Integrative Health Blog

Dr. Chas Gant, integrative and functional medicine physician,  at National Integrated Health Associates was recently interviewed on TakeBackYourHealth radio on the subject of Depression: What We Can Learn from Robin Williams.

What are the causes of depression and what can we do about it?

Listen to the interview

Free Methylation Webinar:

Understanding MTHFR, Methylation and Inflammation

Date: Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Time: 8:00 PM - 9:00 PM (Eastern Time) 5PM Pacific
Location: on-line webinar
Presenter: Chas Gant MD, PhD

"How the Perfect Storm of Methylation Defects, Oxidative Stress
and Inflammation Predisposes You to Chronic Medical & Psychiatric Disorders"

Many immunological, hormonal, structural, energetic, metabolic, nutritional, toxicological, infectious and genetic stressors conspire to exacerbate fight/flight, degenerative, sympathetic dysautonomia, the root cause of chronic medical and psychiatric disorders.

This first of three webinars will introduce practitioners to practical applications of functional medicine and nutrigenomics to mitigate fight/flight, degenerative, sympathetic dysautonomia, and thus help to address the root cause of chronic medical and psychiatric disorders.

Future webinars (August 12 & 26) hosted by the Academy of Functional
Medicine & Genomics will introduce specific technologies to overcome
methylation defects, decrease glutathione demands through lessening
inflammation and oxidative stress from toxins (e.g., mercury) and
chronic infections (e.g., Lyme and candida), and the use of precursor
loading and mindfulness-based psychotherapeutic techniques to activate
prefrontal cortex activity to further diminish fight/flight, degenerative,
sympathetic dysautonomia.

Space is limited.

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing
information about joining the Webinar.

Chas Gant MD, PhD

I appreciated the article Got Constipation?  by Debra Graugnard, a Certified Colon Hydrotherapist at NIHA, and I plan to photocopy it and provide the copy to all of my patients who suffer from constipation.  Constipation as a symptom is not taken seriously by many healthcare practitioners, including me at various times in my career, which is in my opinion constitutes negligence.  Constipation is a serious and deadly symptom and should be aggressively cured.  

I have some good news to add to these nice suggestions about managing constipation in the article Got Constipation? by Debra Graugnard - the actual, primary cause of chronic constipation has been discovered. Anytime in history when the causal factor is discovered for a symptom or a disorder, clinicians have been able to zero in on the cause and be more effective in achieving positive outcomes.  Knowing the primary cause of chronic constipation helps us understand why colon hydrotherapy is so effective.  Knowing the cause also should help clinicians and patients alike take this symptom very seriously.

Constipation and  Neurotoxins

Chas Gant  MD, PhD

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory, severe, usually progressive, autoimmune, demyelinating, mildly inheritable disease of the central nervous system which many studies suggest is rapidly increasing in prevalence and incidence[1]. The earliest symptoms of MS include psychological distress, fatigue, numbness, impaired vision, loss of balance, weakness and even bladder dysfunction, and they usually begin in early adulthood. With conventional management of MS, these symptoms can wax and wane for up to 30 years, but in roughly 50% of all cases MS steadily progresses to severe disability and premature death killing about 3,000 Americans a year.  MS is named for the many scars it produces in the brain and spinal cord as white blood cells (T cells) attack the myelin insulation around neurons.  MS afflicts between 250,000 and 350,000 Americans per year.

by Chas Gant MD, PhD

Functional Medicine, which is neither Conventional nor Alternative Medicine

I have practiced functional medicine since it was invented over 30 years ago and during these decades I have reluctantly tolerated and overlooked being mislabeled as an “alternative medicine[1]” doctor.  Healthcare consumers and practitioners alike often fail to recognize that functional medicine has virtually nothing to do with alternative medicine practices such as homeopathy, acupuncture, herbal medicine or hands-on-healing. Functional medicine is also not conventional medicine.  Functional medicine is a third and completely different discipline.  Functional medicine’s uniqueness stems from its heavy reliance on certain basic sciences - toxicology, biochemistry, physiology, anatomy and genetics - which in widely varying degrees are part of the educational curricula of all licensed healthcare professionals. These basic sciences are also referred to as “pure sciences” because they conform more rigorously to scientific method. 

Scientific method refers to a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. To be termed scientific, a method of inquiry must be based on gathering observable, empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning. A scientific method consists of the collection of data through observation and experimentation, and the formulation and testing of hypotheses.  Once a hypothesis has been proven, it can provide a predictable model which can then be used to formulate further hypotheses and experimentation.