Integrative Practitioner’s Top Articles of 2024

By Avery St. Onge

As we usher in the new year, it’s important to take a step back and reflect on all that 2024 brought to the field of integrative medicine, gaining insights into what trends should be expanded upon and which to leave behind.

While weight loss and weight loss drugs dominated the headlines in conventional medicine, they took a backseat in the integrative world. Instead, Integrative Practitioner’s most popular 2024 articles focused on Alzheimer’s disease prevention, female hormones, and healthy aging. However, other, more unexpected subjects also made the list, offering fresh perspectives on the evolving landscape of integrative care.

Read more for our list of the ten most-read articles in 2024.

Does Hormone Therapy Increase or Decrease Alzheimer’s Dementia Risk?

The data regarding the risk of Alzheimer’s dementia for women taking hormones is nuanced and sometimes contradictory. Fortunately, there are emerging, useful data and important considerations to help guide clinicians when working with menopausal patients.

In 2023, there were several studies published in prestigious medical journals describing a potential increased risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in women who received menopausal hormone therapy (MHT). This included a Danish nested case-control study in BMJ and a cross-sectional study from Wisconsin published in JAMA Neurology.

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Navigating the Hormonal Impacts of Intermittent Fasting for Women

Intermittent fasting (IF) is among the most common strategies for weight loss. It’s been shown to improve not just weight but also metabolic health, chronic inflammation, and aging. However, some reports suggest that the diet may be less effective for female patients.

According to Kaely McDevitt, RD, founder of KM Nutrition, few studies explore the impacts of IF on women specifically, a common theme throughout medical research. McDevitt, whose virtual private practice specializes in hormone balance and digestive health, said many of her clients have attempted IF only to worsen their hormone problems, particularly those of childbearing age.

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Dr. David Perlmutter on the Key to Preventing Alzheimer’s Disease

Recently, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expedited the approval of two types of drugs aimed at addressing β-amyloid, the sticky protein widely recognized as the cause of Alzheimer’s. However, research suggests that decreasing β-amyloids is not the solution to preventing cognitive decline, said David Perlmutter, MD, FACN, ABIHM, at the Integrative Healthcare Symposium in New York City.

“We’re bombarded with the idea that the amyloid hypothesis of Alzheimer’s disease is rock solid,” said Dr. Perlmutter, board-certified neurologist and author of Grain Brain, “despite the fact that some of the seminal work in 2006 was found to be fabricated and that the images used for some of the displays of the proteins were actually Photoshopped.”

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Exploring Low-Dose Oral Methylene Blue for Mitochondrial Support

About 95 percent of people have some level of mitochondrial dysfunction, and methylene blue has the potential to help most of them, according to Scott Sherr, MD.

“It could be used across the board for a variety of patients to help them feel better and faster while you’re doing the hard work of trying to figure out why their mitochondria aren’t working,” said Dr. Sherr, Chief Operating Officer of Transcriptions TX, a methylene blue retailer.

Nicknamed the “magic bullet,” methylene blue’s ability to target specific bacteria without causing serious harm to the rest of the body was revolutionary for its time. It was the first drug registered with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1897, originally used as an antimicrobial to treat diseases like malaria. Later, it would be among the earliest drugs used for psychosis. However, after the advent of antibiotics and antipsychotics, it came out of favor due in part to its alarming side effect of turning urine blue.

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Natural Interventions for Tinnitus

Also referred to as ringing in the ears, tinnitus is defined as high-pitched buzzing sounds generated by the body and not an outside source that only the affected person can hear. 

According to a new analysis published in The Lancet, the number of Americans with tinnitus is higher than previously thought and is on the rise. Using 2014 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data, the study found that nearly 30 million people in the United States, more than 11 percent of the population, have tinnitus which is an increase from 9.6 percent in 2007. The analysis also found that more than 41 percent always have symptoms with nearly 30 percent having symptoms for 15 years or longer.

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Your 2024 Integrative Healthcare Holiday Gift Guide

The holiday season is upon us, bringing joy, celebration, and the perennial question: what to gift the integrative practitioners and wellness enthusiasts in your life? At Integrative Practitioner, we’re here to help with our annual holiday gift guide, thoughtfully curated to inspire mindful and meaningful giving.

This year’s guide features an array of unique and practical products designed to support health, sustainability, and self-care. From innovative wellness tools to cozy sleep products and everything in between, these picks are perfect for promoting balance and well-being in both professional and personal life.

To read more, click here.

Resource Roundup: A Functional Medicine Approach to Irritable Bowel Syndrome

According to Clevland Clinic, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is categorized as a constellation of symptoms affecting the digestive system, such as diarrhea, constipation, bloating, and stomach pain. Generally thought to be a manageable and non-threatening condition, IBS can be extremely uncomfortable, inconvenient, and even debilitating for some patients.

Experts estimate that about 10 to 15 percent of the United States Population suffers from IBS, yet the mechanisms of the condition largely remain a mystery. And as is the case with most health issues, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to IBS. However, several integrative interventions have emerged as first-line treatments, as pharmaceuticals have not shown much success.

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Resource Roundup: A Whole Person Approach to Menopause

Menopause has long been a taboo subject, resulting in a lack of awareness in how to treat its symptoms among not only the general public but healthcare providers as well. And while there are conventional treatment options for menopause, many women seek an integrative approach to address their symptoms holistically.

According to the World Health Organization, menopause, which marks the end of a woman’s reproductive years, is accompanied by symptoms such as hot flushes and night sweats, changes in regularity and flow of the menstrual cycle, difficulty sleeping, vaginal dryness, and changes in mood. All that to say, a one-size-fits-all option is not realistic.

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Q&A: The Brain-Gut-Vagina Axis and How It Impacts Women’s Health

After learning about the brain-gut connection some ten years ago, Betsy Greenleaf, DO, FACOOG, FACOG, MBA, started to wonder how the concept could apply to her work as a urogynecologist specializing in pelvic medicine. 

“I kept thinking about the gut-brain axis, and this light bulb went off, and I was like, ‘Wait a minute, there’s a connection to the vagina too,'” Dr. Greenleaf said. “I was starting to see that when women’s gut microbiomes were off, they were getting more recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs) and vaginal dryness.”

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Orthorexia: A Unique and Complex Eating Disorder on the Rise

Orthorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that many people are unaware of and can be challenging to treat. A systematic review and meta-analysis featuring more than 30,000 people from 18 different countries published last year shows that the condition is on the rise and more common than you may think.

The analysis searched four databases from January 2005 to July 2023 and found that approximately three out of ten participants had symptoms of orthorexia. The key characteristic of orthorexia is an unhealthy obsession with healthy eating with a focus specifically on eating “clean and pure.” A 2022 review describes it as an unhealthy eating pattern that can start out health-promoting but then escalates. It includes an attitude of self-punishment that results in cleansing fasts and even tighter dietary restrictions. The patient can feel fearful of disease, anxiety, shame, and a sense of impurity.

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