Dr. Ruscio Radio, DC: Health, Nutrition and Functional Healthcare

Should the elderly lift weights? How about stage 4 cancer patients? The results Dr. Thomas Incledon has seen say this practice is very likely to improve their quality of life. Being weak from various illnesses is often considered the product of those illnesses, but frailty may in part be fueled by lack of movement. In this episode, he shares his individualized, holistic approach to health, which i...

You may not have expected fish and pregnancy to go together. But it turns out that fish contain a critical fatty acid called DHA. DHA has been shown in numerous studies to lower women's preterm birth risk, and supplementing with fish oil is an easy way to get enough DHA in your diet (algae is another option). How much is enough? And what about avoiding mercury? Dr. Kristina Harris Jackson, an expe...

Today we will cover listener questions from Healthy Gut Healthy You, including: Diet for microscopic colitis; Stopping antimicrobials and biofilm removers after one month; Symptoms while fasting; Mixing Elemental Heal with other liquids; Traveling out of the country; Great-in-8 and H. Pylori; and Is the protocol okay for children. https://drruscio.com/?p=36647 Take the survey at http://drruscio.co...

Collagen is a very popular supplement right now for improving skin and joint health, and numerous studies support this. Preliminary evidence also suggests it may reduce dysfunction in your gut lining. If you've wondered what the research really says about collagen's impact on your health—and why you might choose marine collagen over bovine collagen—this episode will give you some quick, practical...

If you're a goal-oriented, ambitious person, the path to problem-solving and high effectiveness may seem counterintuitive: mix in periods of "unfocus." In this episode, Dr. Srini Pillay—a psychiatrist, executive coach, brain-imaging researcher, and Renaissance man—shares his strategic techniques for focusing less. Learn how you can tap the power of your unconscious to increase your creativity and...

Mona was struggling with chronic acid reflux, a bad taste in her mouth, constipation, bloating, and more. She tested negative for H. pylori, and had gone from primary care doctor to specialist, to dentist, even to the ER, with no success. Fortunately, she found my clinic and I took her through a series of simple gut therapies (including the low FODMAP diet and antimicrobials) that resolved her sym...

In many cases, thyroid symptoms are the "smoke" and the "fire" is in the gut. In today's episode, you'll hear a case study of a patient who had low T3 along with digestive and hormonal symptoms like diarrhea, gas, rashes, and missing periods. After she received natural treatment for her gut health and hormonal health, she was symptom-free and became pregnant within six months. There was no need to...

We live in a stressful era. Could something as simple as changing your breathing help? The practice of breathwork can not only reduce your stress, it can also improve your memory, lower your body's fear response, and make you more cognitively effective. There are many modes of breathwork. In this episode, Josh Trent takes us through the powerful benefits, and some simple steps that beginners can t...

A patient came to my office with a diagnosis of hypothyroidism by a "famous thyroid doctor" who had written books on the subject. When I checked her lab results, even by a conservative measure, they could not be considered hypothyroid. Yet the patient was put on medication, making her more ill. In this episode, learn more about these clinical case study details—that appeared in the January edition...

The patients that Heidi Turner typically sees in her practice have done the basics of diet, probiotics, antimicrobials. They have often been through many doctors, elimination diets, supplements, and more, yet inflammatory symptoms persist and are resistant to treatment. They often have some degree of histamine intolerance or mast cell activation. For this highly sensitive population, managing symp...

Unnecessary thyroid medication can be dangerous for a patient, even generating symptoms. Unfortunately, with overdiagnosis of hypothyroidism on the rise, more and more patients are being prescribed medications they don't need. Hear a case study from a functional medicine clinician who was able to determine—through an evidence-based approach—that a chronically ill patient was not hypothyroid, getti...

Could lack of bioavailable copper be fueling your iron issues? That's Morley Robbins' take, based on 10 years of self-study in mineral research. You'll learn why iron supplementation may not be a quick fix and get a protocol to optimize your copper levels. We have a reasoned dialogue on what the research may imply and where further study is still needed. Morley also shares results he's seen with t...

In a study of 291 patients in Greece, researchers found that around 60% were incorrectly diagnosed as hypothyroid. While true hypothyroidism does exist, it's a diagnosis that clinicians need to take a closer look at. Many clinicians are prescribing thyroid hormone when it's not necessary, or when a patient's symptoms could be resolved by healing the gut. The effects can be harmful, both to patient...

A case study that appeared in the June 2019 issue of the Future of Functional Medicine Review Clinical Newsletter showcases the strong link between the thyroid and the gut. It's critical that clinicians recognize this link to treat thyroid issues effectively, and review data on the true likelihood of various scenarios. In this podcast, hear clinical pearls from the case study. And learn how you ca...

Many gut interventions focus on the health of the microbiota, like diet, probiotics, and antimicrobials. But fewer treatments address the immune system directly. Influences can go both ways between the immune system and the microbiota. In this episode, Dr. Ty Vincent, MD shares his insights on working with a therapy called low-dose immunotherapy. It uses very low dilutions of antigens to calm spec...

Treating your genes is a relatively new concept. And it can be tempting to think you can change the course of your health by simply discovering and addressing a dysfunction in one particular gene, say, MTHFR, COMT, or DAO. In this episode, Dr. Ben Lynch, a naturopathic physician with expertise in genetic health, walks us through why that isn't the case, and why returning to the fundamentals is cri...

Everyone's cancer risk is different based on unique medical histories, genetics, and environmental exposures. But our diet and lifestyle choices are important influences on cancer within our control, which optimize the body's "terrain" to fight and/or prevent cancer. In this podcast, Dr. Nalini Chilkov shares her recommended cancer-fighting foods and supplements (which may vary depending on your r...

My recommended first line of treatment for IBS and SIBO is a change in diet, potentially followed by probiotics, and then other steps I discuss in my gut health protocol in my book Healthy Gut, Healthy You. But what if you've followed these steps and are still facing health challenges? A new option to consider is immunoglobulins, which can help to restore the mucous membrane in your gut and suppor...

There is a third type of SIBO (besides hydrogen and methane-based SIBO) that currently does not have a test available: hydrogen sulfide SIBO. In fact, it can sometimes look like a flat line on a lactulose or glucose SIBO test. What can patients and clinicians do with the resources available? Guests Dr. Allison Siebecker, Gary Stapleton, and I discuss the testing methods available to assess and val...

More and more research is revealing the strong link between brain and gut health. A recent systematic review pulls together evidence that regulating gut microbiota can improve anxiety. 56% of the studies in the review showed that healing the gut through diet (typically the low FODMAP diet) or probiotics led to an improvement in anxiety symptoms. If you're looking for natural ways to address your a...

The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (or HPA axis) is a complex subsystem in your body that organizes and responds to threats (and perceived threats). The concept of "adrenal fatigue" has become popular in some functional medical circles, but it's a misleading term for describing what's really happening in stress-induced change to the HPA axis, which does not involve the adrenal glands. Dr. Tom...

One theory of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) is that it's caused by bacteria in the colon moving up. A new study on one section of the small intestine, the jejunum, challenges that concept. The study—which used a new technique called polymerized chain reaction (PCR) to look at bacterial genomes—found that the jejunum has its own unique microbiota. Positive breath tests also did not c...

Cannabis marketing is now rampant. It can be challenging to separate the facts from the hype, especially when it comes to cannabis health benefits and research behind the claims. What's the difference in results from CBD vs THC (or both)? Indica vs sativa? Is full-spectrum CBD better? Which terpenes are most anti-inflammatory? How do you get started if you want to try cannabis for your gut? We exp...

Even doctors can appreciate having a comprehensive gut health guide at hand. Dr. Navaz Habib finds Healthy Gut, Healthy You an indispensable go-to resource in his practice. The book's case studies provide him with valuable reference points to manage challenging patient cases, and powerful, systematic tips on often overlooked foundations of gut health. https://drruscio.com/?p=32427 My book Healthy...

Social science has discussed the impact of social relationships on mortality for decades. But this concept only recently started to penetrate healthcare. Dr. Julian Abel discusses his U.K.-based study showing a significant drop in demand for emergency services from end-of-life patients if they received an intervention of a compassionate community. Another large study shows that connection increase...