Most people have heard of the microbiome. If we break the word down - micro meaning small, and bios meaning life = small life. In other words, it is the entire bacterial community in your body. Any part of your body that touches the outside world has beneficial bacteria in it. Eyes, ears nose, mouth, throat, lungs, intestinal tract and skin. As most know, probiotics help inoculate the microbiome with good bacteria which plays many roles in the body, one of which is in the function of the immune...
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Author: Dr. Cynthia Bye, ND, FABNO
If you love your family, please wear your mask.
I know we are all tired of covid. Masking, handwashing, not eating out, delaying vacation and family gatherings. However, this Delta variant is super contagious. Vaccinated or not you need to wear a mask. You can still get covid even if vaccinated. It may be a mild case or worse an asymptomatic case.
It will most likely not kill you if you are vaccinated but it may kill the person you pass it on to. Especially those not vaccinated for whatever reason, like your grandchildren under 12.
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The Link Between an Untreated Infection and Brain Cancer
I recently came across 2 prospective studies suggesting a link between a common parasite and the development of a malignant brain tumor (gliomas). These studies examined the association between antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii and the risk of glioma development. The results of these studies suggest an increased risk of developing a glioma with this parasitic infection, especially in individuals who showed higher levels of antibodies in gliomas.
Toxoplasma gondii is one of the most common para...
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How Your “Quarantinis” May Lead to Health Problems Down the Road: The Link Between Alcohol and Cancer
Alcohol consumption has been rising since the mid-90s but since the onset of the pandemic, alcohol consumption has risen significantly more. This significant increase is likely due to boredom, easy access from being home more, stress, or some combination of these three factors. The National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), a part of NIH, defines a standard drink as 12 ounces of beer, 8-9 ounces of malt liquor, 5 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of liquor (aka a “shot"). The NIAA...
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Is Your Diet Improving Your Health? Or is it Increasing Your Risk of Breast Cancer?
New research from the European Perspective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study has determined a link between pro-inflammatory diets and the development of breast cancer. This study followed over 300,000 women for 14 years, of which about 13,000 developed breast cancer. Most studies prior to this have only looked at single nutrients or foods. Assessing the whole diet rather than just single nutrients or foods allowed the researchers in the study to make more accurate health conc...
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Do you love sugar… so do all Cancers
New research has found an association between early-onset colorectal cancer (EO-CRC) and consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs). EO-CRC is defined as being diagnosed with colorectal cancer before age 50. The Nurses’ Health Study 2, a prospective study followed roughly 95,000 female nurses between 1991-2015. The participants who consumed 2 or more SSBs per day in adulthood had a more than doubled risk of EO-CRC when compared with those who consumed less than 1 serving per week...
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Long term side effects of cancer care.
A recent article in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI) regarding the long-term side effects of cancer care caught my eye. The title of the article “Strategies to Prevent or Remediate Cancer and Treatment-Related Aging” the National Cancer Institute convened a think tank to “share evidence of promising strategies to prevent, slow, or reverse the aging consequences of cancer and its treatment.” It basically is good old fashion naturopathy. Everything they talked about in this ar...
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How Trauma Impacts Health
As practitioners of naturopathic oncology, we know that the vast majority of cancer diagnoses occur within 5 years of a major trauma. These include the death of a loved one, divorce, loss of a job, to name a few. However, even early childhood trauma can have negative health outcomes many years after the fact. ACEs, or “Adverse Childhood Experiences” are recognized by the CDC as contributing to conditions like heart disease, diabetes, depression, and cancer. When I did my residency at Cancer Tre...
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What is a Naturopathic Oncologist?
Naturopathic physicians (NDs) go to medical school like their MD colleagues. The first two years of school follow the same track, with classes in basic science. Biochemistry, anatomy (including cadaver lab…ughh), physiology, and so on. You can’t change basic science no matter what medical philosophy you study. The last two years are where we diverge. Yes, we learn Pharmacology and all the other ologies, and we can prescribe drugs in licensed states. However, in their last 2 years, MD students...
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Risks and Benefits of Medication
As naturopathic doctors, prevention of disease is a top focus. Our goal is to teach our patients how to take care of themselves so that they do not end up needing to take medication regularly. One of the things we love best is when we are able to help people improve their health enough to reduce or even discontinue medications! The point must be made that there is a time and a place for meds: someone who has malignant hypertension, advanced diabetics, people with stomach ulcers to name a few. H...
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