Michael Carlston, M.D. – Family Practice & Complementary Medicine
homeopathy . nutrition . herbs . sports medicine
This seems to be the week of omega-3 oil publications. First there was a PATHETIC study whose authors claimed they had proved that O-3 supplements increase prostate cancer. http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/07/09/jnci.djt174.abstract. A boat load of scientists responded in the harshest terms, suggesting the author was trying to get attention (“the work of a junior professor”) and wondering […]
Several years ago when I attended the first medical conference on vitamin D designed for clinicians, the limited data we had were very exciting. There was also many reasons to be skeptical and many were. It all sounded too good to be true they thought. Maybe higher vitamin D levels just told us who was […]
It is summertime. I am filling out lots of summer camp and other “special experience” forms for the children in my practice. The kids who live in my neighborhood are engaged in different activities (no lemonade stands yet, though) and the school behind my house is now a summer camp. It has me thinking. As […]
A new, very large, well-designed and important study linking specific prenatal maternal environmental exposures to later autism, conducted by researchers from Harvard and the MIND Institute in Davis, has just been published. Here is the link to the article. The study of 325 autistic individuals and over 22,000 healthy children, compared data about environmental levels of […]
A controversial but prominent advocate of immunizations in the United States is now becoming a vocal critic of nutrition. In advance of his new book, which advertisements and reviews suggest is a diatribe against acupuncture, chiropractic, supplements, etc., he wrote an editorial for the New York Times espousing the harms of vitamin supplements. In the […]
I am fascinated by telomeres. Telomeres aren’t some sort of underwater television or talking mirrors. Telomeres are caps on the ends of your DNA, your genes. They shorten with age. Eventually they are gone and so are we. As they shorten we become more vulnerable to disease and generally poor health. With advancing age, our […]
One of the most popular antibiotics, azithromycin, has now been shown to cause fatal heart rhythms in some people. You might have heard of it as ZITHROMAX, or in a conveniently packaged series of doses called Z-PAK. Although rare, the severity certainly grabs our attention and warrants concern. This lethal adverse effect is not a […]
Needing to wear glasses has long been viewed as a mark of geekiness without any other real significance. “Just bad luck”, the medical experts said. “Your eyeball is just shaped wrong and there is nothing you can do about it”. Dissenting voices, especially from the fuzzier end of the alternative medical spectrum, promoted eye exercises […]
We have become increasingly isolated and fearful, unconcerned about others in our community and often afraid of “them.” Or have we? Like everyone else, I have been thinking a lot about the Boston Marathon terrorist attack. We all have our own take on the event. Many of you know that part of my sports […]
Sports-related concussions have been gaining attention lately. Far, far too late in my opinion. It is almost like our thinking about this issue has been as impaired as the post-concussion brains of the afflicted athletes. Our cavalier attitude, so entrenched for so many generations, is truly bizarre. Before I get too self-righteous I need to […]