Healthcare policy

Dr. M’s SPA Newsletter Audiocast Volume 13 Issue 24

Breastfeeding Versus Formula
Science versus Opinion
I read with somewhat of a frustrated feeling a recent article in Scientific American entitled: It’s Okay Not to Breastfeed by Kavin Senapathy. In principle, the reality of this statement is reasonable. Then you read the article as to what makes this reasonable. She states: “Exclusive breastfeeding is not imperative, and the “breast is best” mantra can be harmful to babies and parents, especially among marginalized people.”(K. Senapathy 2023) Again, at first blush this may seem reasonable. Let’s dig into the science and the truth of breast versus cow milk based formula for optimal health for a child. Does formula in all of its forms work for infant nutrition in order to grow and survive in a reasonable way? The answer is a resounding yes, however, this does not tell the whole story, far from it…..
Enjoy,
Dr. M

Dr. M’s Women and Children First Podcast – The Growing Brain and Autism

The Growing Brain and the Upstream Etiologies of Neurodevelopmental disorders – AUTISM
This weeks guest is me! I re-recorded a lecture that I gave in Florida this month at the Annual International Conference for the Institute for Functional Medicine. My goal in this lecture is to look at the upstream reasons that we are seeing more Autism and neurological diversity in children year upon year. It is a wide ranging look at the current state of the science and my thoughts on a unifying theory. As with Dr. Stone’s interview last week with Grow Baby, this is a follow up discussion that is a critical primer for “mother’s to be” regarding disease avoidance measures that can be taken for the best health of the maternal child dyad.
Enjoy,
Dr. M

Dr. M’s SPA Newsletter Audiocast Volume 13 Issue 6

This week week look at a piece by David Katz: “I imagine -and in select cases know- that many of my colleagues were encouraged and gratified to hear that the NIH is allocating a sizable sum to the pursuit of precision nutrition. Some number of my colleagues will be directly involved in those research efforts, and others are simply pleased to see nutrition getting some small measure of the attention we agree it warrants. I can appreciate these reactions, but in my case, the response felt more like a wave of nausea accompanied by echoes of “here we go again, again…..”

We also look at some recent studies in the aging space. Two studies by Dr. Sinclair and Dr. Macip looking at age reversal ability. From the David Sinclair Lab at Harvard we see first of its kind data regarding the ability to identify epigenetic marks in mice as the etiology or biomarker of aging. This is nothing short of an amazing discovery. Listen to Podcast #2 with the father of epigenetics Dr. Randy Jirtle to gain a foothold in this world and then listen on.

Enjoy,

Dr. M

Dr. M’s SPA Newsletter Audiocast Volume 12 Issue 7, Covid Updates 54

Coronavirus Update #54 – This audiocast is a deeper dive into policy and opinion based on the same for Omicron.

In my opinion, our children’s mental and physical health need to take primacy over pandemic fear at this time. They are in a very very very low risk scenario from COVID, however, they remain in a high risk scenario from a mental and metabolic health perspective. The scales do not favor current school based mitigation measures based on risk and health from Omicron and the downstream events relate to it. If you are a young person, boosting is questionable, especially if you are a male with myocarditis risk. The WHO and European Union are not recommending it at this time. The CDC is recommending down to age 12. Let us say that you are 18 years old and male. If a young adult receives a third dose of an mRNA vaccine which provides marginal to no transmission benefit for 90 to 110 days and minimal disease severity reduction because it is already almost zero after a 2 dose series, what is the point. Are our youth supposed to protect the unvaccinated? The vaccinated and boosted with risk factors? For how long? Then what? Do it again, and again every three months as immunity wanes rapidly? Has this ever been done before or well studied? Nope.
Be well,
Dr. M

Dr. M’s Women and Children First Podcast #4 – Ken Cook, the Environmental Working Group and Your Health

Ken Cook, President and co-founder of the Environmental Working Group, is widely recognized as one of the environmental community’s most prominent and influential critics of industrial agriculture, U.S. food and farm policy and the nation’s broken approach to protecting families and children from toxic substances. Under Cook’s guidance, the organization empowered American families with easy-to-use, data-driven tools to help reduce their exposure to potentially harmful ingredients in foods, drinking water, cosmetics and other household products. These unique digital resources are searched hundreds of millions of times by consumers. 
We discuss the state of the nation with regards to environmental triggers of disease which can cause problems in mothers and children. It is a conversation that every parent needs to hear as it is loaded with news to use for a healthier life.
Please enjoy my conversation with Ken Cook,
Dr. M
Here are two links to the podcast:
Apple Podcasts
Women and Children First
SPA Podcast Page – will be loaded this week