Dr. Berkson's Best Health Radio Podcast

There is a documented epidemic of low testosterone (T) in males, even young males. Insufficient T is not only linked to erectile dysfunction, it is being reproducibly linked to dying prematurely (losing a few years off your life) from diverse causes, referred to as all-cause mortality. Sufficient levels of T, often higher than the lower end of most lab reference ranges, prevents a long list of serious illnesses such as cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, and Type-2 Diabetes. One of the first symptoms of insufficient T is low energy. This is because testosterone protects mitochondria, the energy production factory in most cells. Insufficient or low T causes mitochondria to become dysfunctional and you to become fatigued, and not the spry confident guy you used to be. Often, as males’ age, they may become grumpy, loose their zest for life, and be more prone to prostate cancer. Much of this is reversible or preventable by proper testing and treatment with bioidentical hormones. But hormones

Dr. Jack Monaco is a board certified OB/GYN, anti-aging functional medicine MD along with a masters in nutrition. Dr. Berkson and Dr. Monaco were lecturing together at PCCA, sponsor of symposiums for pharmacists, MDs and NPs. It was a meeting of the minds immediately. This is a must-not miss show that will arm you with knowledge and hormone power. You get “in on” a masterful dialogue on hormones that will answers many of your questions! PS: Dr. Jack is known for downloading complex information rapidly, making it very easy and very entertaining to grasp. And to immediately translate into your own life and decision making processes. In this show you will learn: The hormonal phases of a woman’s life. Who is a candidate for hormone therapy and who is not, and how to help your doctor figure this out. The “good” and “bad” of estrogen. What exactly does estrogen do. How estrogen does different things in different tissues. What exactly does progesterone do? Should women worry about chin hair growth? Should women wor

Today’s show explores your microbiomes, the different biomes between breast cancer and healthy breasts, and even how pollution can attack these microbes. You’ll also learn how Pollution Attacks Your Biomes and what you can do about it.  Inside the human body are nooks and crannies, called biomes, teeming with microbial life that includes viruses, bacteria and fungi.  We have “biomes” throughout our entire body. We have biomes in our eyes (the ocular biome), mouth (oral biome), in our esophagus, stomach, small intestine, colon (most commonly thought of as our microbiome), in our tonsils, vagina, respiratory tract and lungs, in the uterus, urethra, prostate, skin, and even inside our brain. There are biomes deep inside the chambers of your heart. Your colon is your most biome dense organ. It’s the most studied so far. But in today’s radio show you learn about your many biomes, especially inside the breast! Biomes give off peptide signaling molecules that allow biomes to cross-talk with each other and also with

Grammy winning musician, activist and author Judy Collins shares how she conquered her “food addiction” and maintains a stellar figure and career at age 79! Judy Collins has influenced the world through her music.  If you’re a boomer you might remember Judy’s rendition of  “Both Sides Now” from her album, Wildflowers. That recording resides in the Grammy Hall of Fame. Her version of “Send in the Clowns” also won "Song of the Year” at the Grammies. That was 1975.  Judy is still going strong. She’s almost 80—but move over Jane Fonda—her career is more than robust and totally envious. She travels worldwide singing her heart out at 150 performances a year. She’s still being nominated for major awards. She has a figure that Barbie would envy. She’s a Renaissance woman who’s also a painter, filmmaker, record label head, musical mentor, activist and in-demand keynote speaker for mental health and suicide prevention. Why is Judy on this health show today? Judy Collins is also an author. Today Judy shares her third bo

Unless you're Bill Gates you're just one serious illness away from bankruptcy. The paradox is that the US has the costliest health system in the world, yet it performs so poorly compared to many other countries. In today’s episode, Jeff Kanter and Dr. Berkson delve into this growing health care crisis surrounding health insurance. Health insurance is supposed to protect against possible “future risks” —but today’s systems are not offering all Americans adequate protection. Jeff Kanter is no stranger to politics and concern about regulatory health care and protection of the individual. Mr. Kanter was the campaign manager for Irwin Schiff’s 1996 Libertarian Presidential campaign. Now, Mr. Kanter is tackling health insurance. In today’s world of medicine, insurance companies have more and more control over how patients get treated. Doctor’s work directly for insurance companies, not for you, their patient. To create a new paradigm, Mr. Kanter co-founded a new company. In Health Excellence Plus, the doctor and p

Dr. Ronald Hoffman is one of New York's pioneering Integrative Medicine practitioners. Dr. Hoffman received his MD from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and has been practicing for 34 years. His radio program, Intelligent Medicine, is the longest-running physician-hosted health program on the air. Dr. Berkson and Dr. Hoffman have been colleagues for the last 30 years. In this show, Dr. Hoffman tackles a variety of issues including: Intermittent fasting How much calcium is good vs. dangerous Why we over use drugs and what to do about avoid excessive use How long can we expect to really stay fit How can seniors have immune systems of 30-year olds And more! I so enjoyed my conversation with Dr. Hoffman and hope you do too!

There are ten common issues patients identify with menopause:  1.     Resistant Weight Gain 2.     Insomnia 3.     Hot flashes 4.     Fatigue 5.     Brain mood cognition perception of life 6.     Brand new issues including skin problems 7.     Gut issues 8.     Genitourinary issues – leaking, dryness of vaginal and painful intercourse 9.     Libido 10. Joint pain In this episode, you will learn: What estrogen has to do with fat cell genes and mass and weight loss. Low estrogen + menopause + hormone altering chemicals is a recipe for resistant fat, and what to do about it. Hormones, appetite, weight control and metabolic syndrome helpers. Sitting and estrogens, what's the scoop and how to help. Insomnia and natural answers from hormones, to nutrients, to a special off label use of a med. Hot flashes: why they occur, what they suggest about longevity, efficacy of black cohosh, roasted soy nuts, and estrogen receptor beta's amazing role that you can tweak with rhubarb. Breast cancer risk, estrogen's, and the "

This week we heard about two shocking celebrity suicides from people the public dearly loves and who are considered epitomes of American success stories. Add to these the 123 suicides that stunningly occur every day within the United States, and we have to know that something is very wrong with our culture. We prioritize success. Over peace. And tools for peace. Instead, we customize ourselves and our children to reflex to  anger, pain, judgment, medications and law suits.  We do not teach in our schools or within our homes what it means to develop tools to be able to be present within ourselves, and to manage ourselves emotionally when suffering slams against our door. We pathologize life and tell people who are depressed that they need therapy. When we have to take a look at how we live. The beat of our culture is producing a suicidal rhythm. We are prioritizing things that don’t ensure peace and ignore tools that anchor the soul. Our lives can change so quickly. For good or for bad. We leave our own marks,

Dr. Berkson shares examples of cases in which patients lives were improved and changed by looking at their condition with a new set of functional medicine eyes. You will learn about a rare cause of insomnia, called “nocturnal hypertension.”  You will be amazed that one cause of idiopathic infertility may be subclinical hypothyroidism, even if your TSH thyroid blood test is still within normal range. Did you know that sperm count and shape can “say” a lot about a man’s heath, even his risk for metabolic disease? You will learn about the concept of “hormonal hyper-excreters” and how it can make some folks seem to fail with hormone replacement, when it is not the hormonal therapy that’s the issue. You may want to get Dr. Berkson’s Safe Hormones, Smart Women, in book or audio form, to learn more.

How many of us really know ourselves? What runs us that we don’t realize runs us? Have we worked out our demons and learned not to abandon ourselves? Is our inner gut calm or in a state of secret chronic terror? This interview is a delicious and incredibly “calming conversation” about the mysteries of finding livable peace in today’s crazy, cacophonous world. Want to feel calm. Want an antidote to stress? This interview between Dr. Berkson and Dr. Javed, is YOUR answer. Dr. Qazi Javed is a double board certified integrative medical physician who got out of school and in his first job saw 30 patients a day, soon realizing this wasn’t fair to either his patients or himself. There had to be another effective way to help others manage their emotions and lives. And to do so without traumatizing each other trying to accomplish healing in 15-minute increments. Today, Dr. Javed combines orthodox psychiatry with psychotherapy, orthomolecular medicine, nutrition, herbalism, and mind-body approaches. The emphasis is on

This is a perfect Mother’s Day podcast. This show is about a “never-giving-up mom on rhoids”—JJ Virgin. JJ Virgin’s son was in a serious accident and endured an extremely severe head trauma. Her son Grant was literally fighting for his life. The doctors declared there was hardly any chance of surviving let alone his ever being “normal” again. JJ does not give-up. She dug deep and in this riveting interview you hear how she did that. JJ describes how she creates hope inside herself, when there doesn’t seem to be any. You will hear the exact nutraceuticals and natural protocols she and her finally willing doctor used to heal this un-healable brain catastrophe. Taking her son from the brink of death with high dose fish oil, hormones, and energy modalities, inspired a new movement toward identifying and resolving brain injuries. Especially in children and teens. JJ is not new to having courage or stunning success. She is a celebrity nutritionist, fitness adviser, public speaker, and media personality. She’s been

Today’s show is more outside of “traditional” science than usual, but it is an area where more and more research is being done. Neurosurgeon Dr. Norm Shealy takes this episode from the beginning of classical methods of treating pain, depression, and diseases to atypical but contemporized methods that include energy medicine, nutrition, hormones and even mysticism! When Dr. Shealy first graduated Duke University School of Medicine, pain management wasentirely surgical. If you had back pain you got surgery. However surgery only reduced back pain about 10% of the time. If it failed and you had more pain after the surgery, your life was basically ruined. So Dr. Shealy added “energy” to the mix. Dr. Shealy did this by substituting “cutting” surgery with implanting electro- spinal signals into the spinal column, which delivered energy signals to effectively reduce pain without major cutting. Dr. Shealy then invented a next generation of the Tens unit (first invented by a chiropractor and then a naturopath but broug

In today's show, Sellma Vllasi, NP and Dr. Berkson explore the gender differences in medicine:   - Which diseases women and men get more often and why. - Why women are more prone to auto-immune diseases. - Biases in treatment. - Biases in insurance reimbursement. - The conundrum of birth control with the burden on the woman, especially the fall-out of adverse side-effects of oral contraceptive. You also learn how to stand up for yourself in medicine to get the best care you can. Sellma Vllasi, NP works at the Wiseman Family Practice Clinic which specializes in functional medicine, natural answers for health problems, and is one of the top bioidentical hormone clinics in Austin, Texas. Dr. Berkson worked on premises at the Wiseman Clinic for 6 years and continues to share mutual patients.

Some people say no pain no gain but is that true for severe physical pain? Why be in horrific physical pain if healthy natural answers exist to set you free? Surgery options? Many fusions cause downstream pain and dysfunction issues. The fused area looses motion, which, within months or years after surgery, puts increased movement demands on the joints areas above and below to pick up some of the motion slack. Pain? If you develop severe back or leg pain after a back surgery, this often signals a serious long-term hard-to-treat scenario. Thus, faster, safer and easier methods to deal with disc surgery, are needed. In this show you will learn what they are. Dr. Bleiweiss is one of two medical surgeons in the U.S. that performs Oxygen Ozone Disc Injection Therapy. You’ll learn the multiple benefits of ozone disc therapy, how it compares to conventional treatments, and who is and is not a candidate for this intervention. I asked Dr. Bleiweiss why are there only two physicians in the U.S. doing this procedure if

Most Americans think that FDA regulations protect them from harm. Sadly, this is rarely— if ever—the case. Dr. Mary Ruwart explains that more FDA regulation has actually caused more expensive drugs and increased premature deaths. Our FDA system is shockingly set up to keep drugs at higher costs while preventing citizens from learning about safer, natural answers. How did this happen? Dr. Ruwart shares exactly how the “1962 Amendments to the Food & Drug Act”—that were supposed to protect us from harm—have done the opposite. In this imperative talk you learn the dark details, and on the other hand, you also gain positive, protective actions that you and your family can take immediately.  Dr. Mary J. Ruwart is a pharmaceutical research scientist, ethicist, and a libertarian author/activist. She has been a participant in Congress and was a runner-up for the U.S. presidency on the Libertarian ticket. Dr. Ruwart’s been a guest on The Larry King Radio Show; The Morton Downey, Jr. Show; Rolanda, and more. Her Int

In this show you will hear probiotics myths explored and busted with microbiologist Kiran Krishnan. You will discover the “mucosal system” and what this has to do with protecting your health. Kiran and Berkson discuss: Probiotic myths — explored and busted. Differences between “live” and “dead” probiotics. What are “spores”, Do you need to refrigerate probiotics? What are “gut model studies” and why are they critical? How esophageal reflux is linked to downstream intestinal gases from pathogenic overgrowth What you should expect from a great probiotic. You learn that bacterial translocation (leaky gut) occurs in most of us after most meals but in a very small amount for a very short period of time. This is normal. In contrast, in disease states or with poor dietary choices, bacterial translocation (also referred to as metabolic endotoxemia) can occur for pathologically longer times, creating inflammatory havoc throughout the body. A human randomized trial by researchers from the University of North Texas pu

How might women get a bad rap in medicine and what you might do about it?  Dr. Berkson and Sellma Vllasi, FNP-C, practiced in the same family medicine clinic for 6 years and still share many patients. Vllasi is an integrative and functional medicine nurse practitioner, team leader of the Wiseman Family Practice (in charge of provider education) and previously was a labor and delivery nurse for eight years. Today’s show explores: Gender bias and differences in medicine (from diagnosis to treatment and insurance reimbursement) Gender differences in provider’s perceptions Women are often taken less seriously Women are often recommended aggressive prophylactic procedures (such as hysterectomy and bilateral mastectomy) but this is not the case for males even though males have a high incidence of prostate cancer, plus the rate of breast cancer in males is rapidly increasing) and men can get BRCA genetic glitches, too. When data came out in 2012 that testosterone therapy during prostate cancer treatment is protecti

Romantic love—we can’t live with it and we can’t live without it. As humans we are very open both to great love and to great sorrow. We are built for monogamous love as well as for cheating. How we straddle the enormous divide between the drive to mate and the drive for independence varies with each of us, influenced by societal norms and even public health issues, like the hormone-altering-chemicals found in plastics and heavy metals. Is the drive to love so deeply wired that it’s safe from outside toxicities, or might environmental pollution be changing our brains and thus our ability to love? Why is the drive to love so strong? Where does romantic love “live” inside our brains? How do we pick the "right one"? Once we find love, how do we make it stay?

Berkson tackles the rise of anger and violence in America: the debates, the second amendment controversies, the consensus, why we haven’t heard from the CDC and the surgeon general, and what might junk food and ‘hormone altering chemicals' have to do with it? This is a riveting and heartfelt dialogue that needs to be heard, pondered and shared.

Dr. Perlmutter is a Board-Certified Neurologist and four-time New York Times bestselling author. He serves as a medical advisor for The Dr. Oz Show and is known as the leading integrative medical neurologist in North America today. On this show Dr. Perlmutter defines functional neurology and discusses why he went down this “rogue” route.   Dr. Perlmutter and Dr. B. discuss why functional approaches require multiple interventions, doing away with the “one magic bullet” concept of pharmaceutical meds. They go in-depth into nutrients, ozone, glaucoma, dementia and the major question: Should everyone should go gluten free?