FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE BLOG
Includes over 800 monographs reporting on emerging studies in the medical and scientific literature of practical clinical importance, easily searched for content.
Systemic thyroid hormone effects with levothyroxine can fall short
Systemic thyroid hormone status—the systemic effects of thyroid hormone activity—has been further confirmed to be insufficient with levothyroxine therapy in a significant percentage of cases, even though laboratory levels of TSH and T4 are normalized...
Nitric oxide is essential for red blood cells to deliver oxygen
Nitric oxide built into hemoglobin as βCys93 is required for RBC-mediated vasodilation. Without sufficient nitric oxide, vasodilation and thus oxygen delivery to tissues is impaired.
Oxidized LDL promotes atherosclerosis
Research recently published in Science Signaling elucidates one of the mechanisms by which oxidized LDL promotes atherosclerosis
Low normal sodium a cardiovascular risk
Low sodium within the normal range is associated with significantly increased CVD events and total mortality in older men without major CVD or HF.
Insulin resistance indicated by neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio
We recommend that the NLR values of diabetic patients be calculated as NLR is a cheap, predictive, and prognostic marker for IR. High NLR values were independently related to IR.
Stroke risk reduced by magnesium
Stroke risk is reduced by higher plasma magnesium levels according to data from 32,826 women in the Nurses’ Health Study presented in a paper just published in the journal Stroke.
Walking in the evening improves cardiovascular markers better than walking in the morning
Walking is beneficial any time of day, but an interesting study published recently in the journal Preventive Medicine demonstrated significantly more improvement in some key cardiovascular lipid and inflammatory markers by walking in the evening versus in the morning.
Exercise: moderation is best for the heart
Exercise can benefit with surprisingly little effort and time as documented by recent studies, but like everything else there is a dose-response curve, meaning that the effect of exercise varies with the dose (intensity, duration). Now there is more evidence that exercising too intensively can do harm, particularly to the cardiovascular system.
Thyroid in heart, metabolism, brain, kidney; vital importance of T3
Thyroid disorders have widespread impact and although subclinical hypothyroidism and low triiodothyronine (T3) syndrome are common they are frequently overlooked in practice.
Low 'normal' free T3 thyroid hormone predicts death in older patients even without overt hypothyroid
Low free T3 thyroid hormone (triiodothyronine, FT3), even without overt hypothyroid and still within most 'normal' reference ranges, predicts death from cardiovascular disease and all causes in people over 65 according to a study just published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
Lipid accumulation product is a useful index for detecting insulin resistance
Lipid accumulation product is a useful index for detecting insulin resistance
Breaks in prolonged sitting reduce cardiovascular risk and obesity
Breaks in prolonged sitting reduce cardiovascular risk and obesity
Lifestyle reduction of cardiovascular risk factors improves erectile dysfunction
Lifestyle reduction of cardiovascular risk factors improves erectile dysfunction