When looking at anything, as the saying goes, one can lose the forest for the trees. When we focus on fine details, they can be ugly, off-putting, and frightening. No matter how beautiful the person, the skin is scary up-close, no exceptions. Imagine a world where we could only see the microscopic view of everybody’s skin at first, only to draw out later to see how attractive they are. The first impression would be universal disgust. So it is with the Covid-19 death data. My post today will look at the bigger picture to help us get a (hopefully better) perspective on the recent focus on death.
Read MoreAs Covid-19 is dominating this respiratory illness season, the flu season has disappeared. It turns out that the flu virus does not conform to many known properties of infectious diseases. It can appear simultaneously around the globe and disappear just as quickly. Additionally, there may be a relationship between Covid-19 and influenza activity as well. Lastly, there is a link to solar activity, sunspot activity, and pandemics that I explore in this post.
Read MoreToday I am going to talk about known patterns of viral outbreaks, specifically respiratory-based infections, and how the lockdowns and mask mandates affected them. Since outbreak patterns are somewhat standard, differing mitigation strategies can be compared from region to region. If you are interested in the findings, read on.
Read MoreThe topics I usually cover in my posts center around tangible ways you can improve your health. I am not sure if it fits into that mold, but some research claims it is beneficial to your health and well-being. I also have the first-hand experience that it helps. I am talking about ASMR, and I have it, but I never knew that most people don't experience it. I will explain what it is later, but I would like to talk about my personal experience with it first.
Read MoreMore commonly known as canker sores, recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) can be quite a nuisance. Because the sores are associated with systemic inflammation, I believe that they can be preventable, and I have seen this first-hand in patients. Today I want to cover three important ways you can help prevent them. I also want to tell you about a surprising at-home treatment that has proven to be more effective than prescriotion medication.
Read MoreWhen tested, masks actually look very effective. The website called Smartairfilters.com is a treasure trove of information about air filtration systems and masks. They clearly show the effectiveness of masks, even the cloth home-made ones. Some of the better masks filter out 99.7 percent of all particles. With such convincing results, why do masks seem to be failing us? The paper entitled Masks Don't Work: A Review of Science Relevant to COVID-19 Social Policy may have the answer. They list numerous studies that all conclude that masks don't protect against contracting a whole host of illnesses. We will find out why in this post.
Read MoreI want to unpack two recent studies associated with Covid-19. One is a study of new United States Marine recruits who underwent severe quarantine. The results may surprise you. The other is a public mask-wearing study from Denmark. They both refute the common advice to lockdown and wear masks. In this post, I will sift through the fine points and provide tangible takeaways.
Read MoreCombined with age and neck circumference, a Mallampati Score over 2 is about 94% predictive of sleep apnea. When I see a Mallampati score of 3 or 4, I know the airway is compromised and dig a little deeper into the patients’ backgrounds. If you have never heard of the Mallampati classification system, you are in the majority. It is actually something you can measure yourself. Read on if you are curious.
Read MoreVitamin B12 deficiency is way more common than most conventional physicians are willing to admit. The literature states that only 7% of the population is deficient, but t the current limit of 200 ng/ml is probably too low. Neurological symptoms can be experienced in the low-normal range, and western medicine ignores this fact. Using functional medicine standards, which are higher, nearly half of the population may be suffering from B12 deficiency. Data from the Tufts University Framingham Offspring Study suggests that 40 percent of people between 26 and 83 have plasma B12 levels in the low-normal range. Most surprising to the researchers was that low B12 levels were as common in younger people as in the elderly. This is alarming as children suffer irreparable neurological damage with chronic B12 deficiency. Today I would like to talk about B12 deficiency and how to avoid it.
Read MoreNow that we are heading into winter in the northern hemisphere, many of us may experience lower vitamin D levels as the sun is no longer capable of helping us produce it. A promising study showed that using a form of vitamin D called calcidiol reduced the risk of ICU admission by 93% compared to the group that took no calcidiol in Covid-19 patients. But some people don’t respond to supplementation when their levels are already low. I will tell you how you can improve your production of active vitamin D, whether you should supplement, and how a commonly available supplement can really help.
Read Morewe all absorb news hoping that we will have a better understanding of the subject when we finish reading or hearing the facts. Journalism has taken on an air of entertainment as well. Many of us enjoy reading and listening to the news. I have no problem with that. The payoff after hearing news is that we feel entertained (sometimes) and smarter. Little do we suspect that the "payoff" in many instances depends on us not understanding the entire complex subject. I don’t go so far as to use the term fake news often. It’s usually just faulty. What might also be faulty is our belief that The author is an expert who did all of the required research into the matter, and we are now experts in the subject he spoke about in his article as a result of his exhaustive digging.
Today I am going to highlight some commonly used knowledge gaps in a recent New York Times article entitled, "Manure, Belching Cows, And All Those Feedlots."
Read MoreAre there people who just don’t chew enough to absorb enough nutrients to be healthy, even though they could if they wanted to? How do we know when we have safely masticated food enough to safely swallow? Are all of the recommendations to chew more based on legitimate science? Let’s find out…
Read MoreToday is Day number 286 of my carnivore diet journey, and I have only eaten animal-based foods. I did have a few small departures. I started the diet with two specific goals: eliminating chronic medial epicondylitis and tenosynovitis in my left thumb. I have officially achieved both goals. I have realized numerous benefits as well and would like to share them in today’s post.
Read MoreAt our grocery stores and dinner tables, even the most thoughtful consumers are overwhelmed by the number of considerations to weigh when choosing what to eat—especially when it comes to meat. Guided by the noble principle of least harm, many responsible citizens resolve the ethical, environmental, and nutritional conundrum by quitting meat entirely. But can a healthy, sustainable, and conscientious food system exist without animals? Sacred Cow probes the fundamental moral, environmental, and nutritional quandaries we face in raising and eating animals, especially the most maligned of farmed animals, the cow.
Read MoreThere are millions of patients in institutions who are incapable of attending to their own oral hygiene needs for one reason or another. The population includes the elderly, traumatic brain injury patients, Alzheimer's patients, stroke victims, those with limited mobility, and those with several other chronic and acute illnesses too numerous to name. The staff provides little to no oral care. There is a much greater chance of finding a hair salon in these facilities than a dental operatory. Considering that brushing twice daily and flossing once is the standard recommendation, this is a tragedy. Speech pathologist and Swallowing specialist Marta Marta Kazandjian Ranaldo has graciously taken time out of her busy schedule as a nationally recognized swallowing specialist to enlighten us more on the subject.
Read MoreIn the history of the human race, eating was regarded with the highest priority. The taste was unimportant. Today, overly tasty foods act on the brain the same way alcohol, meth, cocaine, heroin, and many other drugs do. They cause a dopamine hit that will stimulate reward-seeking behaviors that are difficult to control. Flavorful foods are hijacking our brains. Drugs and hyper-palatable/highly processed foods are precisely the same. In both cases, the immediate short-term pleasure overtakes long-term health and wellness. I will cover this unfortunate shift and what we can do about it in this post.
Read MoreI am a proponent of using botanicals to help treat numerous conditions. Allicin from garlic and sulforaphane from cruciferous are two great examples of botanicals that are effective in treating a variety of illnesses. Many websites cite them as home cures for dental abscesses. I did a quick search on the web and found 27 home cures for dental infections. I searched PubMed for studies supporting claims that any of the 27 could cure dental infections. The research, sadly, did not support these claims. Today I am going to give a short primer on the three types of dental infections to explain why I was not surprised by the fact that, in most instances, they will have little to no effect.
Read MoreEver hear of saving face? Myofunctional therapy does just that. In today’s guest post, myofunctional therapist, Brittny Sciarra talks about how improper tongue posture, mouth breathing, and other problems can lead to improper facial development, difficulty breathing, and even swallowing. Brittny works with patients to establish proper lip seal, nasal breathing, and tongue posture to help them develop healthy beautiful faces and airways.
Read MoreI recently took care of a patient who developed two cavities. He was shocked because he was convinced his diet was healthy. I was not convinced that his diet was totally healthy, and I was not shocked.The simple fact is that getting cavities (also known as caries) is very easy in western society. After a bit of an investigation, I found some processed foods in his diet. I don’t think he knew that they were highly processed. I want to draw attention to the stealthy nature of how processed foods can enter the diet, and if enough of them make it in, tooth decay and other problems can arise. Hopefully, after reading this post you will be able to identify them more easily and avoid potential health risks.
Read MoreA very recent article in The Journal of the American Medical Association boldly states, "Over the long term, a diet in which only 5% of total calories come from carbohydrates makes it impossible to obtain optimum amounts of antioxidant phytonutrients from fruits and vegetables." They do not state what an optimum level is because there is none. Information like this then gets circulated by journalists, and the result is a perpetuation of dietary myth. Who doesn't think that plant fiber and so-called phytochemicals (phytonutrients) aren't great for our health? After all, we hear about their virtues all the time. How true is this? It turns out that it is mostly BS. Let me explain…
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