podcast

Dr. M’s Women and Children First Podcast #11 – Dr. EA Quinn, Breastfeeding Through History

Dr. EA Quinn and I had a wide ranging discussion on breastmilk from an evolutionary perspective for podcast episode #11.
Dr. Quinn is a biological anthropologist with a specialty in human biology. Her research is broadly focused on understanding the ways in which human milk is an essential part of human biological variation and how such variation has been selected for by different ecological pressures.
Her primary research project at present is Infancy @Altitude, a longitudinal birth cohort study of ethnic Tibetan mothers and infants living in the Nubri Valley, Nepal. She is investigating the ways in which ecological pressures – in this case the ecological pressures of hypoxia, chronic cold stress, shorter growing seasons, UV radiation, and infectious diseases – create selective pressures on human milk and how this translates into adaptive patterns of child growth.
One of the major findings of this research was elevated milk fat in the high altitude sample compared to other previously studied human populations and lower levels of metabolic hormones than predicted based on maternal body composition.
Breastmilk is a magical human derived food and medicine all wrapped up into one. The magnificence of human milk is on full display during this hour long podcast.
I hope that you enjoy my conversation with Dr. EA Quinn,
Dr. M

Dr. M’s Women and Children First Podcast #10 – Dr. Danny Benjamin, Covid, Schools and Vaccines

Dr. Danny Benjamin joins me again to discuss COVID19 delta variant in children, vaccines and the critical research that his team performed regarding back to school in North Carolina. He is the Kiser Arena Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics at Duke University and the Principle Investigator of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Pediatric Trials Network. His group performed two large trials of children going back to school in 2020 effectively proving that children being in school face to face was and is safe. We discuss the safety of the mRNA vaccines in the 5 to 12 year old age group.

 

Enjoy my conversation with Dr. Danny Benjamin,

Dr. M

Dr. M’s Women and Children First Podcast #9 – Dr. Tracy Shafizadeh, Evivo Probiotic for Babies

Dr. Tracy Shafizadeh is a nutritional scientist, speaker, and author with over 15 years of experience in scientific communications and life science research. Prior to serving as the Director of Scientific Communications at Evolve BioSystems, she led both product development and research services at various start-up life science companies, including Lipomics Technologies, Tethys Bioscience and Metabolon, Inc. Dr. Shafizadeh received her PhD in nutritional biology from UC Davis, studying intestinal development and folate metabolism in newborns.

Today, we spend the hour discussing the maternal and infant microbiome with respect to maternal breastmilk, human milk sugars and childhood outcome. Evolve Biosystems has produced a probiotic with excellent science to help guide us in new therapeutic discovery. We head to the beginnings of disease onset when the infant is only starting to take his or her first breaths.

I hope that you enjoy my conversation with Dr. Tracy Shafizadeh,

Dr. M

 

Dr. M’s Women and Children First Podcast #8 – Dr. Kjersti Aagaard, A Womb With a View

Dr. Kjersti Aaagard, is an expert in maternal-fetal medicine holding the distinction as the Henry and Emma Meyer Professor and Chair in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital. She serves as vice chair of research for obstetrics and gynecology and is a professor in the Departments of Molecular and Human Genetics, Molecular and Cellular Biology, and Molecular Physiology and Biophysics. She is an expert in the study of the maternal microbiome and metagenomics Research.

She is a tour de force of knowledge in the evolutionary understanding of the maternal-fetal communications throughout pregnancy and post delivery. We share a fascinating hour discussing the maternal microbiome, breastmilk, diet and much more as they relate to mom and her babe.

I hope that you enjoy this stimulating conversation with Dr. Aagaard,

Dr. M

Dr. M’s Women and Children First Podcast #7 – Dr. William Parker, The “Macrobiome” and Human Health

Dr. William Parker, Associate Professor of Surgery and Global Health at Duke University, will discuss the biome depletion theory and how our cleanliness is disrupting normal immune function. These processes can have profound downstream effects on maternal and child health. From the Duke Medical School: What is widely known as the “hygiene hypothesis” is more appropriately described as the biota alteration or biome depletion theory: Changes in symbiont composition in the ecosystem of the human body in Western culture has led to immune dysfunction and subsequent disease. We are working on several aspects of this theory. Our earlier studies probe the immunological differences between laboratory-raised and wild-raised animals as a means of assessing differences between humans with and without Western culture, respectively. Other studies probe the role of biome enrichment, in particular the addition of helminths, in the treatment of disease. Studies are ongoing in both humans and in animals, with particular attention to the role of biome depletion in cognitive dysfunction.

We discuss the future of human health with a specific focus on our macrobiome friends, parasites, with whom we have co evolved. They are now missing and we are not better off because of it.

 

Please enjoy my conversation with Dr. William Parker,

Dr. M

Dr. M’s Women and Children First Podcast #6 – Dr. David Rakel, Stress and Optimal Woman’s Health

Podcast #6
Dr. David Rakel, MD is a nationally recognized leader in integrative medicine. He is the Chair of the department of Family Medicine and Community health at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. He is an expert in mind body stress and human health.
Dr. Rakel obtained his undergraduate degree from Colorado College and graduated from Baylor College of Medicine in 1991. During his time at the University of Wisconsin–Madison he founded the Integrative Medicine Program (now known as the Integrative Health Program) and received the Gold Foundation’s Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award, the school’s highest honor for excellence and compassion in care. His team worked with more than 50 clinical systems within the Veterans Health Administration to implement changes to make care more personalized, proactive, and patient driven.
An author of both academic and popular writings, David Rakel says one of his missions is to communicate medical information in a way that is accessible to people of all backgrounds. He has published 11 books, including the Textbook of Family Medicine, Current Therapy, and Integrative Medicine, as well as peer-reviewed research on the impact of measures such as mindfulness meditation and the power of the therapeutic encounter. He serves as editor-in-chief of Practice Update, a website devoted to commentaries on primary medical care research. His 2018 book The Compassionate Connection focuses on how relationship-building can influence health outcomes.
Today we will take a deep look at maternal and child health as it relates to stress.
I hope that you enjoy my conversation with Dr. Rakel,
Dr. M

Dr. M’s Women and Children First Podcast – Putting It All Together #1

This week on the show, I sit down to put the first three maternal/child health podcasts into perspective. We take a more nuanced view of how these three experts are tied together. We examine the basic underpinnings of maternal health risks through the eyes of these thought leaders in preparation for the next three experts who will take us on a tour of human health from a microbiome and environmental perspective. This show is also a way for the folks that are on the go to get a summary of the podcasts for their benefit.

 

Be well,

Dr. M