Sufficient vitamin D levels requires more than a healthy diet and taking supplements—good vitamin D levels need the right cofactors too. A shocking three-quarters of the US population has too little vitamin D, even in sunny locales. Vitamin D is necessary to dampen inflammation and tame autoimmune diseases. Some people with autoimmunity may even need extra vitamin D due to a genetic variation that affects the ability of their cells to absorb adequate vitamin D.

In addition to supplementing with fat-soluble vitamin D (cholecalciferol), make sure you are getting the right cofactors, or “helper molecules” that assist in the biochemical transformations required by vitamin D.

These include fat-soluble vitamin A, magnesium, and K2, which make vitamin D more bioavailable and help prevent D overload.

Vitamin A and vitamin D work together to make sure your genetic code functions appropriately. There are two main types of vitamin A:

• Beta-carotene, found in brightly colored fruits and vegetables, apricots, mango, and leafy greens.
• Retinol, found in organ meats and dairy products.

You can take vitamin A in supplement form as both beta-carotene and retinol, however retinol is the more active form. Although it’s also […]

Unhealthy gut bacteria are a bigger risk for atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries than smoking, cholesterol levels, obesity, or diabetes. Atherosclerosis is the leading cause of heart disease.

That’s because the root cause of heart disease is inflammation. In fact, most modern health disorders are rooted in inflammation, including arthritis, diabetes, obesity, dementia, depression, and inflammatory bowel disease. Cardiovascular disease is no exception.

So where do gut bacteria come in? Researchers have discovered an unhealthy microbiome — the term given to our inner garden of gut bacteria — is pro-inflammatory while a healthy gut microbiome is anti-inflammatory. Unfortunately, Americans have the unhealthiest gut microbiomes studied thus far.

A recent study found that women experiencing hardening of the arteries also showed less gut bacteria diversity while women with healthy arteries showed healthier gut bacteria. A diverse array of gut bacteria is linked with better health.

The study also found that in healthy subjects, diverse and healthy gut bacteria produced more indolepropionic acid (IPA), a neuroprotective antioxidant that also has been shown to lower the risk of diabetes.

The gut microbiome and high blood pressure

It turns […]

When it comes to autoimmune Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism, dampening inflammation and immune attacks on the thyroid is the primary goal. One of the most powerful allies in this quest is to support your regulatory T cells (T reg cells). These are immune cells that do what their name implies — they help regulate the immune system. This means they play a role in either activating or dampening inflammation. The good news is that when it comes to Hashimoto’s, we can do many things to influence the T reg cells to dampen inflammation and quell Hashimoto’s flare ups and attacks so you can have more good days.

Ways to support T reg cells to manage Hashimoto’s

Following are some proven ways we can support our T reg cells to manage Hashimoto’s.

Vitamin D (cholecalciferol). Fat soluble vitamin D is a powerful supporter of the T reg cells, especially at therapeutic doses (around 10,000 IU a day).

Vitamin D is also important because studies show many people with Hashimoto’s have a genetic defect hindering their ability to process vitamin D. Therefore, they need higher amounts of vitamin D […]

The notion that genes dictate our destiny has been solidly debunked in favor of epigenetics, the study of external or internal mechanisms that switch genes on and off. Exciting new research shows epigenetic memory can span multiple generations.

Studies have linked epigenetics to cognitive dysfunction, autoimmunity, reproductive disorders, cardiovascular disease, and nearly all cancers.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that genetics are responsible for a mere 10 percent of disease, while the remaining 90 percent is due to environmental variables.

Consider these research findings:

In rats, maternal exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals caused infertility in male offspring that was passed down to 90 percent of males in four subsequent generations.

Adaptations to traumatic experiences can also be passed down multiple generations as a way to inform offspring about methods for survival.

For example, mice who learned to fear a scent associated with a negative experience passed the response down two generations, despite the offspring never having experienced the same situation.

A similar transfer of responses has been observed in humans:

Exposure to starvation during pregnancy is associated with poor health outcomes for offspring such as:

• Lower self-reported mental health and […]
  

In functional medicine one of the most common causes we see for many health disorders is imbalanced blood sugar. The good news is it is also one of the easiest things to remedy. A powerful tool in this process is a botanical compound called berberine.

An epidemic of blood sugar imbalances

According to the CDC, nearly 84 million American adults — more than one out of three — have prediabetes, or metabolic syndrome, a serious health condition in which blood sugar levels are too high but not high enough to be diagnosed as type 2 diabetes.

Ninety percent of people with prediabetes don’t even know they have it. Prediabetes puts you at increased risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, obesity, autoimmunity, infertility, dementia, and other disorders.

In fact, high blood sugar is so clearly linked to Alzheimer’s that researchers refer to the disease as “Type 3 diabetes.”

Berberine for high blood sugar and diabetes

A natural plant compound, berberine is found within the stems, bark, roots, and rhizomes (root-like subterranean stems) of numerous plants such as barberry, goldenseal, Oregon grape, […]

Weight training is not the first exercise choice that comes to mind for seniors. Instead we think of chair yoga, walking, dancing, or aqua aerobics. However, science shows weight training is one of the best types of exercise for aging whether you’ve been doing it your whole life or have never touched a barbell in 60-plus years.

Of the 57 million deaths worldwide in 2008, more than 5 million were caused by lack of physical activity. Roughly 80 percent of adults fail to meet recommended guidelines for physical activity.

For seniors in particular inactivity and a sedentary lifestyle are dangerous, increasing the risk of health conditions such as:

• High blood pressure
• Heart disease
• Stroke
• Obesity
• Cholesterol issues
• Metabolic syndrome
• Diabetes
• Cancer
• Depression

There is a common misperception that the elderly should stay away from strenuous activity. It is important to use safe equipment, focus on correct form, and warm up and cool down properly, but using your muscles as you age isn’t inherently dangerous.

In fact, studies show that lifting weights — whether heavy or light — helps us in many ways as we age.

Weight training reduces the risk of falling by maintaining or even […]

After assurance from breast implant makers that concerns about silicone leaks were a thing of the past, more than 10 million women worldwide have received silicone breast implants in the past decade. However, a growing body of research — supported by increased symptom reporting by women —links silicone breast implants to autoimmune disorders and a rare form of immune cancer.

Silicone breast implants linked to autoimmune disease

Doctors commonly advise potential breast implant candidates that the risks are minimal, yet multiple recent studies indicate otherwise.

A recent study at the University of Alberta comparing nearly 25,000 women with breast implants to nearly 100,000 without them confirmed that nearly one in four implant recipients is at risk of developing an autoimmune disorder.

The risk for women with breast implants developing an autoimmune disease is 45 percent higher than for those without implants.

While former studies on the topic have been criticized because they were based on self-reporting by subjects, this study used doctor-based diagnoses to confirm results.

Previous research has also found surgical mesh implants used for gynecological or hernia repair may be linked to autoimmune disorders […]

If you are on an elimination diet for your Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism, the holidays might be a source of serious anxiety. Sticking to a specialized diet can be enough of a challenge on a normal day. When we add in travel, unfamiliar restaurants and grocery stores, family events and social outings, the challenge — and potential consequences — can seem insurmountable. However, with some good planning you can not only survive but thrive during the holiday season.

Below are time-tested suggestions to help you navigate the holidays with ease when you have Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism.

Plan ahead

Look at your holiday schedule to see which events or plans pose challenges. Write them down and plan out what you need to do to avoid pitfalls.

Travel. Whether you drive or fly to see family and friends, plan ahead for your food options.

Airlines allow you to bring pre-made food even if it’s in a soft-sided cooler pack.

However, airlines won’t allow you to carry on any items in glass jars so make sure your pre-made items are canned or in a box.

If you are unsure about what you can bring on a plane each […]

Many of us reach for ibuprofen, aspirin, or another non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) when we have chronic pain or inflammation. But despite their easy access, these drugs present serious health concerns. While we’ve known for some time that NSAIDs increase the risk of heart attack, but a recent literature review showed that all NSAID types were associated with increased heart attack risk, and the risk was greatest during the first month of use.

Taking any dose of NSAIDs for one week, one month, or more than a month was associated with an increased risk of heart attack.

Greater risk was associated with higher doses.

When used for longer than one month, the risks did not appear to exceed those associated with shorter use duration.

Daily doses of 200 mg or more of celecoxib, 100 mg or more of diclofenac, 1200 mg or more of ibuprofen, and 750 mg or more of naproxen for just 8 to 30 days could raise heart attack risk.

For perspective, the recommended safe dose of ibuprofen is 1200 mg for menstrual pain — the same dose seen to raise heart attack risk — and 3200 mg […]

Many people eat organic food,because they believe it is better for their health.  Now a new study adds weight to previous research suggesting an organic diet may reduce the risk of certain types of cancer.

The French study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), surveyed nearly 70,000 subjects, mostly women, to determine whether an organic foods diet was related to a reduced risk of cancer during a five-year study.

Results showed that subjects who consumed organic foods most frequently had a surprising 25 percent fewer cancers than those who never ate organic. Organic foods were most strongly linked with much lower incidences of postmenopausal breast cancers and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

“We did expect to find a reduction, but the extent of the reduction is quite important,” said Julia Baudry, the study’s lead author.

The study was consistent with findings from a previous British study that followed more than 600,000 female subjects for nine years and found consumption of organic foods linked to a 21 percent reduced risk of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

While subjects in the UK study only responded to one question about how often […]