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.
Osteoarthritis: auto-inflammation, IL-17 and the microbiome
Osteoarthritis is an autoinflammatory condition characterized by a more aggressive inflammatory response to stressed or damaged tissue, with a subset exhibiting high IL-17 activity, a hallmark of autoimmunity. This may be ameliorated by regulating the autoinflammatory response through manipulation of the gut microbiome.
Iron supplementation - better with intermittent low doses
These findings...advocate the hypothesis that low-dose iron given on alternate days may maximize fractional iron absorption, increase dosage efficacy.
TSH elevation associated with pregnancy problems
TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) when elevated even within the 'normal' range at preconception, can result in adverse pregnancy outcomes.
Glaucoma neurodegeneration ameliorated by mitochondrial support
...dietary supplementation with a single molecule (vitamin B3/nicotinamide), or Nmnat1 gene therapy, significantly reduces vulnerability to glaucoma by supporting mitochondrial health and metabolism...By providing a new molecular and metabolic link between increased neuronal vulnerability with age and neurodegeneration these findings are of critical importance for glaucoma and possibly other age-related diseases.
Immunotherapy can take 3 years to desensitize to allergens
Immunotherapy can induce tolerance for allergens, but what is a realistic time frame? A study recently published in JAMA demonstrates that 3 years of sublingual desensitizing treatment is effective, but 2 years is no different than placebo. This research helps practitioners working in the larger context of immune plasticity, and patients, to consider pragmatic parameters for case management.
Magnesium mediates insulin resistance, diabetes risk
Low serum magnesium levels are associated with an increased risk of prediabetes, with comparable risk estimates to that of diabetes.
Cytomegalovirus: neglected problem endangers pregnant women, children
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a common congenital infection that causes severe disorders but awareness of this and the preventive measures is strikingly low.
Ketone supplementation and the ketogenic diet for cancer
"The emerging role of metabolism in many types of cancers provides a novel target for new therapeutics. A possibility is dietary therapies that are designed to take advantage of the unique energetic needs of tumor cells. One such option is the use of a very high-fat and low-carbohydrate diet (90%:5%, respectively) called the Ketogenic Diet (KD). This diet has been used to treat epilepsy for nearly 90 years, and recently its application as a cancer therapeutic has been explored. Although preclinical studies demonstrate its efficacy and clinical case reports support its feasibility, the KD is difficult to implement due to its stringent nature. Here, we report the development of an sHFLC, which mimics the main physiologic effects of the KD, namely reduced glucose and increased ketones. In addition, the sHFLC diet is able to reduce glioblastoma (GB) tumor cell proliferation and extend lifespan in GB animal models."