The Lab Report

Fertility rates have been dropping due to environmental toxicities, higher incidence of obesity and metabolic dysfunction, and couples waiting until later ages to conceive. But it is important to understand that there are many things we can do to improve fertility and optimize preconception health. Dr. Nicole Avena is a PhD researcher who is widely published on the health effects of nutrition. Her...

Food labels can be very confusing. In fact, many of us completely ignore them. If you look at the ingredients in many processed foods, you’ve probably tried to pronounce some of the chemical compounds listed in the ingredients. The food industry adds chemicals to food to either enhance flavor and color, or to preserve shelf life. There are thousands of accepted food additives and some may ha...

Animal protein from meat is an important part of a healthy diet. But many of us overlook further using the animal bones to provide additional healing properties. Simmering animal bones over an extended amount of time helps extract minerals, collagen, and other important nutrients into a broth. Bone broth can then be used as stock for other soups or ingested itself to improve health. Listen in as w...

In functional medicine, we dig deeper to find the root cause of illness and strive to find personalized strategies to optimize health. However, sometimes even that falls short. Dr. Jade Teta has spent over 20 years treating patients, teaching, and writing about health and wellness. He blends biochemistry and philosophy in a way that inspires us to find our true purpose. In so doing, we can all lea...

Neurotransmitters act as chemical signals from our nerve endings to various target cells found in muscles, glands, and other neurons. Although there are many types of neurotransmitters, today we will focus on the catecholamines - epinephrine, norepinephrine, and dopamine. Anyone who has ongoing stress or is an ‘adrenaline junkie’ can attest to the physical effects of the catecholamines...

Hormones are chemical messengers in the body that work together to regulate many important functions such as the stress response, growth, libido, and overall metabolism. Although our bodies make many hormones, today we are going to focus on testosterone. Testosterone is a hormone of growth and repair and vitally important for maintaining health. Testosterone levels can naturally fall as we age. De...

It seems intuitive that being outside in nature is therapeutic and beneficial to our health. What many might find surprising is the amount of clinical evidence supporting nature therapy and the specific physiologic changes that result. ‘Grounding’ and ‘earthing’ are terms that are commonly used these days but even those words under-represent the fascinating biochemical and...

The history of herbal medicine dates back thousands of years. Many of us don’t realize that our current conventional medications come from plants. Greg Monzel is an herbalist who has dedicated his life to keeping the rich history and traditions of plant medicine alive and relevant. In today’s episode, we called on him to help us unravel the mystery of St. John’s Wort. St. John&rs...

Dr. Kien Vuu is a physician, author, and speaker who is on a mission to empower us all to take control of our own health. His personal journey is profound and inspiring. As a young immigrant to the United States, he faced immense challenges which he overcame to become a successful doctor. Then, after developing several chronic diseases, he changed his life and found his way to health and gratitude...

Historically, the field of psychiatry has mainly focused on prescriptive medications and psychotherapy. Though these modalities have saved lives and stabilized many patients, there are often modifiable, underlying root causes to consider. Shae Leonard, PA is a functional medicine physician’s assistant who has spent years changing people’s lives with her functional approach to mood diso...

Interpreting functional medicine laboratory testing can be intimidating. Dr. Dan Kalish has devoted his career to teaching new functional medicine clinicians how to interpret lab results and where to start when implementing results in practice. His teaching program, The Kalish Institute , mentors and empowers practitioners within a community approach offering many online programs, videos, blogs, a...

Genova’s nutritional profiles are breaking new ground. The NutrEval, and its subpanels, have been redesigned and reimagined to offer even greater clinical utility!  Our nutritional profiles help practitioners identify root causes of dysfunction and treat clinical imbalances that are inhibiting optimal health. These advanced diagnostic tools provide a systems-based approach for clinician...

Dr. Patrick Hanaway is a key thought leader and educator in functional medicine. After decades of work, his contribution and influence in our field continues to this day. His task force leadership at IFM during the pandemic helped to shape the functional medicine approach to COVID-19.  Also, as prior Chief Medical Officer for Genova Diagnostics, he helped to create the NutrEval Profile as we...

Oxalates are organic acids that can be made in the body, but they are also found in various foods. Many people associate oxalates with a risk for kidney stones. There are many claims about the dangers of oxalates and the need to avoid high oxalate foods. But, are these claims valid? Should we be afraid of oxalates? Why should we measure them and what do they mean? In today’s episode, we dive...

Dr. Filomena Trindade has been practicing and lecturing about functional medicine for over 25 years. She has been a leading expert in diabesity and metabolic medicine. Additionally, Dr. Trindade’s mentorship programs and teaching style have been transformative for many clinicians new to this field. We often find in functional medicine, that inadequate nutrition can be the root cause of chron...

What are free radicals and oxidative stress? How do free radicals impact the health and wellness of our patients? Why should clinicians analyze and measure a patient’s free radicals and oxidative stress levels? What can this information tell us about our patient’s overall health and their risk of developing a chronic disease? Today, we simplify the complex topic of free radicals and th...

When it comes to the gastrointestinal tract, we often focus on the balance of the commensal bacteria to optimize health. But, if that balance is interrupted, or the microbiome is lacking, some of the bacteria can overgrow. At higher levels of growth, patients can experience symptoms. There are also some important disease associations with overgrowth of specific species. Because of this potential,...

Taylor Dukes is functional medicine nurse practitioner with a burgeoning practice and growing online social media presence. Her expertise is vast - working with women in prenatal and postnatal care, helping professional athletes optimize performance, and improving the health of thousands of patients including CEO’s and celebrities. On today’s show, we discuss her journey from conventio...

Kara Collier is a registered dietician who specializes in continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). CGM is a wearable device that measures glucose levels throughout the day to evaluate your body’s response to dietary changes, stress, and exercise. Knowing this information can help you make personalized dietary and lifestyle changes to prevent metabolic dysfunction down the road or improve your cu...

Using temperature therapeutically is becoming increasingly popular. Saunas and cold immersion ice baths are being touted in the biohacking community for overall longevity. Published research surely backs this up. The health benefits of thermogenesis and sauna are seen in cardiovascular disease, mood disorders, immune optimization, detoxification, and many other clinical conditions. Today we discus...

The art of the physical exam is often overlooked in favor of testing. Although Genova’s nutritional profiles are designed to uncover subtle nutrient insufficiencies, there are many physical hints and clues which can give additional insights and perhaps lead you to consider testing. The areas of the body with rapid cell turnover are the first places to manifest these subtle changes. On today&...

Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) is a common underlying cause of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).  Bloating, constipation, diarrhea, excessive gas, or nausea are all hallmark SIBO symptoms. When it comes to diagnosis, the gold standard is endoscopic small bowel aspiration. This method is invasive, inconvenient, and not without risk. Breath testing and stool testing are now more com...

Cellular respiration is the process of converting our food into energy to fuel the body. It involves many biochemical reactions to create a molecule called adenosine triphosphate (ATP) - our main energy source. When it comes to ATP production, many of us think about the Krebs Cycle not realizing it is only part of the story. The Electron Transport Chain bears the brunt of the work to keep our cell...

Due to the pandemic, many of us are working from home, and looking to optimize our immunity. The behavioral and lifestyle changes we promote in functional medicine are key to having metabolic flexibility and immune system resiliency. However, there are supplements and herbs often used to improve the immune response. Astragalus is a root that has been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for hundre...

In functional medicine, the focus is on getting to the root cause of disease. Sometimes subtle nutritional insufficiencies can result in significant clinical consequences. By measuring steps in biochemical pathways called organic acids, we can uncover nutrient cofactor needs. One important biochemical process is the kynurenine pathway. The enzymes involved are highly dependent on vitamin B₆. Knowi...