An Orthomolecular Approach to Allergic and Atopic Disease
Kara Fitzgerald, ND
Allergic disease was virtually unheard of in the early 19th century. Yet only 54 years after the first description of hay fever in England, it was considered an epidemic. Anaphylaxis wasn’t characterized until 20th century, but today, it’s a featured warning on virtually all prepackaged foods. The rapid rise of this major immune system imbalance—which is unavoidable in clinical practice– is astonishing. Understanding the environmental, epigenetic and genetic factors which create the perfect storm for the development of allergic disease provides clues as to how to unravel its hold. In this case-based lecture, we’ll review the main influences on allergic and atopic disease, and orthomolecular approaches to treatment.
Darwin, Diet, Disease and Dollars
Robert Lustig, MD
The Western diet has become a primary focus in delineating the etiology of the metabolic syndrome. This lecture will explain the two phenomena most closely associated with the metabolic syndrome; that is, leptin resistance, which leads to obesity; and insulin resistance, which leads to chronic metabolic disease (diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular disease; and likely cancer and dementia as well). In each case, we will explore the specific relation between dietary fructose and the pathogeneses of these two phenomena, in order to explain how these two processes, which in the past were adaptive, have become in our current dietary environment maladaptive. These maladaptations belie our current global pandemic of chronic disease, which threatens the healthcare budget of every country. We will also investigate how the food industry plays upon these evolutionary mechanisms for their own purposes.
Controversial Issues in Bioidentical Hormone Therapy
Efrain Olszewer, MD
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