Ask Dr. Soram

Gluten NO [http://www.drsoram.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Gluten-NO.jpg]I am just back from the environmental medicine 2013 update convention in Arizona. The topic of this year’s conference was “Environmental impact on fertility, pregnancy, birth outcomes, children’s health and epigenetic generational health effects”. The lectures were outstanding from a group of doctors. I feel that it is essential that women do a program that allows for preconception optimization. As I’ve mentioned before, I do this in my practice on a regular basis with my patients who want to get pregnant, and encourage you and your friends to find a doctor who does this before you conceive. I go on to talk about an article from the BBC about toxic chemicals [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6126082.stm] that could be causing the Pandemic of brain disorders that we are seeing. I also refer my listeners to the Foresight website [http://www.foresight-preconception.org.uk/Default.aspx#.UQ64pqX2V8F] which is based in England about preconception preparation. I then review a study [http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/SCCM/36954?utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DailyHeadlines&utm_source=WC&xid=NL_DHE_2013-01-23&eun=g503974d0r&userid=503974&email=drsoram@khalsamedical.com&mu_id] showing that people who have Coronary Artery Bypass Grafts do much worse with a low vitamin D level. I then talk also about the article on the importance of taking coenzyme Q 10 when taking Staten drugs which you can find here. [http://content.onlinejacc.org/article.aspx?articleid=1555209] This is amazing that it is finally being published in the main medical journals. Integrative medicine doctors have been prescribing coenzyme Q-10 for 20 years to statin users. I reference an article that was just published in the very prominent Journal of the American College of Cardiology that finds yoga to be a safe effective treatment for patients with atrial fibrillation. If you have family or friends with this condition please show them this article. [http://www.stonehearthnewsletters.com/first-ever-yoga-study-published-in-the-journal-of-the-american-college-of-cardiology-finds-yoga-to-be-a-safe-effective-therapy-for-heart-patients/yoga/] I also reference the Collaborative on Health and the Environment [http://www.healthandenvironment.org/]– an excellent website on the role of the environment in our health. The YouTube video I mentioned about the Fake Obesity Experts which is most informative can be found at this link [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I02aVkdi_M&feature=youtu.be]. We then move forward with part two of my interview with Dr. Tom O’Bryan on gluten sensitivity. We start out with questions about the laboratory results and move on to some very important information. There are 19,000 studies in the medical literature about how gluten affects the body. Dr. O Bryan points out that everything from infertility to Ménière’s disease and children with drug-resistant epilepsy can be caused by gluten sensitivity that is unrecognized. Dr. O’ Bryan points out, as I do to my patients, that you don’t have to get rid of the doctor you’re currently using but you bring a Functional  Medicine practitioner on board to help get to some of the underlying causes of your health problems. We then talk about Standard Mortality Ratio and the data for people that recognize they have a gluten sensitivity versus people that may not. Dr. O’ Bryan reminds us that it’s eight times more likely that a gluten sensitivity will manifest outside of the gut than in the gut. In the last part of the podcast answer questions from my listeners on acne, eczema, vitamin D and pregnancy, and osteoarthritis. If you have friends with any of these conditions I encourage you to let them take a listen to my podcast. Please send in your questions or leave comments on my site so that I know you’re out there listening! Also please RATE me on iTunes so we can spread the word on the importance of Integrative Medicine for our health. Also you can follow me onTwitter [https://twitter.com/drsoram] and on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/drsoram]. Now that I’ve gotten my Facebook fan page set up it is so much easier. Wishing you all the very best in health. Dr. Soram The post 046-Ask Dr Soram-Pregnancy and Environment, Part 2 on Gluten and Your Questions Answered [https://www.drsoram.com/046-ask-dr-soram-pregnancy-and-environment-part-2-on-gluten-and-your-questions-answered/] first appeared on Dr. Soram's Integrative Medicine [https://www.drsoram.com].

Dr Tom [http://www.drsoram.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/DR-TOM-for-webpage.jpg]I want to thank all of you for the great response that you’ve given me to the doctor show. After practicing integrative medicine for over 30 years now, it is my mission to get the word out to a larger number of people that I can see in my day-to-day practice. Your questions have been overwhelming and I am trying to get answers back to you as fast as I can. I want to honor all of my listeners and readers. You have shown me the value of being on Twitter and on Facebook. I had not been on either of them for a while and now I am on them regularly. I plan to put out at least two twitter feeds per day and to be updating my Facebook page on a regular basis. The promise always give you interesting things to learn about in my feeds. Because of your strong encouragement for me to get my word out, in this issue I review some of the very interesting articles that I have been reading to send out to you on Twitter and Facebook. You can listen to the podcast for details but here are the links: Surprising Connections Between Our Well-Being and Giving, Getting, and Gratitude [http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130119185025.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader] “Berry” Good for Your Heart! [http://ivanhoe.com/channels/p_channelstory.cfm?storyid=30669] The Not-So-Sweet Side Effects of Soda [http://ivanhoe.com/channels/p_channelstory.cfm?storyid=30659] Low blood lead levels linked to lower IQ in Italian kids. [http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/newscience/2012/11/2012-1221-low-blood-lead-levels-reduced-iq-italy-teens/] Chemical tied to intergenerational obesity [http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/347610/description/News_in_Brief_Chemical_tied_to_intergenerational_obesity] Now onto this issue’s interview. For the next few sessions we will be shifting our focus to the role of gluten in human health. For years doctors have run Celiac Apply the Panels on patients and if this one test is negative, told the patient they don’t have to worry about eating gluten. However a lot of people have realized that they have a sensitivity to gluten even though they don’t have classical Celiac Disease. What to do about these people to obviously have a sensitivity to Gluten. Finally, a new category of gluten diagnosis has been made and it is called Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity. How do we diagnose such patients? How do we treat them? Can they get by with just reducing gluten or must they avoided altogether? What are the symptoms and signs of such a gluten sensitivity? These are questions that my patients bring to me every day. There are an enormous number of people who have what we call Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity. In my practice I have seen lives change by the recognition and treatment of this condition. This is the first of three podcasts on the subject of gluten sensitivity. My special guest that I interview is Dr. Tom O’Bryan, who has spent the last many years studying and teaching the importance of the recognition of gluten sensitivity. He is an internationally recognized speaker and workshop leader as well as a clinician par excellence in treating chronic disease and metabolic disorders from a functional medicine perspective. In this podcast we talk about the following: 1. Gluten is a family of proteins not a single protein. 2. There is a groundswell movement of people recognizing their own gluten sensitivity. 3. People are recognizing that everything from migraines to seizure disorders might be helped by a gluten free diet. 4. It is only recently that gluten sensitivity is being recognized by traditional medicine. 5. The gluten concentration in wheat has gone up to 50% due to the plant being hybridized. From a commercial perspective, it’s quite valuable to have a high gluten content in your bread. 6. The word gluten means glue. 7. Dr. Fasano, a world-famous gluten researcher has said “no human can digest the gluten, in wheat, today”. 8. Immune tolerance makes it so that some people are able to eat gluten and not get sick. However, in a person with a compromised immune system, this could be the straw that broke the camels back 9. Gluten sensitivity is much more than just digestive problems. For every one person that has got digestive symptoms from gluten, there are eight that don’t. The symptoms are in some other part of their body. 10. Dr. Fasano estimates that 30% of the population has a sensitivity to gluten. 11. There are now new blood tests for gluten sensitivity, and these can be very helpful in diagnosis. 12. A simple definition of gluten sensitivity is: if you go off gluten you feel better! This type of challenge can be good for people who do not want to do the blood test. 13. Dr. O’Bryan gives us the analogy of the lining of the small intestine being like a shag carpeting. If you have gluten sensitivity that shags wear down and food and nutrients cannot be absorbed well. The medical words for the shags in micro villi. 14. For proper diagnosis of celiac disease, a patient will have an endoscopy and biopsies of the intestines will be done to see if the shags on his lining are worn down. This can be seen under the microscope. 15. People with their shags borne down, which is called villous atrophy, had a 39% increased risk of dying early in life of heart disease cancer or something else. 16. If the villi were not worn down but you just had a positive celiac blood tests increased risk of dying was 35%. This is about the same. 17. Gluten sensitivity causes inflammation in the intestines. This in fact can be a hidden cause of elevated CRP in people with heart disease. 18. Fortunately we now have a new lab called Cyrex labs which contest for other anybody’s rather than only alpha gliadin, the protein that is tested in a traditional celiac panel. 19. The testing at Cyrex labs is able to look at 10 different breakdown products of gluten. In the next podcast we will go on to discuss the use of the Cyrex tests, where to get them and what they can tell us. You can see more about Dr O’Bryan on his website. [http://www.thedr.com/] And Cyrex Labs is here [http://www.cyrexlabs.com] After my interview with Dr. Tom O’Bryan I go on to answer some of your questions that you have emailed to me. In this show I answer questions about: 1. Acid Reflux 2. Epstein Bar Virus and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. 3. Vitamin D Dosages I recommend for families. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cu3uBGHcKk4] 4. Calcium and vitamin D. 5. Vitamin B 12 and vitamin D deficiency. I will get to more of your questions in future issues as best I can. Please send in your questions or leave comments on my site so that I know you’re out there listening! Also please RATE me on iTunes so we can spread the word on the importance of Integrative Medicine for our health. Also you can follow me on Twitter [http://www.twitter.com/drsoram] and on Facebook [http://www.facebook.com/drsoram]. Now that I’ve gotten my Facebook fan page set up it is so much easier. The post 045-Ask Dr Soram-All about Gluten with Dr. Tom O’Bryan and Your Questions Answered [https://www.drsoram.com/045-ask-dr-soram-all-about-gluten-with-dr-tom-obryan-and-your-questions-answered/] first appeared on Dr. Soram's Integrative Medicine [https://www.drsoram.com].

gregor web site part 3 of interview [http://www.drsoram.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/gregor-web-site-part-3-of-interview.jpg]I am so gratified and indeed humbled by your overwhelming response to my recent appearance on Dr Oz. Because I see patients every day I do recognize the tremendous need that so many people in America have for Integrative Medicine. By using natural types of medicines along with lifestyle changes so many health conditions in America can be very much helped. In addition, with this approach, very often medications can be reduced. With all the hundreds of questions I’ve received from you, I’m trying to create a way to help you with answers to your questions. Please understand I’m a single physician in practice and I need some type of organized system to give you answers, without being your doctor. I have created a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) to answer the main categories of questions that you have asked. You can find it here [http://www.drsoram.com/ozfaq/]. I’ve created a quick questionnaire online to see if you would be interested in attending webinars that I would hold. In addition it asked if you would be willing to pay small fee to help cover the overhead of running these webinars? I would appreciate your letting me know by filling out this questionnaire which will only take less than a minute. You can find it here [http://www.drsoram.com/webinar]. For those of you who did not get to see my appearance on Dr. Oz you can watch 2 of the 3 segments RIGHT HERE [http://www.doctoroz.com/episode/provocative-doctor-revolutionize-your-health ]. [www.drsoram.com/drsoramoz] Unfortunately the third part is not yet online and I’m asking the producers if they can add it as it was my favorite part! On this segment I was introduced to Kathy Smart and Cynthia Besson, who have been fans of mine from my blog and podcast. We met for the first time in person on the show! Then, along with two ladies I taught Dr.’s some Kundalini Yoga on camera! Also you can read my article for Dr Oz’s site here [ http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/integrative-medicine-guide-better-health ] I look forward to staying in touch with you. You may leave me comments below this article. Let’s transition now to my interview for this podcast. This is the final segment of my interview with Dr. Michael Gregor. In this segment I start out by asking him about exercise. He reminds us that the most important muscle in the body is the cardiac muscle. He recommends walking four miles per hour per day he reminds us that we can make it fun, and he does remind us that there are other exercises that we can do instead. Exercise helps us with insulin sensitivity and other biochemical processes that keep us healthy. We then talk about natural treatment for high blood pressure. Even independent of obesity, a plant based diet can bring blood pressure down. Dr. Gregor talks about the use of drugs for blood pressure as well and he says it is controversial whether or not drugs for high blood pressure actually reduce mortality rates. The whole food plant-based diet he reminds us not only lowers blood pressure, but the same diet lowers heart disease and the same diet reverses diabetes. He says “It’s kind of like mother nature has been trying to tell us something… But nobody has been listening.”. We then go on to talk about diabetes and how 10-year-olds are now getting Type II diabetes. He reminds us that this is an emerging epidemic even people at the exact same weight who eat more plants have a lower diabetes risk. This is analogous to the people that have stomachs – stapling surgery which will improve their diabetes even before they lose weight just by having the surgery. Next we talk about fibromyalgia and how many people with a diagnosis of fibromyalgia actually have a vitamin D deficiency. Of course I wholeheartedly agree with this. In addition Dr. Gregor always puts his patients on a whole food plant-based diet for fibromyalgia. I then go on to ask the question that’s been burning on my mind for a while. Tthat is whether a whole food plant-based diet protects us from environmental toxins effects? He reminds us that many of our farm animals are fed the remains of other farm animals. So when we eat animals, we are eating higher on the food chain, which is more likely to have pesticides. Dr. Gregor recommends that we eat low on the food chain and purely organic to minimize our exposure to environmental toxins. We then go on to talk about cholesterol. Dr. Gregor definitely feels it is best to keep our LDL or bad cholesterol at 60 to 70 g with a total cholesterol of 150. He points out that the average cholesterol of people eating a vegan diet is 150. He reminds us that doctors should give their patients the opportunity to try to change and not work under the assumption that they will never change their bad habits whether it be smoking or the type of diet that they are on. For more information about Dr. Gregor or to watch his videos you may go to his personal website at HERE [http://www.drgreger.org/] or his video website HERE [http://nutritionfacts.org/]. I do recommend you subscribe by email to his daily videos which are only 2 to 3 minutes long and just full of information on the latest in good health. Dr Gregor has just posted his 10 most watched videos of the year 2012 and you can see them here, [http://l.drsoram.com/TA9KNK] which is a great way to start out with his videos! Please send in your questions or leave comments on my site so that I know you’re out there listening! Also please RATE me on iTunes so we can spread the word on the importance of Integrative Medicine for our health. Also you can follow me onTwitter [http://www.twitter.com/drsoram]and onFacebook [https://www.facebook.com/drsoram]. Now that I’ve gotten my Facebook fan page set up it is so much easier. The post 044-Ask Dr Soram- FAQ on Dr Oz and Part 3 with Michael Gregor, M.D. [https://www.drsoram.com/044-ask-dr-soram-faq-on-dr-oz-and-part-3-with-michael-gregor-m-d/] first appeared on Dr. Soram's Integrative Medicine [https://www.drsoram.com].

Khalsa [http://www.drsoram.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Khalsa-049-Edit-for-my-website-220x300.jpg]I am so happy to announce that this Friday December 21, 2012 I will appear on the Dr Oz Show! You can click here [http://www.doctoroz.com/find-station]to find your local station and time for the show. Most of my patients and I myself will be at work during this daytime show, so we are going to “Tivo” -record the show to watch when we get home. I recorded the show in New York in September. It was really a fun thing to do and I was delighted that they gave me three segments with Dr. Oz. In the first segment we talk about Integrative Medicine. In the second segment we talk about vitamin D and my book on vitamin D. In the third segment, the producers of the show had flown in two of my “Fans” from my website and my podcast site and we met for the first time live on stage in front of the audience! This was truly a thrilling moment to know that I have “Fans” out there, like you who are benefiting from my writing and my podcasts. After we meet each other, I then teach the two ladies and Dr. Oz a few exercises of Kundalini Yoga. As most of you know I’ve been doing Kundalini Yoga for over 40 years. I still practice it every morning when I get up. Let me know what you think when you watch the show! I’m excited to see it myself! I hope to hear from you. My Interview For This Show I hope you are enjoying my interview of Michael Gregor M.D. as much as I am. This is part two of my interview and we start out with my asking Dr. Gregor about calcium. He gives the recommendations for calcium of 1000 mg per day.. He does encourage all of us to get our calcium from food however rather than pills. I then go on to ask Dr.Gregor about the use of the very popular Human Growth Hormone shots. Some of my patients get the shots from other colleagues in town and I do not feel that they are safe. Dr. Krieger gives a very clear explanation on why Human Growth hormone shots are not good for you. Growth hormone not only helps transform the abnormal cells and cancer cells in the first place, it also helps them survive and increases their growth, migration and invasion. We talk about the difference in growth hormone levels in vegetarians who eat dairy and in vegans who do not. This makes for a very interesting conversation. We then go on to talk about Premenstrual Syndrome which is so common in our society. Dr. Gregor estimated that one in three women have this condition. Dr. Gregor talks about the amazing research with the spice saffron. Not only did swallowing pills of saffron help women with PMS, but even smelling saffron was helpful! This is amazing! The oral dose of saffron that was used is 30 mg. He encourages you to buy it in the spice aisle rather than in the drugstore aisle. This way you can just add it to your food. Dr. Gregor laments that there are not more people like him who “troll” through the medical literature finding things to bring out to the world that are not in the major medical journals but which are solidly researched. Dr. Gregor tells me that he has had 5 million hits on his website to watch his videos. Dr. Gregor and and I then discuss Hormone Replacement Therapy for menopausal women and andropausal men. He is not a big fan of bioidentical hormones. I point out to him  an article which has recently looked at a 10 year study of hormone replacement on women that started hormones at menopause. The study showed that using hormones from the beginning of menopause did not increase the incidence of cancer at all,and indeed decreased heart disease by 50%. That concludes the second part of our interview in the next and final part of the interview will open with my questions to Dr. Gregor about exercise. Please send in your questions or leave comments on my site so that I know you’re out there listening! Also please RATE me on iTunes so we can spread the word on the importance of Integrative Medicine for our health. Also you can follow me on Twitter [http://www.twitter.com/drsoram] and on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/drsoram]. Now that I’ve gotten my Facebook fan page set up it is so much easier. The post 043-Ask Dr Soram Watch Me on Dr Oz This Friday December 21! And Part 2 of My Interview with Michael Gregor, M.D. [https://www.drsoram.com/043-ask-dr-soram-watch-me-on-dr-oz-this-friday-december-21-and-part-2-of-my-interview-with-michael-gregor-m-d/] first appeared on Dr. Soram's Integrative Medicine [https://www.drsoram.com].

[http://www.drsoram.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Khalsa-007-Edit.jpg]Welcome back everybody from Thanksgiving! I hope you had a wonderful time with your friends and family. For many of us Thanksgiving is our favorite holiday of the year. We should all be grateful for what we do have, in spite of what we may not have. Integrative medicine is increasingly coming into the news and we are all realizing the important role that our Lifestyle has in affecting our health. In this podcast I discuss several new articles which have come out. First I talk about the new information which is just come out on the importance of vitamin D for elderly women. Low vitamin D in these two articles have been associated with impaired cognitive function. This is directly connected with the new epidemic that we are seeing of Alzheimer’s disease. The article is HERE [http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121130222245.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29]. I then go on to talk about the new information on high fructose fueling the type II diabetes epidemic. This is research done at the University of Southern California and also the University of Oxford. These articles show that there are potential significant risks in consuming high levels of high fructose corn syrup. Unfortunately the United States has the highest consumption of this product. The average American consumes 55 pounds of high fructose corn syrup per year. The second highest is Hungary with 46 pounds per person per year. The author is quoted as saying “This research suggests that high fructose corn syrup can increase the risk of type II diabetes”. The researchers are calling for better labeling of both fructose and high fructose corn syrup content in foods and beverages in our country. You can read the article HERE [http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/253484.php] Before we start our interview I talk about the article that just come out showing that many couches in the United States contain toxic chemicals which are associated with lowered IQ, impaired motor development, impaired behavioral development, and low birth weight in children You can read about it HERE [http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/253460.php ] MY GUEST THIS WEEK In this podcast I’m delighted to have my colleague Michael Gregor, M.D. Dr Gregor is a founding member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. He is a physician, author, and internationally recognized speaker on nutrition, food safety and public health issues. Currently Dr. Gregor serves as the Director of Public of Health and Animal Agriculture at the Humane Society of the United States. Hundreds of his nutrition videos are freely available at NutritionFacts.org [http://nutritionfacts.org/ ] with a new video uploaded every day. I encourage all my readers to subscribe to his daily video by signing up at his website HERE [http://nutritionfacts.org/ ]. You will find his daily 2 minute videos of great value for improving your health. In this interview I ask Dr. Gregor how he founded nutritionfacts.org [http://nutritionfacts.org/ ], and it’s a very interesting story about how he gets all his articles and does the videos by himself. All of this information is on his website for free and it is amazingly updated on a daily basis. I use this podcast to ask some important questions that my listeners and I are probably very interested in. I start out by asking him what are his thoughts on the best diet to prevent cancer and heart disease. After you listen to his answer here I encourage you to watch his lecture on this subject on my site HERE [http://www.drsoram.com/diet/]. His lecture is called “Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death. We go on to discuss the whole myth about protein and a vegan diet. There is a lot of information on this in the interview. We then go on to talk about fish oil, DHA and EPA. Again we discussed this extensively and I will let you draw your own conclusions from the podcast. In the next part of my interview we will discuss the importance of calcium and the correct dosages to take. I also ask him on the next podcast about growth hormone shots which are so popular amongst people who can afford it. In the next podcast we also talk about hormones and specifically PMS and menopause. Join me in two weeks to listen to part two. Please send in your questions or leave comments on my site so that I know you’re out there listening! Also please RATE me on iTunes so we can spread the word on the importance of Integrative Medicine for our health. Also you can follow me onTwitter [https://twitter.com/drsoram] and onFacebook [https://www.facebook.com/drsoram]. Now that I’ve gotten my Facebook fan page set up it is so much easier to join me! The post 042-Ask Dr Soram- Interview with Dr. Michael Gregor [https://www.drsoram.com/041-ask-dr-soram-interview-with-dr-michael-gregor/] first appeared on Dr. Soram's Integrative Medicine [https://www.drsoram.com].