Healthy Talk

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, there are two types of depression: major depression and persistent depressive disorder. Major depression consists of severe symptoms such as persistent sadness, an inability to eat, sleep, or enjoy life, and thoughts of suicide.Persistent depressive disorder is characterized by a depressed mood that lasts for at least two years.There are several types of treatments that involve medications, psychotherapy and self-care. However, recent research published in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity has suggested that probiotics may help alleviate depression.True probiotics are a form of good bacteria found in supplements and foods. Most known for aiding in digestive health (constipation, upset stomach, diarrhea, cramping), probiotics also support immune function and help your body better absorb nutrients.How can probiotics alleviate depression?Listen in as Dr. Mike shares the recent research that shows how probiotics can relieve your depression symptoms.

Here you'll find the answers to a wealth of health and wellness questions posed by Healthy Talk fans.Listen in because what you know helps ensure healthy choices you can live with. Today on Healthy Talk, you wanted to know:It appears that the average stomach pH while empty is one to three (very acidic). Stomach pH with food is between a four and five. I often take probiotics on an empty stomach. This seems like the opposite of what you should do. If you want to put the probiotic in the least acidic stomach environment, you would think you would want to take them with food. Also, what do you think about taking probiotics with water as a higher pH?One of the problems is as the live bacteria travels from your stomach to your small intestine, and ultimately in your colon, most of the probiotics won't survive. When you're taking a probiotic pill, you want to get as many as those bacteria in your colon alive. There's a huge debate on how to do that, and on whether you should take the probiotic with food or not.It m

Here you'll find the answers to a wealth of health and wellness questions posed by Healthy Talk fans.Listen in because what you know helps ensure healthy choices you can live with. Today on Healthy Talk, you wanted to know:Dr. Sinatra has been suggesting nattokinase for some time to help reduce the amount of fibrin in the bloodstream to prevent clotting, thereby reducing the chance of a heart attack. Ralph Holsworth talks about other things to use, like serrapeptase for heart attack prevention. Do you have an opinion on nattokinase or serrapeptase?Dr. Mike things that there should be more research on both of these types of therapies. Inflammation is part of most diseases, and Dr. Mike believes it's crucial to get inflammation under control to help prevent disease. Inflammation occurs when there are too many proteins within your blood. Blood clotting also happens because of the excessive amount of proteins that are in your blood. Fibrinogen is what doctors target to help reduce blood clotting with enzymes like

Mipsagargin is a recent generic drug that was created by GenSpera, Inc., a leader in developing therapies for cancer treatments. This is a new drug that contains a natural product (a poisonous weed) that kills the growth of tumors. Currently, Mipsagargin is in phase two clinical trials for hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer) and glioblastoma (brain cancer). Will this drug be expanding to other cancer treatments?Dr. Craig Dionne shares what Mipsagargin is and how patients can receive this drug for treatment.

If you or someone you know has been diagnosed with cancer, it can make you feel like your whole world has turned upside down.Besides the emotional roller coaster, you also have to figure out what your next step is in terms of treatment.Typically, if you've been diagnosed with cancer, surgery, radiation and chemotherapy are the most utilized treatments. Unfortunately, with all of these treatments, there are many physical and emotional side effects.Are there any other potential cancer cures that have limited access?Listen in as Dr. Craig Dionne joins Dr. Mike to discuss potential cancer treatments that have limited access.

Chamomile tea has been used in traditional medicine for many years. If you've ever wanted something natural to drink before bed to help soothe your body, your doctor might have recommended drinking this tea.A recent study from the University of Texas and published in The Gerontologist showed that chamomile might help extend your life. Researchers studied the effects of chamomile in the Mexican-American female population.They found that 14 percent of the women in the study who drank chamomile tea were 29 percent less likely to die over the seven-year period compared to those women who did not drink chamomile tea.Listen in as Dr. Mike shares why chamomile tea is beneficial to your health and how it can help you live longer.

Here you'll find the answers to a wealth of health and wellness questions posed by Healthy Talk fans.Listen in because what you know helps ensure healthy choices you can live with. Today on Healthy Talk, you wanted to know:Can you review the foods that I can and cannot eat with gout?Gout is a type of arthritis that occurs when uric acid builds up in your blood, which causes inflammation.There are some foods you should probably avoid if you're prone to acute gout, including meat, dairy, fructose, and beer.You might want to consider drinking more water and eating more nutritious foods, plant based protein, and fruit.There are some supplements that can help acute gout, including drinking a combination of water, tart cherry extract, and vitamin C.If you have a health question or concern, Dr. Mike encourages you to write him at askdrmikesmith@radiomd.com or call in, toll-free, to the LIVE radio show (1.844.305.7800) so he can provide you with support and helpful advice.

Here you'll find the answers to a wealth of health and wellness questions posed by Healthy Talk fans.Listen in because what you know helps ensure healthy choices you can live with. Today on Healthy Talk, you wanted to know:Are nutritional deficiencies to blame for being overweight? When you lack proper nutrition, your body may be showing you signs that you have a nutritional deficiency. These signs can be a number of things like brittle nails, bleeding gums, painful joints, hair loss, acne, dry skin, and many others. What about weight gain? A study from a children's hospital in Oakland, California conducted three eight-week trials involving the twice daily intake of nutrient bars for two months for 43 lean and overweight/obese adolescents. What researchers found was in the overweight/obese participants, there was a reduction in weight, weight circumference, diastolic blood pressure, heart rate, triglycerides, insulin resistance, C-Reactive Protein, and inflammation. Nutrition is extremely important; in fact,

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), heart disease is the number-one killer of U.S. men and women, accounting for 40 percent of all U.S. deaths. That's more than all forms of cancer combined.What antioxidants are the most important for preventing heart disease?Listen in as Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum joins Dr. Mike to share how you can prevent heart disease with antioxidants.

Did you know that increased consumption of sugar can trigger insulin resistance and diabetes, as well as magnesium deficiency, all of which have an impact on heart health?Research supports this, with a study in JAMA Internal Medicine (2014) revealing that American adults consume, on average, about 15 percent of their calories from sugar added to their food, with 37 percent of the added sugar coming from sugar-sweetened beverages.Researchers project that consuming just one 12-ounce sugary soda a day could increase the risk of cardiovascular disease by a whopping 30 percent.What are some tips to beat sugar addiction?Jacob Teitelbaum, MD, shares his top tips to help you overcome your sugar addiction.

You may already know the powerful health benefits that are packed in honey, but another superfood that bees produce is called royal jelly.Royal jelly is a white secretion that is made by worker honeybees and is used to help feed the queen bee. Since it is a main source of nutrition for the queen, experts believe it can offer many health benefits to humans.What are the health benefits of royal jelly?Royal jelly is believed to help enhance your immune system, regulate your blood sugar and cholesterol levels, increase fat metabolism, and promote wound healing. It may even contain anticancer properties.What are some of the other benefits of royal jelly?Listen in as Dr. Mike shares the health benefits of royal jelly and why you should consider using it.

Here you'll find the answers to a wealth of health and wellness questions posed by Healthy Talk fans.Listen in because what you know helps ensure healthy choices you can live with. Today on Healthy Talk, you wanted to know:If I ride my bike, will that make my enlarged prostate worse?This has been debated back and forth for many years. Some doctors will tell you that it doesn't damage your prostate, while other doctors will tell you it does. Dr. Mike thinks that if your prostate is normal size, there's no issue with riding a bike.However, if you have prostatitis, or an enlarged prostate, you might exacerbate and cause more symptoms.A study on Health Day's website looked into bike riding and men's health. Researchers found that cyclists who ride more may face a higher risk for prostate cancer, but not a greater chance of infertility or erectile dysfunction.Is Hawaiian spirulina the best source, and is it better than chlorella?Yes, Hawaiian spirulina does seem to be the best sourced. Spirulina is a blue-green al

Here you'll find the answers to a wealth of health and wellness questions posed by Healthy Talk fans.Listen in because what you know helps ensure healthy choices you can live with. Today on Healthy Talk, you wanted to know:I sometimes feel like a mad scientist in my own personal experiments as I mix several supplements into a drink and toss it back. Currently, before I go out for my hikes I mix L-carnitine, d-ribose, MSM, and natural calm into a drink and it actually tastes okay. I feel like I can actually hike and climb longer with lower heart rates when I take this. The question is this: are there supplements that should never be mixed together?There are two ways to think about this, and one of them is pharmacokinetic. This is how something is digested, distributed, absorbed, and eliminated from your body. So, if you're mixing things together, does this change the kinetics of that compound? On the other hand, there's an pharmacodynamics perspective... is it going to increase or lower the response of the sup

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) is one of the largest studies to connect childhood maltreatment and your health later in life.Over 17,000 Kaiser patients who volunteered to be in the ACE study and participate in regular health screenings.According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the ACE study suggests that certain experiences are risk factors for leading causes of illnesses, poor quality of life, and death.How else can ACE affect your life as an adult?Donna Jackson Nakazawa discusses what ACE is and how it might cause serious health issues later in your life.

Even though research has suggested that some amount of stress might be beneficial to your health, emotional stress is different. Emotional stress involves your sympathetic nervous system, the part of your brain that kicks in during a fight-or-flight situation.Could there be a connection between a psychologically stressful event and physical disease?Public speaker, Donna Jackson Nakazawa, discusses whether or not emotional trauma and stress can cause disease.

Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) occurs in millions of women in the weeks that lead up to their monthly cycle.Even though the symptoms you experience are usually predictable every month (mood swings, bloating, tender breasts, irritability, food cravings, depression), it can still be unpleasant to deal with.If you've ever experienced PMS, you and those around you know the roller coaster it can put you through.What if there was a way to combat your PMS symptoms?Listen in as Dr. Mike shares the dietary and lifestyle changes you might want to consider to ease your PMS symptoms.

Here you'll find the answers to a wealth of health and wellness questions posed by Healthy Talk fans.Listen in because what you know helps ensure healthy choices you can live with. Today on Healthy Talk, you wanted to know:Grains or no grains? I'm confused. What do you do?Dr. Mike agrees that it can be confusing when it comes to deciding on whether or not to eat grains, and there might be conflicting answers. For example, people who follow a paleo diet don't believe in eating any type of grain, since society's ancestors never did. Then, you have other dieters who believe that the ancient grains are okay to eat.One of the issues with grains is that they are carbohydrates that break down into simple sugars. This results in an insulin release, which in turn causes you to store food.Dr. Mike believes that grains are fine in moderation, but that you should try to avoid overdoing it.Fox News Health listed ways to prevent summer weight gain. What do you think about what they had to say?The first thing Fox News had o

Here you'll find the answers to a wealth of health and wellness questions posed by Healthy Talk fans.Listen in because what you know helps ensure healthy choices you can live with. Today on Healthy Talk, you wanted to know:I have a history of depression and my family is moving to Montana. I've read that depression happens more in higher elevations (we're currently living in Houston). If this is the case, what can I do?There was a study published in March 2015 in High Altitude Medicine and Biology that said there is an increase of depression at higher elevations. In the study, rats were exposed to high altitude conditions (both simulated and real), and they increased depression-like behavior.Dr. Mike suggests doing a few things to help prevent depression like symptoms, such as taking tryptophan, lysine, and saffron supplements.If you have a health question or concern, Dr. Mike encourages you to write him at askdrmikesmith@radiomd.com or call in, toll-free, to the LIVE radio show (1.844.305.7800) so he can prov

When browsing food at your grocery store, you might have noticed the major difference in price between organic and non-organic food.This can cause you to avoid organic foods, or only buy them selectively. Fortunately, you don't have to buy all organic, all the time.According to a new study, eating organically (even occasionally) has some major health benefits.The results of this study were published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.Listen in as Dr. Mike shares more about this study and the benefits of eating organic food.

When you're feeling ill or are in need of a check-up, the typical protocol is to schedule an appointment with your doctor. More than likely, it won't be right away.What if there was a way to have access to your doctor on demand?Dr. Pat Basu joins Dr. Mike to discuss telemedicine and how the future of your doctor visits might be changing.