Take a moment to reflect honestly on your (ouch!), or alternatively ‘our’ collective (if that’s more comfortable) opinions over time regarding each of these: Butter. Coffee. Spinach. Red meat. I could go on and on…and tragically, on some more.The total number of ‘opinions’ each of us have had will be largely determined by simply how long we’ve been in nutrition. And yes this tracks even pre-social media 😞 There’s an understandable, in fact, entirely acceptable element to this. Discoveries that fuel truly new thinking in nutrition are rarely linear or even predictable. These discoveries are disjointed with often big delays in between, many a contradictory finding, a juxtaposition to juggle & U-turns are not uncommon. The science can be so complicated & confusing it’s hard to sell it to ourselves, let alone others – so we turn them into stories. Problems arise when that’s all they become – stories – especially those that follow a familiar narrative arc:
Narrative Simplification – Complex biology becomes a clean story.
Nutrition science is inherently messy because nutrients & non-nutrient elements of food all interact, context matters, dose, timing, and physiology all alter outcomes and individuals have individual responses! But complexity doesn’t travel well, so we compress it. This food is ‘flammable’ avoid in inflammation. Eating this is good for your gut. Don’t include this ‘disruptor’ in your diet if your value your hormonal health. A nuanced, conditional & complex body of evidence becomes a one liner that’s easier to sell.
Suspect simplification when any food ceases to be healthy inclusions for some individuals some of the time – instead its now either for everyone or no-one!
Splitting – Foods become heroes or villains.
Once our stories get so simplified that they lose lost sight of the (ever evolving) science, it’s an easy 1,2,3 into binary, black & white thinking. Foods (or nutrients or forms of nutrients) get elevated to the giddy heights of hero-status – from which they’ll inevitably fall in the future – but until that time they are objectified as: right, helpful, health-full, optimal for all. While others are demonised to death! Attributed anti-health super-villain powers – good for no one. And to be eaten never.The phenomenon of splitting is cognitively efficient, so it appeals to our overloaded brains, yes. And in a crowded information landscape, clarity – even false clarity -is the winner of people’s attention. But biology doesn’t operate in binaries. And hey, aren’t we supposed to favour holism over reductionism and personalised prescribing over population based dietary advice?
Moralisation – Food becomes a proxy for virtue.
Once foods are sorted into good and bad, it’s just another step (to the left ala Rocky Horror Picture Show!) into extrapolating about the moral virtues of the individual eating them! Clearly, the people eating these foods can be subsequently seen to also be either good or bad. Vigilant or careless, Disciplined or lazy. Informed or ignorant. Now we’re no longer just discussing food—we’re making moral judgements about its consumer. If you cared about X you wouldn’t be eating that. If you understand anything aboutnutrition you’d know not to eat Z. This is where Food Cancel Culture emerges. And a new cycle kicks off: a food we previously loved, or at the very least liked, becomes loathed. But spoiler alert! – if you do continue to seek out the (ever-evolving) science & accordingly critically review your ‘stories’…this opinion is not your end destination.
Once you see the cycle, you can choose not to perpetuate it. No more heroes. No more villains. Just a quieter commitment to letting the science -not the story- lead.
Anyone else? Or should that be…’Everyone else?‘ 🙄Because if I had a dollar for every cracking encounter I’ve had with people that included this line, I wouldn’t be writing this line – so too, if I’d been persuaded by the push-back against this lovely little legume. It just happened again the other night, out to dinner with relatives. But my all-time favourite Soy Scream Scene was when I was invited to meet a ‘wellness celebrity’. We caught up in a cafe & when I ordered my beverage of choice, she just about leapt across the table (entirely unnecessary given her elevated volume) to shout, “I can’t believe you drink soy?!” I think she felt it was her civic duty that the entire balcony benefitted from her wisdom – or at least just a way to ensure more individuals had clocked her presence 😎
And these encounters, of course,are not limited to those without qualifications.
That’s not to say that I expect, or ever desire, those of us that do to be unified on all issues. That sounds far from ideal. We’re free thinkers after all and each of us has been privy to different information & our own experiences. Me siding with soy (& not in all individuals or instances ofc!) is both personal and professional. On the n=1 front, I was 18, living my best life in Byron Bay (which often did not include shoes) when I was introduced to soy milk in lieu of cow’s. I loved it. Never having been a big fan of the old moo juice and less & less as a teenager, I preferred the taste, the texture, the principle. I was a vego. (Side-note: ‘plant-based’ was not invented until long after the 80s!) So, I also got right into plant proteins – namely tofu & tempeh. Miso was our main go-to as a way to add flavour to our cooking, even lacquering toast with it as a tasty spread! Ahhhh my glory days & mine were swimming in soy!
Go forward a few years &, having readjusted to the rigors of footwear, I am sitting in a lecture room listening to my herbal medicine teacher talking us through the chemical structure, physiological functions & potential applications of isoflavones.
I have a vivid visual memory of the whiteboard and her words. These were none of the reasons I loved this legume but I was enthralled by the revelation about its potential role as a health intervention. I still am. Because despite the sequential Soy Scream Scenes that have punctuated my life – I think the body of evidence demonstrating its beneficial effects is too large to ignore and why would we? Either it’s because of evidence that is well out of date (feeding babies infant formula made from soy flour!), a hypothetical that has since been disproven (clinically meaningful goitrogen) or mis and dis information. But look I get it! Check out soy’s wrap sheet – it’s not for the faint (food) hearted !
Potentially allergenic, as well as interacting with our immune cells in other myriad ways!
Agriculturally it’s one of the biggest mono-crops & a major contributor to deforestation, heavy on the pesticides, and often GMO
So, if we were cops profiling for potential culprits in a case of: farting, digestive discomfort, unexplained nutritional deficiencies, hypothyroidism, immune issues, food allergy, reproductive disorders or gout – certainly bring the guy in for questioning! (among a LONG list of other food and also non-food items included in the line-up!) And ensure you’ve read the research & understood all of the evidence enough to know what is plausible (theoretical but without in vivo real world confirmation), possible (it has been shown to happen but not commonly) & probable (it’s deserving of its place on your list of differentials but is still just a suspect, not a certainty). If all this sounds sizeable (and it is) then get the cheat notes. We just recorded an Update in Under 30 episode on the very latest evidence for SIFs in perimenopause including an update on adverse effects 🤓
Oh & if you’re qualified in nutrition I don’t need to tell you to choose: locally grown, organic, non GMO, whole forms, which you ferment frequently & include as part of a balanced diet, right? But is that any different from your advice generally about good eating principles? 🙄
Image by Alexander Krivitskiy via Unsplash
Soy’s Second Act in Perimenopauseexplores how one of nutrition’s most debated foods has moved from early promise, through backlash, into a far more nuanced clinical role. This episode unpacks receptor selectivity, equol, bone preservation, vasomotor symptoms, and why SERMS such as isoflavones may matter most during a phase defined by instability. This is a fresh look at where soy genuinely earns its place in modern peri/menopause care.
I’ve been talking lately about my own perimenopause experience & I’ve been listening to others do the same when suddenly it occurred to me that when these conversations happen – women all around lean in. Physically, mentally, emotionally, biologically. While for many of us, this kind of deep communing doesn’t happen often (enough), I feel the other occasion it reliably shows up is when we the share our birth stories. You know what I am saying? Like the second a woman opens that file & finds those words, all other noise in the room stops. And almost trance-like, we’re all drawn toward the teller. An impromptu circle of women appears around her that could not have been better coordinated had it been choreographed & rehearsed! Powerful stuff.
Women’s circles we know, have a long history & tradition.
And though I decidedly spend less time in the woods with womenfolk these days, as both a naturopath & resident of the Northern Rivers for most of my adult life – you can trust I gave it a good nudge in my younger years.
But here we are. Come full circle…if you’ll pardon the pun. Others have spoken to this phenomenon far more eloquently than I’m able to but in simple terms, when women begin sharing stories, whether it’s birth, bleeding, breastfeeding, miscarriage, perimenopause, or any other deeply embodied experience, what often looks like simple conversation is actually something perhaps much more primal, it’s pattern recognition in real time. We’re listening for ourselves inside someone else’s story – asking ourselves along the way things like
What happened next?
Has that happened to me?
Could that explain what I’ve been feeling…Why I am feeling..?
Is this normal?
…Am I normal?
I don’t have to tell you guys why these have had to be the places women seek answers rather than medicine & medical authorities 😠🤬🤯🤐 And even now, when it feels perimenopause is finally now ‘a thing’ in primary care be warned sisters 🧙♀️that’s mostly because when symptoms get loud enough, sales soar and the ‘peri/menopause market’ is one of the biggest money makers right now for many 🥺 …so go cautiously & let’s keep these more honest conversations between us going.
Soy’s Second Act in Perimenopause
Explores how one of nutrition’s most debated foods has moved from early promise, through backlash, into a far more nuanced clinical role. This episode unpacks receptor selectivity, equol, bone preservation, vasomotor symptoms, and why SERMS such as isoflavones may matter most during a phase defined by instability. This is a fresh look at where soy genuinely earns its place in modern peri/menopause care.
You can purchase Soy’s Second Act in Perimenopausehere. If you are an Update in Under 30 Subscriber, you will this episode waiting for you in your online account. You can become an Update in Under 30 Subscriber to access this episode and the entire library of Update in Under 30 audios and resources here.
I often feel on the outer even among my peers. I recall a period during which I was a regular invited speaker at an event, where I was increasingly the odd one out from the others & their escalating unified chant of the same single solution: the GAPS diet. I could say this was simply because being passionate about personalised prescribing, I am protocol-proof💪 🏋️♀️ but that’s not the whole story. When you imagine you’re on the outer even from ‘your own’, it leads to self-doubt: 🤔Maybe I’m the dinosaur here because I’m not an early adopter of this! Behind the 🎱 because I feel the need to wait until there’s more evidence. I took a bet each way & excused myself from future programs.
And while it’s both alarming & personally affirming to note that the spruiking of this ‘universal solution’ has slowed if not stopped since the GAPS gold rush around 2010, there’s a new one, in fact several new ones since – that repeat the pattern.
I think the inclination for early-adoption, or the self-doubt if you don’t, both make sense for us as a profession, in particular. We’re innovative by nature, rebels at heart and we’ve been gaslit that many times by conventional ‘consensus’ science & the dominant ‘only-pharmaceuticals-fix’ thinking, that we’ve lost count. We were told that leaky gut was a lie, a period of instability prior to menopause was nothing more than attention-seeking & non IgE adverse food effects a figment of our imaginations! So, naturally we’ve lost a bit of faith 😔
But equally, when we look back over the salves we’ve been sequentially sold as the latest & greatest protocol & panacea:
Anti-candida
Blood type diet
Lectin-free
Paleo (where is butter coffee – haven’t seen him around these days?)
Auto-immune protocol
Carnivore (I could go on but feel free to add any I’ve missed)
it should provide us with some perspective.
This is not the same as saying these don’t work for anyone or that there’s no merit to any element of these approaches in some patients. In fact, it’s often the case that these have stemmed from a scientific understanding of an aspect of health that was/is often overlooked by medicine. To boot it attracted some good google reviews from early adopters. Jane Does gives this diet: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ But then that original insight or innovative idea becomes distorted & damaging through over-generalisation, misapplication, ignoring any evidence of the diet’s negatives and ignoring all other aspects – including the very individual nature of us individuals!
I saw this video of Jason Hawrelak & his patient, Alma-Jade, on socials the other day and I just appreciated it so much, So, I asked Jason if I could share it.
So, if you sometimes feel on the outer because you’re not always an early adopter, you might be amongst some good company 🤗🤓
Completely breaking up would have been easier for everyone. But cutting the cord isn’t an option because she’s everywhere. She remains essential, beneficial & yes, indicated in some patients as part of their prescription. But her ‘toxic nature’, exposed via excess supplemental intake, is something we shouldn’t turn away from either. So, a ‘situationship’ has emerged involving intense emotions, a lack of clarity & consistency about how we feel, the nature of this new relationship between B6 & us & accordingly, ‘how we should act’. I mean, are we even still friends?? Practitioners seem to be responding to this relationship shift in very different ways…
Ghosting – suddenly ceasing all communication, without warning or goodbye -removed from our shelves & thought processes seemingly overnight.
Slow Fade – gradually pull away, including B6 less & less in your thoughts about the nutrition of patients, either as a potential deficiency or as part of their remedy… then not at all
Benching – storing B6 in a mental “maybe” file or “just in case” folder, remembering the benefits she can bring to some patients but not willing to play her on the pitch right now.
Orbiting – No longer speaking directly… but obsessively watching from afar. Reading every article, every social media post, every case report, every opinion piece. Quietly consumed by everything being said about our ex
Either way B6 is orbiting us! Because even if we did want to ‘forget we ever met’, our patients bring her into almost every consult: they’re ‘seeing’ her, did see her, have experienced awful adverse effects as a result, or are filled with worry that they will. And we’re (rightly) rethinking every product on the shelf, including those we’ve used successfully for years with seemingly ‘no problems’ and reassessing them in this new light. This is tough terrain. Especially when it starts to erode our very own identity as the experts in nutrition.
The bar for attributing blame to B6 is currently incredibly low – and everyone is doing it. Any altered sensation? Are you taking anything with B6? You are? Well, bingo! This is where things are getting messy and very misleading
Even those ‘diagnosed’ by way of B6 blood levels, reveal to me, those doing the diagnosing have not read the research – because there is no concentration of any B6 biomarker that consistently in any way correlates with its neurological toxicity, for a start! I’ve heard B6 being blamed for paraesthesia that are not bilateral or do not fit the characteristic distribution pattern of small sensory fibre neuropathy (stocking glove +/- facial). Heck! I’ve heard of some that aren’t even sensory or peripheral, instead it’s about dizziness and altered hearing etc. Hellooooooo 📣 There is no convincing evidence that B6 toxicity produces central nervous system involvement — not in mechanistic work, not in clinical descriptions, not in animal studies nor the broader literature. I’ve been talking with many practitioners recently about this issue and how we should respond – to the valid concerns of their patients, to the very real threat posed by B6 containing supplements as well as the need to keep using these in some, to the enormous concern & confusion causedby these misdiagnoses.
One of the things I’ve been saying repeatedly is, ‘Remember you’re the expert in the room.‘
But, of course that’s only if you are. Being the expert is never permanent. It isn’t something you achieve once and then keep forever without effort. And of course it’s relative to who else is in the room. Nutrition as a science is wonderfully dynamic, & accordingly our understanding of something, can go ‘out of date’, seemingly overnight. So if you’re sitting with someone who’s seen a neurologist — especially one with a clear diagnostic pathway & ideally biopsy findings — and you haven’t kept up with this aspect of B6, your role will be to listen and learn. But if you have read the literature… If you understand what B6 toxicity is — and what it is not — and a patient’s GP is confidently pointing at B6 containing supplements while the clinical picture simply doesn’t fit… Then back yourself. Respectfully. Calmly. And get busy finding the real cause. 🔎
Because good clinical nutrition isn’t about choosing sides – It’s about staying evidence-literate enough to know when B6 deserves the blame and when it’s just an easy-out to accuse your ex of everything!
The mechanism behind B6 toxicity – the evidence from across the board Risk reducers – dose, duration, timing & how to co-prescribe to minimise risk Risk amplifiers including patients on certain medications The role of genetic susceptibility What ‘recovery’ looks like after reducing intake
The best questions to clarify the cause of any altered sensation The most common causes & their unmissable clues Other nutrients implicated in organic nerve damage including B1 B9 B12 & Zn The role of testing
The iron options available to us have undergone a ‘Grand-Designs-Scale’ reno. And whether your taste is for supplements that offer more food-like forms (I’m thinking an off-grid rammed earth, built into a hill) or you welcome nutrition borrowing from the best that drug development has to offer us (Neofuturistic architecture?) – there’s something for everyone! These novel forms parallel newly identified means of iron uptake in our gut which completely rewrite our ideas on iron digestion, absorption & regulation. So if you’re still choosing iron products based on:’ organic, soluble and in its ferrous state’ – baby your ideas are out of date!
Because lo and behold that’s not in fact how iron occurs in our food & Surprise surprise – our digestive system is designed for the forms that do
Those forms include iron di & tripeptides, members of the large family of ferritins from either animals or plants, in addition to dear old haem. That’s right, while there might be a sprinkle of (Fe) citrate in your kim chi, there’s no bisglycinate in your borlotti beans, no iron fumurate in your fennel & no (Fe) sulphate anywhere to be seen (unless of course someone snuck in some as fortification)! So all these, organic (except SO4), soluble and ferrous forms (except citrate) are reliant on DMT1 transporters and are actually at a disadvantage compared with our newly discovered funky food forms& the curious ways they find to get across the intestines.
Including a range of phytoferritins present in most legumes – especially soy and the common pea. Pea-Ferritin products anyone?
But this is just a small part of their story that you need to understand to know in which scenarios a supplement like this makes most sense. And equally the progeny of elite engineering: Iron Polymaltose (aka Maltofer) and Ferric Pyrophosphate nanoparticles (aka Sunactive, Lipofer) have their advantages in some patients and presentations and therefore also their place. As we wrap up the Supplement Boom Series putting all that we’ve learned into these final two episodes on iron has been nothing short of thrilling! 🤓
If Iron is important in your practice then you’re going to get enormous value out of these two recent episodes
Image Engin Akyurt via Unsplash
One of our most popular past episodes explored the relative efficacy of the many iron supplements on the market. Since then, the landscape has changed dramatically. New and novel forms have emerged — including haem iron products, phytoferritins, nanoparticles, dermal patches, and more — each claiming to solve long-standing issues with iron interventions. In this episode, we begin by retracing the evolution of iron as one of nutritional medicine’s most commonly prescribed interventions. From there, we examine the renewed interest in food as medicine and food-like forms: molasses and grape syrup, offal, iron-rich herbal tonics, and naturally iron-containing mineral waters.
In this second part of our iron investigation, we take the following forms to task: haem, plant ferritins, iron polymaltose & nanoparticles of ferric pyrophosphate. Discussing in detail each of their unique dynamics regarding digestion, absorption and regulation of iron. Ultimately it answers the questions when to use each form and why.
Listen in as we revisit some of our long-held assumptions about what makes a “good” iron form and hold them up against emerging evidence that is reshaping our understanding of digestion, absorption, regulation etc. It’s time to rethink iron — and update old ideas in light of new science.
It always does! Turns out I rely heavily on those last few days of every month to get my homework done in time 😦 as many of my 11th hour Update and Under 30 timestamps will attest to! And this month (as is the case every other month tbh) I felt the topic was so important that I just couldn’t cut any corners. Yes folks we’re wrapping up our whole Supplement Boom Series applying all that we’ve learned to Iron – and this episode is overflowing with aha moments 🧐
🎤Brand spanking newly discovered uptake mechanisms for more diverse dietary forms
⚡How even endocytosis uptake of the entirely engineered forms – don’t escape regulation
💥The precise pocket that each of the new forms (Pea ferritin, Iron polymaltose, FPP nanoparticles) would be the perfect fit for in terms of your patients and their presentations!
💡The option for daily dosing back, and even combining with iron’s key competitors could be back on the table with certain forms!
Ok that’s the extent of the words I have left right now…February ate all them too!!
New Iron Offerings – Novel or Nonsense?
One of our most popular past episodes explored the relative efficacy of the many iron supplements on the market. Since then, the landscape has changed dramatically. New and novel forms have emerged each claiming to solve long-standing issues with iron interventions. In this second part of our iron investigation, we take the following forms to task: haem, plant ferritins, iron polymaltose & nanoparticles of ferric pyrophosphate. Discussing in detail each of their unique dynamics regarding digestion, absorption and regulation of iron. Ultimately it answers the questions when to use each form and why.
Listen in as we revisit some of our long-held assumptions about what makes a “good” iron form and hold them up against emerging evidence that is reshaping our understanding of digestion, absorption, regulation etc. It’s time to rethink iron — and update old ideas in light of new science.
You can purchase New Iron Offerings – Novel or Nonsense? here. If you are an Update in Under 30 Subscriber, you will this episode waiting for you in your online account. You can become an Update in Under 30 Subscriber to access this episode and the entire library of Update in Under 30 audios and resourceshere.
While we’re on the topic of perimenopause –and will we ever get off it btw because quite frankly there’s so much that needs to be said?!– I need to bang the drum some more about bone health & our role in that. During our recent all-things-peri-education-event I said, this is the time when our bones adopt the ‘brace position’. You know the one before the plane crashes?🛬 Unless. Unless we use it instead as the ultimate window of opportunity to preserve the existing BMD – better yet, even build on this, which, of course, only resistance training can claim.
So let me guess what comes to mind supplement wise for preservation of BMD?
Vitamin D? K2? and Calcium?
Most of us are well past the point of believing that it’s just about taking enough of these 3. Neither the evidence nor our own clinical experience supports that. Bone metabolism & its heath is far more multifaceted and, in particular, nutritionally complex than this. So while I left the crude Calcium concept (you know, it’s the major mineral component so load ’em up) for dead a long time ago, I use Calcium almost always during perimenopause for two reasons. Firstly, most women’s intake is grossly inadequate – and I am talking here with respect to the most well-supported recommendation for daily intake and optimal bones of 800mg, not the ridiculous RDI (this is something we discuss – all RDIs and how to rationalise these in light of levels of evidence in the Nutrient Prescribers’ Program – so if you want refs just ask). The second reason to prescribe Calcium is to put pause on any increase in PTH & therefore STOP! its pilfering in its tracks. Like right here right now in this moment.
PTH is an acute responder to any dip in Calcium …Within seconds it surges Within minutes the GIT becomes ‘leaky’ to increase Calcium’s paracellular uptake Within 1-3hrs the bones have been tapped
PTH peaks first thing in the morning partly in response to an endogenous circadian rhythm but also because, quite simply, we’ve been fasting and no new Calcium has come into the system. So what if we extend our overnight fasting? The PTH gets higher and stays up for longer, resulting in more negative impact on the bones. And SO many women have embraced TRE or at least extended overnight fasting – for good reasons, right? But are you assessing the impact this is having on one of the most modifiable risk factors for osteoporosis? I am and I’ve just had this conversation again with yet another woman. We had sequential PTH measures one at 7.20am (PTH 4.7 pmol/L), one at 8.30am (PTH 5.3 pmol/L) – both are too high for optimal BMD preservation. But the real issue is she doesn’t actually eat her breakfast usually until about 10! This translates to a very long period of exposure not only to high PTH but peak cortisol concentrations to boot. She was taking enough Calcium (and doing everything else right) but I had to tweak the timing of her first dose… and then we had to try and reconcile this with her TRE.
For a patient like this with that tendency for the PTH to push up too high – the 1st dose of Calcium must be within 2hrs of waking
Compared with other supplements it’s an easy one to take (not a gastric irritant like some) & with just 50-100ml of whatever milk or substitute you prefer is an easy ask before hitting the gym or the pavement or the desk! Alternatively, of course, if someone is not adhering extended overnight fasting, you just bring breakfast forward & ensure it’s a calcium rich choice. This is what I mean when I say science drives the most successful prescribing…not the bad most basic of nutritional science that SCREAMS, ”Deliver Ca to those bones like a concrete-mixer. Just pour it in!”
Nope.
The exceptional science that reveals the real nuance of how nutrients work and how then to employ them to achieve the very best results.
And if now you’re rushing to reach for Calcium but have questions about best form and dose, duration and combinations…and are hungry to experience the same level of confidence prescribing all the other nutrients to boot…well might I suggest 🤓
The Nutrient Prescribers’ Program offers you a complete revolution in the way you practice Dynamically delivered across 11 modules which will answer just about every question you’ve ever had (What form? When? How much? How often? For how long? What with?) And all the others you haven’t thought about yet!
Or want to understand the parathyroid better as well as be across some other common things missed or ‘mistaken’ as menopause? Yes? Then check out this episode
It’s 2022 and I am celebrating my 50th with friends. Within just a few months of this I have left a 14 year long relationship & relocated to a new town where I know no one. Next up, I’m undertaking an 11 day solo hike across the island of Kythira in Greece and at its completion I call a meeting with my team back in Aus to say, ‘It’s over. The thing I have loved doing for so long, group mentoring, it’s a wrap.” With each and every seemingly sudden decision I made across this period, the spectrum of responses included surprise, disbelief and shock. And numerous times, I genuinely asked myself, ‘Is this a breakthrough or a breakdown?’
I’ve never experienced vasomotor symptoms, even cycle changes of any great significance, nothing that might act as some kind of signpost. So like so many other women, I wasn’t able to know it and name it, for the most part.
But this is perimenopause.
All I had was what I was experiencing: a dramatically reduced bandwidth. Not the classic irritable woman trope. Just that I couldn’t do as much without some kind of inflated cost to myself which came in a variety of forms. And when I overrode ‘new me capacity’ with ‘old me expectations’, the wheels started to wobble, especially cognitively. Scary sh*t, right? When Rhiannon and I spoke this week on perimenopause to many of you, I mentioned I dislike the term ‘brain fog’ as a description of what happens for women during this stage. It’s diminutive. Minimising. Yet the evidence of its impact is breathtakingly BIG. Almost a third of women during perimenopause cut their work hours and more than 1 in 10 consider quitting work altogether. In addition to this, suicide rates jump up by 48% in women between the ages of 45 and 54 – where for men it increases only by 1.4%. This is not just some kind of bad mood of middle age – it’s a FEMALE physiological rollercoaster.
Amongst the attendees at our event there were a few tears being shed, as several shared with me afterwards that literally it was our conversation, right here, right now, that had enabled them to see at last, their own perimenopausal picture.
Me too
It wasn’t until we were prepping for this perimenopause conversation that I literally learned my increased susceptibility to injury with exercise over the last year comes courtesy of the same bloody carnival-house-of-horrors-big-dipper mash-up. Again, thanks Rhi! And what about my cognitive concerns and what, early on, seemed like a pathological drop off in drive?? I was lucky. Without knowing what I was doing , all those big decisions I made from 50, turned out to be the right ones, in the sense that I deloaded. Which just happens to be my top rec for all women during perimenopause. Wherever and in whatever way they can – accept and better yet embrace the ‘new you capacity’. Because once I did this my cognitive concerns etc disappeared and I realised there’s nothing wrong with me just what I was asking of me… and what the world asks of women too, by the way.
Anyway, I normally wouldn’t have posted such a personal P.S but some of you shared so honestly with me, I felt anything else wouldn’t be right. A big thank you to Give Back Health for such an innovative format than enabled something more valuable to be shared. Let’s keep the conversation going.
Image by Ukrainian photographer Kateryna Hliznitsova via Unsplash
Just back from my 6th…🤔 or 7th… trip to Vietnam. But this one was different – made all the more special, as I was visiting family🤗 Which meant I got to eat and enjoy things, I myself, despite being there so often, was never previously game to try mostly due to the ‘what exactly is that’ factor! Apart from being simply DELISH real-deal Vietnamese cuisine reminds me of some core health eating principles that I like to aspire to at home.
There’s always room for more Greens
We could — and should — always add more. Into the hot pot or the pho. Wrapped inside or around that crackling savoury pancake. Or simply piled high on the table for everyone to help themselves. I mean, my usual ratio of Added Greens : Actual Dish is already pretty ambitious. At home, whatever I’m eating is typically buried under rocket, baby spinach, and whatever fresh herbs I can get my hands on. The “main meal” often functions more like structural support. But the ratio in Vietnamese cuisine defies both maths and physics. A platter of greens arrives that dwarfs the original dish. Mountains of mint, Thai basil, perilla, lettuce, water spinach. You add a handful. Then another. Then another. And somehow… it all fits. Greens as far as the eye can see! Not as a garnish or an afterthought but a ‘do not pass go do not collect $200’ directive!
And growing your own is essential to feed this level of ingestion addiction
Whether it’s a small plot on an abandoned lot, a couple of polystyrene boxes on the footpath, a window box in an apartment up high – everyone tries to grow their own Greens.
Dine out on Diversity
That’s right – that’s Greens –plural. It’s a tumbling twirling ever-changing and inclusive mix! So inclusive that even non-greens, like beansprouts and long curls of finely cut banana blossom are welcomed into the fray. The mushrooms incorporated into dishes are multiple varieties rarely ‘mono’ and noodles ain’t noodles, though they may look similar, made from regular or red rice, tapioca, wheat etc. And while pork is a firm favourite amongst many, there’s all kinds including snake, eels and snails.
And if we’re going to eat the Animal – Eat every bit of it
No muscle-meat madness like most of us silly whities in the West! Prawn heads are a delicacy and of course, offal is everyday fodder, with cubes of blood common, entrails as well. Nutritionally superior, environmentally sensible. While I do a bit better each time I visit I still have a long way to go on this one!
Plant proteins accompany the animal ones
Other dishes feature tofu, peanuts, mung beans and other legumes – not as an alternative but for everyone as an add-on to any meal.
Small bowls allow endless sampling from these smorgasbords!
Yet another aspect that seems to defy physics. You eat and eat and eat your fill…but you don’t overeat! Thanks, in part, to the tiny bowls and chopsticks no doubt!
There’s a lot to love and learn from other cultures and their cuisines ❤️
Image c/o Stephy Nguyen❤️ – thanks for making me eat eel!🪱
Not just differently in terms of how we view other peoples’ success but also how we recognise it within ourselves, orwhere we perceive ourselves to be in relationship to that ‘goal’. Our ‘identifiers’ will be as unique as we are. What we’ve had modelled within our family, first & foremost, then maybe our peers and our profession. We renovate and remodel our ideas as we go, through our own experiences & evolution.
I asked AI to list the most successful naturopaths in Australia & a ‘curious’ conversation ensued...
The first list it generated crowned Amie Steel our 👑 thanks to her incredible contribution to research & academia. Next up an extremely high-profile naturopath that, no doubt, came to AI’s attention as a result of the enormous number of ads they run. Last on the list, a dragnet of names pulled from association newsletters and other media. However, not ALL associations, just ANPA and NHAA?! And nobody tell him, but Kerry didn’t make the cut 🤐
When I pointed out this omission (and several others!) the LLM always of course had an answer…
It went along the lines of, “Oh, I see the problem, you’re defining success differently” Naturally, followed by, “I can generate a new list based on your definition” (just you watch😂)
But throughout this exchange I was force-fed clues about how ‘it’ would define success, including some brutal-truths apparently I needed to hear, such as, “Clinics alone rarely compete financially with product, IP, or corporate power.” Am I being overly-woke & it’s actually just all about the cold hard Ca$h?…I’ve seen behind the veil too many times to be fooled by that one. Attributions of success based on visible bling can blind us to the rest of the story.
I’ve sat with a LOT of naturopaths I would regard as successful.
I’ve seen their success take different shapes & forms – independent of their income
For example, 20+ years of consulting that has seen them through all the stages & phases of their family life, with the flexibility they needed. Or establishing a practice that was able to employ others, better yet, ‘bring them up’ with loads of support, informal mentoring and great modelling that can otherwise be hard to find in our profession. There are those whose love of learning & growth ensured they found all kinds of pivot points along the path – resulting in time spent in corporate, in academia, in aspects of associated industry etc. Then there’s those that started out in stella-supporting roles for others, running those desks, those dispensaries, those website dashboards like divas! – only to at last be ready to take flight and do the thing they wanted all along – be in practice. And, of course, there are amongst us some awesome entrepreneurs who might make it look like they’re living it large on 🚩Easy St, but in fact, they are themselves absolutely extraordinary powerhouses fuelled by their own sense of purpose. And these are just the conversations I had last week!
Tell me what shape and form has your success taken?
Seriously, hold my beer. A pattern has come to my attention that warrants calling out. A social media manosphere of sorts. You see I have these ‘Facebook fellas’, let’s just say, who appear out of nowhere, as in, they are not people I know, not in truth even my peers, & certainly not people with academic or experiential acumen I might look up to. And they only materialise on my posts in the comments section to execute what they seem to think is their big mic drop moment. Their comments go,‘HEY! HEY YOU! YOU’VE GOT THIS ALL WRONG. I UNDERSTAND IT BETTER. LISTEN UP!’ Yes, bold & CAPSLOCK-all-intended because, while plain text doesn’t possess tone, it apparently can deliver at different decibels and comment such as these are always dialled up to DISTORTION.Well Chuck, or Chad or Hank or whatever your name is. I tell you what you clearly don’t understand…
Evidence
Science
Nutrition
Academic Discourse & Debate
let alone Basic Manners or Online Etiquette
And sorry but it has to be said….
Women’s Health Better Than Women
Because to have whatever-his-name-is tell me, and all women, for example. that if we need to use iron supplements we don’t actually understand iron and we’re doing it wrong…well…. For those of us that have spent years studying nutrition as part of our qualifications, then yet more years, if not decades, applying it in the real world, while always updating our understanding based on the very latest evidence…while perhaps even in countries affected by food insecurity and most of our lives menstruating…well we may beg to differ. But the real rockstar ‘tude is when I actually take the time to engage, offering some alternative things for them to reflect on and respond to, about physiology or pathology or the intricacies of a micronutrient’s LADME+R and their response. Well there isn’t one. So I’ve stopped taking the bait.
Because they’re not here to engage in an intelligent exchange – they are here to dominate They don’t want to discuss – they actually want to shout you down – shut you down And they’re certainly not here to learn…
So let me say this, if this is your MO my mansplaining FB Fellas get out of my comments and off my page….because as one of your better brothers, Bruce Lee, put it “A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer”.
By the way…these ‘FB FELLAs’ don’t actually look like this according to their profile pics…but ‘it’s the vibe of the thing’…right?!😉
Hey wait what? What are you still doing here? The average time we look at anything online is 3-8 seconds. Poof! There’s another big portion of followers gone just with stating that stat! But, you see, if we are so quick to think we have all that we need from something, that we’ve deduced its true meaning & reached solid conclusions, all based on a glance at a curated Canva or AI-generated image & accompanied by not more than 125 characters (for maximal “scannability” on socials according to AI) what are we missing? Substance.
In this last week I have literally had people express genuine surprise that a) contrary to my word I have not retired from group mentoring b) but gee I really should given how much it’s accelerated my ageing process
And if you’re still reading this dear-wonderfully-off-trend-outlier-friend I hope you are laughing and crying simultaneously. Craughing, is the technical term, I believe. And at all of us. I mean I am not always an exception. I have routinely said to my team when they’re creating emails or long product descriptions or anything notably not capped at 125 characters…”No one is going to scroll down that far! I would not scroll down that far!” But as a result, look at the mixed and missed messages we’re getting?!!!
Please note I have indeed hung up my group mentoring hat 🎩 Our new offering is a packaged up series of recordings of our previous very popular New Grads program
And (ahem) that image of ‘old me was photoshopped…& quite frankly I’m concerned I need to clarify 😮
So what else are we missing with all our very busy looking at everything but actually at nothing habits? A lot. I try to keep my tirades tight. My synopses succinct..in fact I think you’ll find under 30mins (mostly)!!! But if you haven’t got that long to spare…well…😶 🎤
“It takes me exactly 30 minutes (give or take Melbourne traffic) to get from home to work and my favourite drive is when the latest RA UU30 podcast comes out. Usually I have to listen again when I arrive so I can scribble notes down to remember the Aha moments that invariably leave me wishing I was at a traffic light with a pen…
Rachel, I am continually inspired by your dedication to the naturopathic profession and so grateful for the information you so generously share. Your contribution is unique and invaluable. Your enthusiastic passion for everything you present is contagious and leaves me loving what we do more and more each time I see or hear you speak.”
CHARMAINE DENNIS | Founding Director & Naturopath at Fertile Ground Health Group
I certainly pride myself on possessing an impressive level of endurance for an argument, as most of you surely know 😊 But the record for this is held by all practitioners of nutritional medicine. Because we’ve actually been debating the same 3 facets of what makes a good iron form since the late 1800s!🤯 Inorganic vs organic, soluble vs insoluble and ferrous vs ferric state! And for those playing along at home, I heard that & I have to tell you your ideas about iron have passed their ‘best before’!
Even the idea that these 3 aspects are central to the success of any oral iron supplement. Wrong. You’re welcome 🙂
Because this ignores all that we’ve learned (and had to unlearn) of late about iron digestion, absorption& regulation. And I would know! Eight years ago I released an episode, the ‘definitive’ download called, ‘So You Think You Know The Best Iron Supplement’. Recently, I re-listened to it like this 🙉 thinking it too might be past its use-by. But you know what? It isn’t. I was right about the lack of difference in overall efficacy between bisglycinate, citrate, gluconate, [insert any non-haem chelate or salt] & even sulphate forms! But that was then and this is POW! 💥
That’s the sound that’s made as yet another new supplement hits the market & throws us all into the ropes of the boxing ring 🥊 Leaving us scrambling to keep up, catch up & keep our heads off the canvas with all the new must knows!
Which now includes knowing all the important stuff about every new iron option…and there are a lot! From patches to (nano)particles, the resurgence of rewilded ‘herbal’ iron tonics, pea and other plant ferritins and of course organ meats and so SO much more. These new preparations are wildly different. Not only as a reflection of different product preferences, as an extension of our principles and prescribing philosophy but the very way they behave in our digestive tracts and beyond is not the same. And accordingly, each form arguably a particular ‘fit’ for a certain clinical context. So, are you absolutely clear about which form of iron when? Best you go check your ‘best befores’ on your beliefs about iron supplements….I’ll wait 😉
Image by Melpo Tsiliaki via Unsplash
Iron – Primal Nutrient to Primetime Prescription
One of our most popular past episodes explored the relative efficacy of the many iron supplements on the market. Since then, the landscape has changed dramatically. New and novel forms have emerged — including haem iron products, phytoferritins, nanoparticles, dermal patches, and more — each claiming to solve long-standing issues with iron interventions. In this episode, we begin by retracing the evolution of iron as one of nutritional medicine’s most commonly prescribed interventions. From there, we examine the renewed interest in food as medicine and food-like forms: molasses and grape syrup, offal, iron-rich herbal tonics, and naturally iron-containing mineral waters.
To do this properly, we revisit some of our long-held assumptions about what makes a “good” iron form and hold them up against emerging evidence that is reshaping our understanding of digestion, absorption, regulation etc. It’s time to rethink iron — and update old ideas in light of new science.
You can purchase Iron: Primal Nutrient to Primetime Prescription here. If you are an Update in Under 30 Subscriber, you will this episode waiting for you in your online account. You can become an Update in Under 30 Subscriber to access this episode and the entire library of Update in Under 30 audios and resources here.
Yeah nah — I’ll settle for the increasingly old me, thanks.
Vanity aside (and ouch, by the way), I’m perfectly happy remaining Insta‑unsuitable. I refuse to reinvent myself in the name of naturopathy meets neoliberalism, so I’m okay with being off‑trend. Liberated by it, actually. Because it means I get to focus on what matters more to me: that I’ve learned a lot — which, it turns out, required unlearning a lot too. Ideally softened with wisdom. Hopefully. I’ve taught many of you as undergraduates. Mentored many more. And somewhere along the way I seem to have helped birth a whole cohort of next‑gen naturopathic mentors and teachers. So yes — I’ve earned these age spots and laugh lines. And we all know I’m not done laughing yet.
And I am definitely not done with you.
I am the self‑appointed nagging Nanna of the naturopaths.
Forever pestering us about our potential — to do better, to be better. Forever banging on about aiming higher. Laying it on thick with my best “I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed” routine 🤣
I ask the questions that apparently hadn’t been asked yet… well, by anyone other than me (soz). From the ones we all probably should be across — like: • Where is the true sweet spot for nutrient dosing, where fractional uptake is maximised rather than squandered once transporters are saturated? • When so much of a supplement dose is left sitting in the lumen, what does that actually mean for our marvellous microbiome? • And when we insert nutrients into our nether regions to treat the taco… where do they actually go?
I ask. I research. I publish — because better answers make better practitioners. Honestly, search my site with almost any term. I dare you.
But I think that’s the role, right? The role of anyone a little further down the track.
To offer a view of the profession from a different vantage point. To ask questions that are sometimes uncomfortable. To set some goals — and then gently (or not so gently) nudge us toward them. Because we’ve had longer to ponder. And because us Nannas — we’ve seen every season of this profession. Every bloody episode of every bloody season tbh. Every wellness trend too — which are now officially just looping 😵 And we are no longer falling for any of it.
But whatever you do, don’t call me an Elder. Don’t offer me your seat on the bus (yes, someone actually did this the other day). Because you might suddenly discover what decades of healthy eating, peak physical condition (lol), and strong mental acuity can do… when combined with a slightly dodgy knee 👵😅
There was indeed food & drink & merriment galore but a good holiday season for me is about having the conversations. With family, friends, my professional peers. This is the real feast. In this strange period between one year and the next, portals appear to open up of a different space-time continuum. With the work-clock temporarily paused and screens no longer screaming for our attention, it allows many to engage more deeply, more reflectively. The conversations I’ve had the privilege to participate in & the people I’ve shared those with, are as diverse as we are & reflect something as multi-dimensional as all the ways we may find ourselves working in this space called ‘health’.
From those living life on the edge thanks to big business enterprises – to tales from the trenches of solo-practitioners
Educators impacted by institutional changes and the illusion of an ‘all-knowing’ generative AI
Pioneers of practice or prescribing models
Individuals beautifully representing us on the global stage (research) just as much as at a local level (retail)
Elders asking themselves, ‘What’s next for naturopathy?”
I listen lots & say little. It’s all grist for the mill that is my mind and I never quite know where, with all this input, my thoughts will end up. But I do know this is the nourishment I need to continue caring deeply about the profession whilst also updating my understanding of what being a nat/nut/herbalist/IM doctor means for many of you. And to reflect on my own role. As you may know, career-wise I have closed a door, to let others open. Mentoring hundreds of practitioners every year for over a decade was a great privilege. Delivering training in diagnostics and establishing frameworks for nutritional prescribing – are just some big highlights across decades of delivering education and training to all kinds of health professionals. And I am so proud of what I have produced and contributed to our collective knowledge.
Ideally, healthcare education providers shouldn’t feel like businesses at all — they should feel like institutions in formation
We have some exceptional home-grown examples around us, who are indeed institutions forming in front of our eyes. However, other aspects of the educational and mentoring landscape today are almost unrecognisable. I worry it’s being driven more by profit than purpose and is being delivered, on occasion, by those overflowing with enthusiasm but not experience. Just more food for thought. The conversations keep coming and I welcome them all.
As part of our current audio series on the pros & cons of non-enteral administration of our medicines, we’re finally up to the foof. The vajayjay. The bajingo. The coochie. I mean what exactly does happen when we start delivering nutrients direct to this target tissue?! Do they just lurk within the lumen? Do they get taken up into the epithelium? Do some break curfew and sneak right over into our systemic circulation?
What do we need to know if we’re inserting things into our nether regions? 🍑
The history of food as medicine delivered straight to the foof makes for a great read & features some of my favourites (foods that is), garlic, wine, olive oil, yoghurt. But we’re a long way past inserting the occasional clove up there. Increasingly, we’re finding reason to employ evidence-based intravaginal therapeutics: Zinc washes, Vitamin A, D and E based pessaries or good ol’ boric acid (popping into a peach near you since the late 1800s!) But whenever we deliver nutrients or herbs into the body via anywhere other than the gut there are a series of questions we should be able to answer to ensure this approach is both successful and safe.
In this episode we also visit up the bum, inhaled into the lungs and even atop the eyeball!
Can we cut out the middle man with our medicines and just deliver direct to door? To any mucosal target tissue with an accessible opening to the outside? When could we? When should we? When does it still make more sense to go back to standard supplements and boost blood levels? Oh you can bet there’s plenty to talk about here and a plethora of fun puns to be made. This is just yet another moment I am so glad we have a real live awesome human transcribing our audio for you…I can only imagine what R rated romp AI might have turned this into!🤣
With trends of innovation heading towards novel offerings sending nutrients anywhere but the mouth, Where Next for Nutrient Delivery? takes a curious look at what these alternative routes can genuinely offer. This episode celebrates where local applications—intravaginal, lower bowel, lower respiratory and ocular—make real clinical sense, whilst at the same time, keeping one foot firmly on the ground, reminding us why the humble gut still does a very good job for most people, most of the time. A sharp, physiology-first look at what must change with our medicines when nutrients interface with different epithelial linings & environments —and why novelty alone is never a good enough reason to change the route.
You can purchase Where Next for Nutrient Delivery? here. If you are an Update in Under 30 Subscriber, you will this episode waiting for you in your online account. You can become an Update in Under 30 Subscriber to access this episode and the entire library of Update in Under 30 audios and resources here.
After not seeing her for some time I messaged my longstanding (or should that be long suffering? 😂) psychologist chasing up a contact. Much to my astonishment she rang & left a voice message along the lines of, “Great to hear from you, I often think of you and would love an update if you want to call me back.” So I did.
I mean this was an unmistakable demonstration of care. More than that, it potently evoked a sense in me of mattering. And in this instance, mattering in the mind and crazy busy world of this exquisite professional with decades of experience and oodles of clients. And well it made my day, my week, my month… & reminded me all over again why I choose her.
The construct of ‘Mattering’ is making the headlines in health right now. It’s being proposed as the missing piece of the mental wellness puzzle psychologists have constructed around other identified important elements, such as, self-esteem, social-connectedness and resilience. But many real barriers block or impair access to one or more of these for some. Think about individuals affected by social disadvantage and the inherent inequity then in the ‘resilience’ asked of them. Another example could be people who are neuro-divergent and might therefore struggle with social connection. Mattering in its most simple terms is the sense that we matter.
“Mattering is the personal sense of feeling significant and valued by other people. The person who feels like he or she matters is someone who feels important, visible…Mattering is a vital construct and a key psychological resource that is central to the human condition; indeed, the individual person who lives his or her life devoid of a sense of mattering to others will lack the basic sense of personal significance, human connectedness, and social acceptance required to thrive and flourish. In contrast, the person who feels a persistent sense of mattering unconditionally to significant others will have a key inner resource that fuels positive responses to life challenges. That is, a clear sense of mattering can buffer various life stressors.” Flett 2022
So this year I’ve embraced two new(ish) potent therapeutic modalities: mattering & active hope, & building up a sense of both in anyone I engage with. I spoke at two conferences on the latter, which has now been identified as an essential element of positive outcomes from any health intervention. I think both are things that are at the heart of naturopathic care but in all the clutter, confusion and chaos of biochemical pathways, nutrigenomics, testing & yet more testing, spruiking to socials for our survival etc. they may have been a little lost amongst the noise. But perhaps now as we prepare to take a break and spend more time resting and reflecting we can take a moment to contemplate how our patients’ sense of ‘mattering’ adds to any other medicine we might have prescribed🤗
… to its target tissue, wherever possible. Yes I’ve been reading everything I can get my hands on regarding what happens when we ‘deliver medicines differently’, as part of my Supplement Boom Series. Medicines being: nutrients, herbs, pharmaceuticals. ‘Delivered differently’ includes: on the skin, across the oral lining, up the nose…and I’m entering other orifices, as we speak (!), in preparation for our next Update in Under 30 episode. And what is already abundantly clear is standard supplements are not the best route for every remedy.
And ol’ mate Iodine is such an excellent illustration of this.
Such a critical mineral for us humans, from an evolutionary and ecological perspective, performing important roles related to health, far beyond the thyroid: roles in redox, as a protector of lipid bilayers, anti-inflammatory, trophic regulator, homeostatic signal, highly effective anti-microbial etc. Yet whenever you boost blood levels of iodine, it’s the thyroid that becomes the bottleneck. It takes the lion’s share of whatever is circulating (sometimes up to 80%) even if that’s not where you wanted the iodine to go. So for patients who need that iodine elsewhere – within other body openings to maintain microbial balance say, well, wouldn’t we be best to deliver it right to their doorstep, instead? In a word – yes
Iodine has a long history of use as a topical treatment with broad & diverse applications.
In douches for a range of vaginal infections, intranasally at the first signs of a cold, as povidone at a low concentration, with evidence of efficacy. Delivering direct to the desired target tissue means we can use much lower doses and produce a more potent local effect – without the extraneous and unwanted effects from a much larger oral dose that will be widely distributed and dispersed. Zinc, of course, is another established hero ( ?Or is that anti-hero…have a listen to the episodes!) of ‘nutrition delivered differently’ & local therapeutics. But topical treatment of any tissue – the nasal or oral lining, the vagina, the colon, the respiratory tract etc – comes with its own cautions and concerns. For example, how the active, while therapeutic, may still vary in terms of mucosal compatibility – is it drying, caustic, damaging or disruptive in some other way? As well as, to what extent it’s being taken up and into where? Into the circulation to boost blood levels, to some extent, being the most common, of course. And in the case of iodine we’d need to be careful then because we may find ourselves back at that bottleneck, right? But in the case of intranasal applications, there’s also the-not-insignificant-issue of direct brain deposition…so why – oh why – something as scary as silver is available as a nasal spray <GASP> but currently intranasal iodine isn’t, I will never know.
Sounds like someone needs to revisit intranasal pharmacokinetics, no?
In fact, while we’re here…let’s look a little deeper into all the lovely places we can stick our supplements(!) – their strengths and weaknesses such that we can be clear about where to deliver them
Intranasal Delivery – Nutrition’s New Pathway?
Nutritional medicine is taking an unexpected turn—up the nose. In this episode, we unpack the rising interest in nutrient-based nasal sprays promising local, systemic and even central effects. But bypassing the gut is never straightforward. After a quick nasal A&P refresher, we cut to the evidence on what intranasal delivery can genuinely offer … and what might just be a whiff of wishful thinking.
You can purchase Intranasal Delivery – Nutrition’s New Pathway? here. If you are an Update in Under 30 Subscriber, you will this episode waiting for you in your online account. You can become an Update in Under 30 Subscriber to access this episode and the entire library of Update in Under 30 audios and resources here.
I’ve been talking about the DMT1 transporters importing iron & other divalent metals – including their presence in our nose <GASP> – since the turn of the century <GASP GASP>. This helps to explain, of course, the profound neurotoxicity, for example, of inhaled Manganese and Mercury – via the potent pathway called: ‘nose to brain delivery’. But that’s just the tip of the nose…’s capacity for picking up nutrients, as it turns out.
Every epithelial border has a different set of rules for which substances are ‘permitted passage’
Our skin, no surprises, is the most selective of all, allowing very little in
And the hostile environment of our mouth, anatomically more akin to skin than the GIT, runs a close second in shutting the door
But the nose is always open for business, baby! (just ask any addict)
And this, of course, is attracting much attention in delivery design innovation in both pharmaceutical & complementary medicines. So while nasal sprays, containing some herbs maybe some nutrients, for the treatment of hayfever or the common cold, have been around a long time, the next gen of intranasal applications are not tying themselves to topical effects alone – in fact they can boost blood levels of any nutrient you choose, faster than other preparations, outside of injections. And then the next gen – next gen (!!) are not even content with getting actives into our capillaries, to reach their targets, but bypass the whole shebang including the BBB to deposit them directly into our brain.
Sound too sci-fi? It’s not
The potential here, for putting complementary medicines up our nose, is equal parts thrilling and terrifying. And it’s imminent. And while we await more of these to evolve into commercially available products in the real world, you might want to rethink absolutely anything you put up your nose (yes including CM nasal sprays). Just sayin. So why not take my hand and together we’ll go into the furthermost depths of the nasal cavity for a comprehensive update on everything you need to know.
Nutritional medicine is taking an unexpected turn—up the nose. In this episode, we unpack the rising interest in nutrient-based nasal sprays promising local, systemic and even central effects. But bypassing the gut is never straightforward. After a quick nasal A&P refresher, we cut to the evidence on what intranasal delivery can genuinely offer … and what might just be a whiff of wishful thinking.
You can purchase Intranasal Delivery – Nutrition’s New Pathway? here. If you are an Update in Under 30 Subscriber, you will this episode waiting for you in your online account. You can become an Update in Under 30 Subscriber to access this episode and the entire library of Update in Under 30 audios and resources here.
