Expert Interview

How to Select the Best Quality Fish Oil, Part 2
November 12, 2020
Dr. Hoffman continues his conversation with Paul Vitiello, Director of Marketing for Biotics Research, about the company's Biomega Fish Oil line. Click HERE for part 1.

ENCORE: Natural Therapies for G.I. Disorders, Part 1
November 5, 2020
Meet New York City’s first integrative gastroenterologist—Dr. Alexandra Shustina. While versed in conventional methods of addressing GI complaints, she has concluded that “many patients are treated inappropriately.” Powerful drugs are invoked when natural therapies, like diet, supplements, and stress management are insufficiently leveraged. Calling upon her training in osteopathic medicine, Dr. Shustina employs visceral manipulation to address such conditions as GERD, IBS, and severe constipation. She describes the constraints she experiences in introducing a holistic perspective to her young GI trainees in a hospital setting. She discusses the limitations inherent in using powerful immunosuppressive drugs for ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s Disease. What problems are associated with the pervasive use of potent acid-suppressing medications? When can digestive enzymes help GI complaints? What role for probiotics? Colostrum? Chinese herbal formulas? Vitamin D? Is the Specific Carbohydrate Diet the best regimen for inflammatory bowel disease? Are antibiotics the best answer for H. Pylori and SIBO? Click HERE for part 2.

ENCORE: Natural Therapies for G.I. Disorders, Part 2

Dr. Hoffman continues his conversation with Dr. Alexandra Shustina, New York City’s first integrative gastroenterologist. Click HERE for part 1.

ENCORE: The Epidemic of Diabetes, Part 1
November 3, 2020
Dr. David Perlmutter is America’s foremost Integrative neurologist and pioneering author of "Grain Brain." Five years after its publication, with over a million copies sold worldwide in twenty languages, he reflects on its success and the vindication of its central tenets: That America’s low-fat high/carb mania has promoted an epidemic of diabetes, just when optimal blood sugar is gaining recognition as fundamental to brain health; that gluten is demonstrably harmful via its effects on gut permeability; and that fat and cholesterol phobia has deprived our brains of essential nutrients. He emphasizes the centrality of exercise to prevention and reversal of dementia. The latest research underlies the concept of neuroplasticity—that the adult brain has the capacity to repair and regenerate. What newly-discovered factor helps to literally regrow brain cells? Does genetics dictate our neurological fate? Or can lifestyle overcome our heredity? What roles for sleep? Stress reduction? Coffee? Alcohol? Bio-identical hormone replacement? The microbiome? Cannabinoids? Ketogenic diet? What drugs take a toll on brain function? Dr. Perlmutter will soon be featured nationwide in a PBS Special entitled “Dr. Perlmutter’s Whole Life Plan”. Click HERE for part 2.

ENCORE: The Epidemic of Diabetes, Part 2

Dr. Hoffman continues his conversation with Dr. David Perlmutter, America’s foremost Integrative neurologist and pioneering author of "Grain Brain." Click HERE for part 1.

ENCORE: The Link Between Toxic Exposures and Common Diseases, Part 1
October 29, 2020
Dr. Joseph Pizzorno, one of the founders of Integrative and Functional Medicine and author of "The Toxin Solution," takes a look at how environmental toxins affect our health. He has undertaken one of the largest studies to date that links various forms of toxic exposures to common diseases like diabetes, Alzheimer’s, coronary artery disease, fatty liver, and even childhood behavioral problems. Toxins are ubiquitous in our modern environment. How to tell if you're toxic? Are there blood or urine tests? Is it worth it to eat organic foods exclusively? What are other ways that toxins find their way into our bodies even if we’re not industrial workers or farmers applying pesticides and herbicides? What are “Obesogens”? Are there ways to facilitate detox? What role for glutathione? Milk thistle? Dietary fiber? What’s the deal with heavy metals? Arsenic? Can they be removed? Click HERE for part 2.

ENCORE: The Link Between Toxic Exposures and Common Diseases, Part 2

Dr. Hoffman continues his conversation with Dr. Joseph Pizzorno, one of the founders of Integrative and Functional Medicine, and author of "The Toxin Solution: How Hidden Poisons in the Air, Water, Food and Products We Use Are Destroying Our Health—And What We Can Do To Fix It." Click HERE for part 1.

ENCORE: The Way Human Beings are Supposed to Eat, Part 1
October 27, 2020
Professor Tim Noakes is a South African medical doctor and a respected exercise physiologist. Decades ago, he wrote the best-selling "The Lore of Running," in which he advocated a low-fat carbo-loading diet for optimal athletic performance. But when he himself developed Type 2 Diabetes, he had second thoughts and began researching the low-carb, high-fat (LCHF) dietary paradigm. The result: He reversed his diabetes, sold 200,000 copies of his new book, "The Real Meal Revolution," but then became the target of an Inquisition-style prosecution for dietary heresy. In what became dubbed “the Nutrition Trial of the Century” Professor Noakes valiantly upheld science in the face of a concerted attack from the medical orthodoxy. We discuss how he finally prevailed. Why has the diet controversy become so politicized? Why does Professor Noakes consider the Agricultural Revolution “one of mankind’s biggest mistakes”? Why is the Banting diet particularly suited to the dietary needs of South Africans? Don’t some people do OK with carbohydrates? What’s the impact of the LCHF on athletic performance? What research is the Noakes Foundation undertaking? How is it trying to democratize low-carb dieting for the masses? Click HERE for part 2.

ENCORE: The Way Human Beings are Supposed to Eat, Part 2

Dr. Hoffman continues his conversation with Professor Tim Noakes, author of "The Real Meal Revolution." Click HERE for part 1.

ENCORE: Nutritional Treatment of Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis, Part 1
October 22, 2020
Dr. Melvyn Grovit specializes in the nutritional treatment of Crohn’s Disease and ulcerative colitis—especially in kids. He describes his first case, that of a 17-year-old with Crohn’s Disease who was emaciated, debilitated, suffering from uncontrollable diarrhea, subject to frequent hospitalizations for intestinal obstruction, his academic career on hold, and at serious risk of early death. The Big Reveal: that patient was Dr. Grovit himself 65 years ago! Now 82, Dr. Grovit is healthy, in full remission without the aid of drugs, and actively treating patients in his nutritional practice in White Plains, New York. What type of diet supports healing of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)? Once healing has occurred, can you occasionally cheat? Which nutraceuticals has Dr. Grovit found helpful? Probiotics? Omega 3 fish oil? Specialized pro-resolving mediators (SPMs)? Fish peptides? Amino acids? Curcumin? What role can growth hormone (HGH) play in facilitating kids’ recovery? Why hasn’t the gastroenterology establishment embraced these methods? Dr. Grovit shares the remarkable results he’s seen in his practice, including a peer-reviewed study he’s published documenting his successes. He discusses the origins of NIBD in Kids, a non-profit devoted to promoting natural cures for pediatric IBD. Click HERE for part 2.