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.

Neuropsychiatric illness, autoimmunity and the role of microbes

Neuropsychiatric illness often involves brain inflammation for which there may be an autoimmune origin. The authors of a paper* recently published in Current Opinion in Rheumatology set out to..."illustrate how microbes might participate in the pathogenesis of neuropsychiatric illness by triggering the production of autoantibodies that bind to brain targets."

Read More

Brain atrophy is promoted by both high and low blood pressure

Brain atrophy, with progressive cognitive impairment, can include among causal factors neuronal loss due to diminished oxygen perfusion. Earlier posts have documented the importance of not over-medicating hypertension. A study just published in JAMA Neurology provides evidence that brain atrophy is promoted by low diastolic blood pressure in addition to hypertension.

Read More

Vagal nerve activity moderates brain-immune relationships and is measured by heart rate variability

An exciting study with tremendous practical significance was just published in the Journal of Neuroimmunology that shows how vagal nerve activity, which can be measured in the clinic by heart rate variability analysis (HRV), is a key moderator of the brain-immune web and determines the immune and physiological responses to acute stress.

Read More

For preschool children at risk for ADHD parent behavioral training beats medications

It might seem counter-intuitive to medicate preschool children at risk for ADHD with drugs like Ritalin®, but a team of investigators tested the assumption and found that parent behavioral training (PBT) yields better outcomes than methylphenidate without risk of side effects by examining the evidence for a variety of treatments in a study just published in the journal Pediatrics.

Read More

High protein beats high carbohydrate diet for biomarkers of metabolic syndrome

Regulating insulin is the key factor metabolic syndrome, diabetes and weight loss. In accordance with that, a randomized controlled trial just published in the journal Diabetes Care offers more evidence that a higher protein (with carbohydrate) diet improves multiple biomarkers better than a high carbohydrate diet.

Read More

Adolescent decline in verbal ability can predict psychosis in adulthood

It's well recognized that cognitive deficits in childhood or adolescence typically precede the onset of psychosis, but the studies done up until now have not determined whether the association is prodromal (an early symptom of psychosis itself) or neurodevelopmental (problems with brain development and maturation that set the stage for later psychosis). A study just published in JAMA Psychiatry offers strong evidence that verbal decline in adolescence reflects neurodevelopmental defects that significantly increase the lifetime risk for psychosis.

Read More

Low-dose aspirin prevents cognitive decline in women with high cardiovascular risk

Aspirin for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease is controversial (meaning there is conflicting evidence for its use by patients who have not previously suffered a heart attack or stroke). But the authors of a study just published in BMJ Open (British Medical Journal) show that low-dose aspirin prevented cognitive decline in women with high cardiovascular risk.

Read More

Lyme disease, neuropsychiatric symptoms and autoimmunity

As with other chronic infections, the most devastating effects of Lyme disease can occur from the immune system losing tolerance for normal tissue as it cross-reacts while attacking the pathogen. A paper just published in The Open Neurology Journal reviews the body of knowledge on the neuropsychiatric symptoms of Lyme disease and other infections as an immune mediated neurodegenerative disorder, enlarged by a wealth of citations.

Read More