Curing Reflux Through Food, Part 1
May 22, 2018
Dr. Jamie Koufman is a pioneering ear, nose & throat specialist who coined the terms “silent reflux” and “layngopharyngeal reflux” (LPR). She specializes in diagnosing and treating voice disorders and reflux. She is the author of “Dropping Acid: The Reflux Diet Cookbook and Cure.” She contends that medicine’s obsession with acid-blocking drugs for throat complaints is misguided: “The gastroenterologists are like dinosaurs, but unlike dinosaurs, they deserve to die out.” She points out the many drawbacks of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs): They mostly don’t work, and they bring with them a host of side effects. Paradoxically, they may actually increase the risk of esophageal cancer, which they are intended to protect against. Dr. Koufman has demonstrated that complaints like hoarseness, chronic cough, throat-clearing, and bothersome throat sensations can be cured with simple lifestyle and diet changes. Asthma, too, is frequently misdiagnosed and responds to low-acid regimens when inhaled asthma drugs fail. She is an advocate of “alkaline water”, and has authored a research paper demonstrating its efficacy for reflux. Dr. Koufman is an outspoken critic of medicine’s trend toward specialization, which she calls out as profit-driven. Instead she says we need more incentives for primary care doctors to issue simple, lifestyle-oriented advice to patients, and shield them from excess procedures and medications. Her new book is entitled “Acid Reflux in Children: How Healthy Eating Can Fix Your Child's Asthma, Allergies, Obesity, Nasal Congestion, Cough & Croup.” Click HERE for part 2.

Curing Reflux Through Food, Part 2

Dr. Hoffman continues his conversation with Dr. Jamie Koufman, pioneering ear, nose & throat specialist and author of “Dropping Acid: The Reflux Diet Cookbook and Cure.” Click HERE for part 1.

Leyla Weighs In: Vitamin D for IBS?
May 18, 2018
Vitamin D supplements could ease painful IBS symptoms; Low vitamin D linked to metabolic syndrome in postmenopausal women.

Natural Therapies for G.I. Disorders, Part 1
May 10, 2018
Meet New York City’s first integrative gastroenterologist—Dr. Alexandra Shustina. While versed in conventional methods of addressing GI complaints, she has concluded that “many patients are treated inappropriately.” Powerful drugs are invoked when natural therapies, like diet, supplements, and stress management are insufficiently leveraged. Calling upon her training in osteopathic medicine, Dr. Shustina employs visceral manipulation to address such conditions as GERD, IBS, and severe constipation. She describes the constraints she experiences in introducing a holistic perspective to her young GI trainees in a hospital setting. She discusses the limitations inherent in using powerful immunosuppressive drugs for ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s Disease. What problems are associated with the pervasive use of potent acid-suppressing medications? When can digestive enzymes help GI complaints? What role for probiotics? Colostrum? Chinese herbal formulas? Vitamin D? Is the Specific Carbohydrate Diet the best regimen for inflammatory bowel disease? Are antibiotics the best answer for H. Pylori and SIBO? Click HERE for part 2.

Natural Therapies for G.I. Disorders, Part 2

Dr. Hoffman continues his conversation with Dr. Alexandra Shustina, New York City’s first integrative gastroenterologist. Click HERE for part 1.

Leyla Weighs In
May 4, 2018
Nutritionist Leyla Muedin responds to this listener question: Can you elaborate on the role of prebiotics and probiotics in the treatment of both candida and SIBO? Or when both are present or in question?

The Epidemic of Diabetes, Part 1
May 3, 2018
Dr. David Perlmutter is America’s foremost Integrative neurologist and pioneering author of "Grain Brain." Five years after its publication, with over a million copies sold worldwide in twenty languages, he reflects on its success and the vindication of its central tenets: That America’s low-fat high/carb mania has promoted an epidemic of diabetes, just when optimal blood sugar is gaining recognition as fundamental to brain health; that gluten is demonstrably harmful via its effects on gut permeability; and that fat and cholesterol phobia has deprived our brains of essential nutrients. He emphasizes the centrality of exercise to prevention and reversal of dementia. The latest research underlies the concept of neuroplasticity—that the adult brain has the capacity to repair and regenerate. What newly-discovered factor helps to literally regrow brain cells? Does genetics dictate our neurological fate? Or can lifestyle overcome our heredity? What roles for sleep? Stress reduction? Coffee? Alcohol? Bio-identical hormone replacement? The microbiome? Cannabinoids? Ketogenic diet? What drugs take a toll on brain function? Dr. Perlmutter will soon be featured nationwide in a PBS Special entitled “Dr. Perlmutter’s Whole Life Plan”. Click HERE for part 2.

The Epidemic of Diabetes, Part 2

Dr. Hoffman continues his conversation with Dr. David Perlmutter, America’s foremost Integrative neurologist and pioneering author of "Grain Brain." Click HERE for part 1.