Are the Nutrients You Consume Bioavailable?
How to get the most out of your diet and supplements The body’s physiology is intricate and complex. Even when we eat a healthy diet, we may not always absorb or utilize all of the nutrients our body needs. This is why scientists who formulate nutrient supplements are obsessed with bioavailability, defined as the…
Bile Acids: Their Role in Gut Health Beyond Fat Emulsification
Supplemental bile acids and their potential for dysbiosis, constipation, and inflammatory bowel disease Generally, when we think of bile, the role it plays in digestion is what we think of first. Produced by the liver and expelled into the digestive tract by the gallbladder (for those of us who have one), bile emulsifies and…
Candida Overgrowth – Herbal Medicine to the Rescue!
A Naturopathic Doctor’s Approach Most integrative medicine physicians who have been in clinical practice for a number of years will inevitably encounter a multitude of patients who have had their health negatively impacted by some form of Candida spp. infection. Fungal infections are estimated to occur in several million people each year, and recent…
Probiotic Benefits of Saccharomyces boulardii
Natural support for gut health from a probiotic yeast Probiotics are “live microorganisms which, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host.”[1] You may be familiar with probiotic supplements that contain lactobacilli and/or bifidobacteria, which are families of beneficial bacteria.[2] However, there is also a yeast species that qualifies as…
Leaky Gut = Fatty Liver
How poor digestive integrity can cause liver disease The concept of the “gut-liver axis” is not a new one: it was first described in 1987 when a group of researchers found that patients with cirrhosis had high rates of antibodies in their blood against foods like egg, whey, and casein.[1] Since that time, the…
The Probiotic-Cholesterol Connection
How a specific strain of Lactobacillus reuteri, NCIMB 30242, supports cardiovascular health The relationship between increasing levels of LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) and the risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) has long been established.[1] With CAD on the rise – not to mention the chest pain and heart attacks it can lead to – the importance…
Probiotics and the Human Microbiome: Beyond the Gut
Dr. Don Brown, ND, discusses cutting edge research on the use of probiotics Biography: Naturopathic physician Dr. Donald Brown is one of the leading authorities in the U.S. on evidence-based herbal medicine and the safety and efficacy of nutritional supplements and probiotics. He currently serves as the Director of Natural Product Research Consultants in…
Building a Better Gut Microbiota
Prebiotic, probiotic and synbiotic strategies for success “Happiness for me is largely a matter of digestion.” ― Lin Yutang, The Importance of Living[1] As Chinese scholar Lin Yutang observed, a healthy gut is a core component of a happy life. Each person’s gut contains approximately 38 trillion microbes, comprising hundreds of different species (collectively,…
Understanding Inflammation
When too much of a good thing becomes harmful If you’ve ever scraped your knee, you’ve seen the healing power of inflammation at work. The body reacts to injury and invasion by sending a flood of white blood cells to the area to repair the damage, stop the spread of infection, and battle any…
Constipation: Solutions to Make All Systems “Go”!
Supporting the nervous system, microbiome, and nutritional status for healthy, easy elimination Balancing the nervous system Running from tigers in the jungle, our ancestors were well acquainted with the sympathetic stress response, also known as the “fight-or-flight” response. By expanding the lungs and increasing the heart rate to send more oxygen and blood to…
Immunobiotics for Immune Health
The case for killed probiotics From yogurt to miso, kombucha to kefir, the friendly bacteria found in fermented foods play an important role in our health: there is no shortage of studies demonstrating the efficacy of probiotics (or “good bacteria”) in helping a myriad of conditions.[1] Most probiotic foods and supplements work by delivering…
Bouncing Back After Antibiotic Use: Probiotics to the Rescue!
Restoring balance and healthy function to the gut and beyond Chances are if you are the owner of a human body, you’ve taken at least one course of antibiotics in your lifetime. Whether it was bubble-gum flavored amoxicillin for that ear infection in childhood or penicillin for the case of strep throat that roared…
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