Your metabolism is maintained via a careful hormonal dance, with each hormone sending feedback messages to influence the release of the others. The hormones we most often think of with respect to weight and metabolism are thyroid and insulin, and for good reason: these are probably the biggest players that [...]
SIBO (Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth) is when good bacteria are in the wrong place: specifically, bacteria that should be in the large intestine are instead in the small intestine, or when there are more bacteria in the small intestine than there should be. GERD, heartburn, or reflux involves hydrochloric acid in [...]
Most people call it “brain fog,” but what they mean is inability to remember words, poor short-term memory, and difficulty concentrating. I see it all the time, and there are a number of possible causes. Usually the rest of the clinical picture clarifies the underlying cause, or at least gives [...]
Bile is produced in the liver and stored in the gallbladder. Its composition is mostly water, but it also involves bile salts (acids), bilirubin (a breakdown product of red blood cells), and fats (cholesterol, fatty acids, and phosphatidylcholine.) The primary purpose of bile is to help us absorb fat from [...]
I know, I know — that’s kind of a “duh” statement, right? We all know that sitting on our butts and putting our brains in neutral isn’t the best for our bodies, or for our minds. But even though correlation is not the same as causation (and most of the [...]
In our youth-obsessed culture, gray hair is no longer considered the crown of wisdom it once was (in fact, the global hair dye industry makes about $7 billion annually). I often have patients ask me if there is a natural way to turn gray hair back to its original color. [...]
Hypertension, or high blood pressure, means that the heart has to push harder than it should to get the blood to the entire body. There are two blood pressure numbers: systolic (the top number) and diastolic (the bottom number). Systolic indicates the pressure at the heart’s maximum contraction, while diastolic [...]
Androgens are male sex hormones: primarily testosterone, DHEA, and androstenedione. They are much higher in men than in women, of course, and elevated androgens are a common symptom of PCOS, a common cause of female infertility. But it turns out that women need some testosterone for optimal fertility. Too much [...]
Traditional thyroid testing is limited to TSH. TSH is the hormone produced in your brain that tells your thyroid to produce actual thyroid hormone, which is T4. T4 is still only about 20% of the active thyroid hormone, though; the other 80% is T3. Most of the T4 produced by [...]
Ferritin is the storage form of iron—or, more specifically, it is a protein that itself stores iron. More often I tend to see it low than high for a variety of common reasons--a situation that often leads to hair loss, among other things. But ferritin can also be abnormally high. The [...]