Focus On Nutrition And Nutrition Science

Host: Kathy King, RDN Guest: Elizabeth Strickland Can dietary choices play important health roles for patients with autism spectrum disorders? Addressing this question with host Kathy King is pediatric dietitian Elizabeth Strickland, author of Eating for Autism: The 10-Step Nutrition Plan to Help Treat Your Child's Autism, Asberger's, or ADHD. Ms. Strickland is the founder of ASD Nutrition Seminars & Consulting, a clinical nutrition consulting firm that serves families, professionals, educational systems, and private and government programs. Her work expands nationwide to include providing individualized nutrition therapy to children with autism and related disorders.

Host: Jennifer Caudle, DO Guest: Tasneem "Taz" Bhatia, MD Dr. Jennifer Caudle welcomes Dr. Taz Bhatia, associate professor in Integrative Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine and and Founder and Medical Director of the Atlanta Center for Holistic and Integrative Medicine. Dr. Bhatia is author of The 21-Day Belly Fix: The Doctor-Designed Diet Plan for A Clean Gut and a Slimmer Waist. She describes her personal journey toward dual-expertise in allopathic and integrative medicine, and the research foundations behind her popular book.

Host: Matt Birnholz, MD Guest: Edward R. Sauter, MD, PhD, MHA In the clinical arena, discussions on breast cancer prevention and treatment often center on what is considered most "cutting edge," from genetic mechanisms of disease to new combination pharmacotherapies to breast-conserving surgical innovations. But another field of study, targeting the potential roles of nutrition in breast cancer risk, remains commonly neglected by the medical community. What parts do nutritional choices and habits play in breast cancer development, and how can clinicians make better risk assessments given this information? Dr. Edward Sauter, Professor of Surgery and Director of the Cancer Treatment and Prevention Center at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center, joins Dr. Matt Birnholz to discuss emerging connections between nutrition and breast cancer.

Host: Brian P. McDonough, MD, FAAFP Dr. Brian McDonough welcomes Donovan Green, personal trainer and author of No Excuses Fitness, to Primary Care Today. Mr. Green talks about practical, brass tacks strategies for getting in shape, starting with the basic primer to just get people moving regardless of fitness level.

Host: Brian P. McDonough, MD, FAAFP Marla Heller, MS, RD is the author of the best-selling books, The DASH Diet Action Plan, The DASH Diet Weight Loss Solution, The Everyday DASH Diet Cookbook, and more recently The DASH Diet: Younger You. In her discussion with host Dr. Brian McDonough, she proposes a nutritional guidance plan intended to halt and even reverse many of the effects of aging by improving blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, and helping readers reach a healthy weight.

Guest: Allegra Broft, MD Host: Mary Leuchars, MD As eating disorders are generally on the rise in the United States, what are the personal and economic costs of anorexia and bulimia? Dr. Allegra Broft, assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University and research psychiatrist at the Eating Disorders Research Unit of the New York State Psychiatric Institute, is alarmed that eating disorders are not only have a high cost financially, but cost lives as well, likely accounting for the highest mortality among psychiatric disorders. How expensive and effective are residential programs for treatment of eating disorders? What other programs might help patients and families meet the challenges of eating disorder treatments? Hosted by Dr. Mary Leuchars.

Guest: Timothy Harlan, MD Host: Mary Leuchars, MD How can clinicians communicate with patients more effectively about nutrition and diet? Dr. Timothy Harlan, medical director of outpatient clinics, associate chief of general internal medicine, and assistant clinical professor of medicine at Tulane University School of Medicine, stresses the need to tailor nutritional guidance to each patient, and the importance of cooking for promoting good health and nutrition. Hosted by Dr. Mary Leuchars.

Host: Lisa Dandrea Lenell, PA-C, MPAS, MBA Guest: Gary Taubes The conventional wisdom, often repeated, is that burning more calories than we ingest prevents us from getting fat. Gary Taubes, health policy investigator for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation at the University of California at Berkeley and author of the books Why We Get Fat and Good Calories, Bad Calories, discusses why his evaluation of the research leads him to the conclusion that the traditional advice is fundamentally wrong. He joins host Lisa Dandrea Lenell to talk about the research on carbohydrates, not calories, as the culprit in weight gain and the advice he believes will help patients successfully lose weight, and the core perspective change he believes will keep the weight off.

Guest: Kathleen Marinelli, MD Host: Bruce Japsen With breast-feeding a hot topic across the nation and more women being encouraged to do so, there is a rise in the development of milk banks. Dr. Kathleen Marinelli, director of lactation support services at Connecticut Children's Medical Center and medical director of Mother's Milk Bank of New England, tells host Bruce Japsen about the trend toward milk banks, how they are regulated and the safety and efficacy of using another woman's breast milk. 

Guest: George Blackburn, MD, PhD Host: Maurice Pickard, MD Food nutrition labels are becoming ubiquitous— in restaurants, on the front of packaged food, and soon, on meat products. But is all of this nutrition information actually impacting consumer behavior and encouraging healthier food choices? Hosted by Dr. Maurice Pickard's guest is Dr. George Blackburn, associate professor of surgery and nutrition, associate director of the division of nutrition, and the S. Daniel Abraham chair in nutrition medicine at Harvard Medical School, says nutrition labeling is beneficial, but all of the information can be overwhelming. How can we help consumers and patients, find clarity in the food aisles, and steer away from marketing "nutrition keys" featured on the front of many packaged foods? How could nutrition fact labels be re-designed to improve consumer understanding?

Guest: Christine Kessler Host: Mimi Secor, DNP, FNP-BC, FAANP America has a weight problem. Billions of dollars are spent every year in the pursuit of weight loss, often without success. And it is one of the most frequently addressed health concerns addressed by patients and their health care providers. What tips can you provide your patients to help them lose weight and keep it off? Nurse Practitioner Christine Kessler, a certified practitioner in advanced diabetes management at a large teaching medical center, joins host Mimi Secor to discuss the changes in our food and eating habits that have contributed to an obesity epidemic.

Host: Mary Leuchars, MD Guest: Timothy Harlan, MD Red meat, soda, portion sizes and food quality are all buzz words in nutrition news. But it can be challenging to decipher the components of a "healthy diet," based on voluminous, and often contradictory, nutritional studies. What are the latest evidence-based trends in nutrition research, and how can we best communicate this nutritional knowledge to our patients? Dr. Timothy Harlan, medical director of outpatient clinics, associate chief of general internal medicine, and assistant clinical professor of medicine at Tulane University School of Medicine, surveys a number of "hot topics" in nutrition and puts the latest research into context. Hosted by Dr. Mary Leuchars.

Host: Lisa Dandrea Lenell, PA-C, MPAS, MBA Guest: Amy Hendel, R-PA We know that high rates of obesity in children is a serious problem in the United States. What is a whole-family approach? And how do adult nutrition strategies differ from what works for children? How can parents and kids work together to make the entire family eat healthier and exercise? PA Amy Hendel, medical and lifestyle reporter and author of the book The 4 Habits of Healthy Families, joins host Lisa Dandrea Lenell to discuss her approach to getting families focused on making healthy lifestyle decisions when it comes to nutrtition and exercise. They also talk about how practitioners can encourage their patients to make positive changes in these areas.

Guest: Diana Zuckerman, PhD Host: Maurice Pickard, MD The lap-band device dramatically reduces the size of a patient's stomach, and as such, it can be effective for weight loss in very obese patients. It offers at least one major advantage over gastric bypass surgery, in that the lap-band can be removed. But can the lap-band procedure also be safe and effective for patients who are even slightly obese, or do the potential risks outweigh the benefits for these patients? Dr. Diana Zuckerman, president of the National Research Center for Women & Families and its cancer prevention and treatment fund in Washington, D.C., discusses the criteria for patients to receive lap-banding. What concerns surround the issue of lowering the body-mass index (or BMI) threshold for patients eligible for this procedure? What are the long-term risks of lap-bands? Dr. Maurice Pickard hosts.

Guest: Hank Cardello Host: Bruce Japsen With the US amid an obesity epidemic, the White House has made healthy eating a national priority. But will market forces eventually undermine and sabotage this high-profile effort to curtail obesity? Hank Cardello, a fellow of the Washington DC think tank the Hudson Institute, and director of its Obesity Solutions Institute and author of the book Stuffed: An Insider's Look at Who's (Really) Making America Fat, talks with host Bruce Japsen about how to persuade companies that product offerings which help reduce, instead of increase, the country's waistline can also improve the corporate bottom line.

Guest: James Laidler, MD Host: Bruce Japsen The move to re-cast high fructose corn syrup as "corn sugar" come out of the demonization of high fructose corn syrup by some in the medical community. But is high fructose corn syrup's reputation scientifically justified, and what does it mean for physicians and their patients? Dr. Jim Laidler, an MD and researcher in the area of molecular biology, talks with host Bruce Japsen about the much-maligned high fructose corn syrup and whether it is worse for health than other sugars and common substitutes.

Guest: Barry Popkin, PhD Host: Cathleen Margolin, PhD Certain foods and beverages seem to go in and out of style as new research emerges to support or refute their health benefits. Yet when it comes to eating red meat, despite the long-standing advice from nutrition experts, our taste buds never seem to tire of the all-American burger or the juicy tenderloin steak. New research provides us with what is billed as definitive evidence that our penchant for red meat shortens our lifespan. Dr. Barry Popkin, the Carla Smith Chambliss Distinguished Professor of Global Nutrition and director of the Interdisciplinary Obesity Center at the University of North Carolina, joins host Dr. Cathleen Margolin to discuss how we can use this research, in addition to previous evidence on the subject, to encourage our patients to work toward healthier food habits.

Guest: Kimber Stanhope, PhD, MS Host: Larry Kaskel, MD Which is worse: fructose-sweetened drinks or glucose-sweetened drinks? For some time, we have lacked consensus on the degree of punishment our bodies take from drinks sugared by these common saccharines. For now, fructose may again be wearing the crown, scoring unhealthy points in abdominal adiposity, and triglyceride and LDL levels, among other categories. Nutritional biologist Dr. Kimber Stanhope, from the University of California, Davis, joins host Dr. Larry Kaskel to shed some new light on this enduring debate. The lead author of a recent study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation on the consumption of fructose-sweetened and glucose-sweetened beverages, Dr. Stanhope also explains that there is little value in directly applying these results to fruits, because fruits confer other important health benefits.

Guest: Wesley Burks, MD Host: Lee Freedman, MD Peanut allergy is an increasing public health concern in the United States. Children with peanut allergy may remain allergic for life, unlike children with more often outgrown allergies to milk or egg. Dr. Wesley Burks, professor and chief of the division of pediatric allergy and immunology at Duke University Medical Center, describes recent success with peanut immunotherapy in a few groups of children. Do these studies provide hope for all patients with peanut allergy, including adults? Dr. Lee Freedman hosts.

Host: Amy Hendel, R-PA Guest: Ruth Frechman, MA, RD Does the word dash mean 'diet' to you, or a quick run? Does "Mediterranean" describe your last vacation destination, or a heart-healthy diet? Host Amy Hendel welcomes Ruth Frechman, registered dietician and spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association, to discuss a nutritionist's take on diets and food choices that can benefit your patient population.