Happy Earth Day from Integrative Practitioner

By Katherine Shagoury

Today, April 22, 2019, marks Earth Day, a celebration of environmental protection and conservation. We at Integrative Practitioner support our community in its efforts to encourage patients to live more sustainably for the health of the planet and themselves. Our experts say the patient’s environment is associated with over 70 percent of autoimmune and other disease risk, whereas only 30 percent is associated with genetics. Practitioners may not be able to change genetics, but that can change the patient’s environment, both internally and externally.

To mark this day of significance, we want to spotlight content on environmental exposures and human health and disease, so we rounded up our latest environmental health articles, podcasts, conference recordings, and more. What are you doing to celebrate Earth Day? Let us know in the comments below.

Survival strategies for four top environmental toxins

The four top environmental toxins are air pollution, bisphenols, phthalates, and perfloroalkyl substances, said Lyn Patrick, ND, at the 2019 Integrative Healthcare Symposium in New York City.

There are 9 million global deaths annually attributed to toxins we breathe in, said Patrick. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals tracks chemicals found in people and divides into percentiles, which indicate the levels of concern. The reports offer real-time data related to the chemical burden in free living adults and children in the U.S.

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Controversies and strategies in autoimmune disease epidemic

Studies show that 70 percent of autoimmune disease risk is associated with the person’s environment, whereas 30 percent is associated with their genetics, according to Aristo Vojdani, PhD, MSc, CLS, CEO and technical director of Immunosciences Lab.

“Pay attention to the environment because we cannot change our genetic makeup,” he said. “But we can change our environment.”

This environment includes not only where the person physically resides, but also the food they eat and the toxins they are exposed to, which may include cosmetics or other products used on a daily basis. Vojdani says a predictive autoantibody test would help patients measure their risk for autoimmune disease.

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EAT-Lancet Commission recommends “planetary healthy diet” at United Nations meeting

The EAT-Lancet Commission launched its global planetary health dietary recommendations at the United Nations, the latest in a series of proposals by the commission calling for drastic changes to both diet and food production.

The 37 experts from 16 countries with expertise across the health, environment, economic, and political spectrums were tasked with providing a scientific consensus on how to provide a healthy diet to a growing global population, while protecting the environment.  Globally, there are over 800 million people who do not have enough to eat. However, in more developed countries, diet-driven chronic diseases are on the rise, in in the U.S., over half of the population have a chronic health condition.

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Diet and food production must radically change to improve health

Transformation of the global food system is urgently needed as more than 3 billion people are malnourished, including people who are undernourished and over-nourished, and food production is exceeding planetary boundaries, driving climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution due to over-application of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers, and unsustainable changes in water and land use.

The findings are from the EAT-Lancet Commission, which provides the first scientific targets for a healthy diet from a sustainable food production system that operates within planetary boundaries for food. The report promotes diets consisting of a variety of plant-based foods, with low amounts of animal-based foods, refined grains, highly processed foods, and added sugars, and with unsaturated rather than saturated fats.

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Why Chronic Disease is an Environmental Issue

Isadora Guggenheim, ND, joins Integrative Practitioner editor, Katherine Rushlau, to discuss how chronic conditions have impaired epigenetic sources, as well as appropriate identification, testing and treatment protocols to reverse chronic disease.

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WHO report details public health issues and climate change

Cost is often an issue when it comes to addressing climate change, but experts say the benefits far outweigh the costs. In fact, meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement could save about a million lives a year worldwide by 2050 through reductions in air pollution alone, and the value of health gains from climate action would be approximately double the cost of mitigation policies at global level.

A World Health Organization (WHO) report, released at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP24) in Katowice, Poland, highlights why health considerations are critical to the advancement of climate action and outlines recommendations for policy makers.

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White House global warming report: What integrative practitioners need to know

The Trump administration released a major climate assessment, which predicts several severe outcomes for public health and the economy.

The 1,600-page National Climate Assessment report, culminating years of research by top scientists, details the effects of climate change, as well as the scope of the threats posed, in what experts are calling the most thorough analysis yet of the dangers of unchecked global warming. The report is required by Congress every four years and is issued by 13 federal agencies and the U.S. Global Change Research Program.

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Chronic Disease is an Environmental Issue

Cancer, diabetes, auto-immune, Lyme, and other chronic conditions have impaired epigenetic sources. This session will explore through literature review and clinical practice the underlying root causes of chronic diseases. The session will address appropriate identification, testing and treatment protocols and will teach how to integrate modern depuration protocols to reverse chronic disease.

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The Top Four Pollutants in Your Body and What They Are Doing to You

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Fourth Report on Human Exposure lists 126 toxicants that are found ubiquitously in the North American population, about 50 percent of all they test for. All these pollutants have been linked to disease processes. This talk will focus on four of the most damaging compounds: air pollution, bisphenols, phthalates and perfluorocarbons. All of these are found in virtually everyone and are causally linked to the biggest chronic diseases now epidemic in modern society.

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Survival Strategies To Deal With Four Of The Most Damaging Pollutants

The majority of the 126 pollutants found in everyone are non-persistent compounds with relatively short half-lives. Air pollutants, bisphenols and phthalates are in this category. For these three compounds avoidance is the first step, followed by reversal of tissue damage. Perfluorocarbons are persistent and are probably the most difficult pollutant to move out of the body. Avoidance methods for these four pollutant classes will be discusses along with the most effective means of reversing pollutant-induced tissue damage. Depuration strategies for perfluorocarbons will also be addressed.

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