Some of you will simultaneously reach for a hot dog and for your heartburn medication this summer. You may be shocked to know that both can increase your risk of a heart attack.

A study published in June in the journal PLOS ONE showed that the powerful acid-blocking medications called proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) were associated with a two-fold higher risk of cardiovascular death. Earlier studies revealed an increased risk of death for people taking the blood thinner Plavix with a PPI, but this new study showed the higher death rate for all. There’s also evidence that PPIs increase the risk of community acquired pneumonia, anemia, and osteoporosis. With 21 million people in the US currently using PPIs, the public health implications are staggering.

Acid-blockers can cause the very probl...

Diet fads come and go. Currently, there are many popular diets and a great deal of diet confusion! Gluten-free, sugar-free, vegan, organic, whole, raw, grass-fed, probiotic, non-GMO, no-carb, low-carb, slow-carb, Atkins, Paleo, Mediterranean.

With so many diets and options for selecting food, the best choices for our health are unclear and only seem to get more complicated. Why are so many people now avoiding dairy and wheat – foods once considered mainstays of the American diet?  Why are food allergies on the rise? Are fecal transplants really the future?  What do I need to know about the microbiome?

In this forty minute talk I will provide the current science to demystify the latest diet trends and offer strategies for selecting food for pleasure, vitality, and health.