The concepts of 'lifestyle psychiatry,' and 'nutritional psychiatry' are transforming the way we think about mental health and wellbeing. Professor Joseph Firth shares his influential work in this area and its implications for changing clinical practice and health policy. We also discuss the digital environment as a newly evolving lifestyle factor that influences mental health.

About our guest:

Dr. Firth is Professor of Psychology & Mental Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, U.K, with a PhD (Medicine) from The University of Manchester.

Internationally recognized as one of the most highly-cited scientists in Digital Medicine, Lifestyle Psychiatry and Mental Health, he was awarded the USERN Laureate in Social Sciences in 2022 and named Research.com's #1 "Rising Star" in 2023.

A five-time recipient of the Clarivate™ Highly Cited Researcher award (2020–2024), he has published over 300 articles with more than 45,000 citations (h-index = 90), including first-author papers in top journals like The BMJ and The Lancet Psychiatry.

His current research leverages digital technologies and lifestyle medicine to improve outcomes for people with mental illness, and he is currently leading a multi-million £ UKRI-funded project around the implementation of digital lifestyle interventions into youth mental healthcare.

Dr. Firth also leads the Lancet Commission on Physical Health in Mental Illness, and acts as expert advisor for the World Health Organization's "Guidelines on Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour".

He has also engaged extensively with traditional and online media, with his publications around lifestyle and nutritional approaches to mental illness receiving coverage from >700 news outlets (including Times, Forbes, CNN, etc.) along with televised interviews on Sky News and BBC television.

Guest websites and links:

https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/persons/joseph.firth

Selection of our guest's publications:

• Brinsley J, O'Connor EJ, Singh B, et al. Effectiveness of Digital Lifestyle Interventions on Depression, Anxiety, Stress, and Well-Being: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. J Med Internet Res. 2025 Mar 20;27:e56975.
• Marx W, Lane M, Hockey M, et al. Diet and depression: exploring the biological mechanisms of action. Mol Psychiatry. 2021 Jan;26(1):134-150.
• Firth J, Gangwisch JE, Borisini A, Wootton RE, Mayer EA. Food and mood: how do diet and nutrition affect mental wellbeing? BMJ. 2020 Jun 29;369:m2382.
• Firth J, Solmi M, Wootton RE, et al. A meta-review of "lifestyle psychiatry": the role of exercise, smoking, diet and sleep in the prevention and treatment of mental disorders. World Psychiatry. 2020 Oct;19(3):360-380.
• Firth J, Teasdale SB, Allott K, et al. The efficacy and safety of nutrient supplements in the treatment of mental disorders: a meta-review of meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials. World Psychiatry. 2019 Oct;18(3):308-324.
• Firth J, Marx W, Dash S, et al. The Effects of Dietary Improvement on Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Psychosom Med. 2019 Apr;81(3):265-280.
• Firth J, Veronese N, Cotter J, et al. What Is the Role of Dietary Inflammation in Severe Mental Illness? A Review of Observational and Experimental Findings. Front Psychiatry. 2019 May 15;10:350.
• Firth J, Stubbs B, Sarris J, et al. The effects of vitamin and mineral supplementation on symptoms of schizophrenia: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychol Med. 2017 Jul;47(9):1515-1527.

Dr Adrian Lopresti shares important clinical insights from his published research on natural products such as saffron, ashwagandha, curcumin and magnesium on anxiety, depression and insomnia. He also discusses personalised Integrative therapy, a holistic treatment model he has pioneered that places the use of natural products in the wider context of lifestyle medicine and nutritional psychiatry.

About our guest:

Dr Adrian Lopresti is the managing director at Clinical Research Australia, a clinical psychologist, and an adjunct senior lecturer at Murdoch University, Western Australia.

He regularly publishes in peer-reviewed, high-impact journals and has completed more than 50 clinical trials investigating the effects of ingredients such as saffron, ashwagandha, curcumin, lutein, bacopa monnieri, magnesium, probiotics, and holy basil on anxiety, depression, insomnia, cognitive decline, osteoarthritis, digestive conditions, and general wellbeing in children and adults.

Dr Lopresti also has over 25 years of clinical experience working with children and adults experiencing a range of mental health conditions and has extensive experience in utilising psychological, nutritional and lifestyle treatments.

Dr Lopresti is also the founder of Personalised Integrative Therapy, a holistic treatment for depression and anxiety, and regularly conducts workshops both nationally and internationally.

Guest websites and links:

https://clinicalresearch.com.au

https://pitherapy.com.au

Selection of our guest's publications:

• Schuster J, Cycelskij I, Lopresti A, Hahn A. Magnesium Bisglycinate Supplementation in Healthy Adults Reporting Poor Sleep: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial. Nat Sci Sleep. 2025 Aug 30;17:2027-2040.
• Lopresti AL, Smith SJ, Metse AP, Drummond PD. Effects of saffron on sleep quality in healthy adults with self-reported poor sleep: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. J Clin Sleep Med. 2020 Jun 15;16(6):937-947.
• Smith SJ, Lopresti AL, Fairchild TJ. Exploring the efficacy and safety of a novel standardized ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) root extract (Witholytin®) in adults experiencing high stress and fatigue in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. J Psychopharmacol. 2023 Nov;37(11):1091-1104.
• Lopresti AL, Smith SJ, Metse AP, Foster T, Drummond PD. The Feasibility and Efficacy of a Brief Integrative Treatment for Adults With Depression and/or Anxiety: A Randomized Controlled Trial. J Evid Based Integr Med. 2020 Jan-Dec;25:2515690X20937997.
• Sarris J, Ravindran A, Yatham LN, et al. Clinician guidelines for the treatment of psychiatric disorders with nutraceuticals and phytoceuticals: The World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP) and Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT) Taskforce. World J Biol Psychiatry. 2022 Jul;23(6):424-455.
• Lopresti AL. The Problem of Curcumin and Its Bioavailability: Could Its Gastrointestinal Influence Contribute to Its Overall Health-Enhancing Effects? Adv Nutr. 2018 Jan 1;9(1):41-50.
• Lopresti AL, Maker GL, Hood SD, Drummond PD. A review of peripheral biomarkers in major depression: the potential of inflammatory and oxidative stress biomarkers. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2014 Jan 3;48:102-11.

Coenzyme Q10 has established use across both primary and secondary deficiency diseases. In this episode, Dr. Iain P. Hargreaves, PhD, an eminent scientist working on CoQ10, walks us through its history, functions, his work looking at blood brain barrier transport, clinical considerations around testing and supplementation, and where research is going in the future.

About our guest:

Dr. Iain P. Hargreaves, PhD is Senior Lecturer in Clinical Biochemistry / Honorary Consultant Clinical Scientist at the Neurometabolic Unit, National Hospital, Queen Square, London, UK School of Pharmacy, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK.

Following his completion of a PhD in biochemistry at Liverpool University, UK he worked for Prof. Simon Heales and Dr. John Land at the Institute of Neurology, University College of London, London, UK where he was involved in the establishment of the Neurometabolic Unit which specialises in the diagnosis of metabolic disease, especially mitochondrial and neurotransmitter disorders.

Dr Hargreaves worked in the Neurometabolic Unit for 21 years until he left to take up a lecturing position in biochemistry/clinical biochemistry at Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK. Dr Hargreaves has retained an honorary consultant clinical scientist and senior lecturer position within the Neurometabolic Unit and Institute of Neurology, respectively and is still actively involved in the mitochondrial diagnostic service.

Dr Hargreaves is editor of Coenzyme Q10: From Fact to Fiction (2015), Mitochondrial Respiratory Chain Disorders: From Clinical Presentation to Diagnosis and Treatment (2019) and author of 160 peer-review research papers.

Guest websites and links:

• https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Iain-Hargreaves

Selection of our guest's publications:

• Mantle D, Dewsbury M, Hargreaves IP. The Ubiquinone-Ubiquinol Redox Cycle and Its Clinical Consequences: An Overview. Int J Mol Sci. 2024 Jun 20;25(12):6765.
• Mantle D, Hargreaves IP, Domingo JC, Castro-Marrero J. Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Coenzyme Q10 Supplementation in Post-Viral Fatigue Syndrome: An Overview. Int J Mol Sci. 2024 Jan 1;25(1):574.
• Mantle D, Hargreaves I. Coenzyme Q10 and the Blood-Brain Barrier: An Overview. J Clin Med. 2025 Apr 16;14(8):2748.
• Staiano C, García-Corzo L, Mantle D, Turton N, Millichap LE, Brea-Calvo G, Hargreaves I. Biosynthesis, Deficiency, and Supplementation of Coenzyme Q. Antioxidants (Basel). 2023 Jul 21;12(7):1469.
• Mantle D, Heaton RA, Hargreaves IP. Coenzyme Q10, Ageing and the Nervous System: An Overview. Antioxidants (Basel). 2021 Dec 21;11(1):2.

Neurodegenerative diseases, including Motor Neurone Disease (MND)/Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson's Disease and Huntington's Disease, are generally considered progressive and irreversible, but a personalised, systems biology-based approach could challenge this view. A better understanding of the biology, modifiable contributors, and the use of personalised nutritional medicine is radically changing the way we think about neurodegenerative disease, and in this episode Dr. Kirstie Lawton, PhD explains why.

About our guest:

Dr. Kirstie Lawton, PhD is an AfN registered Nutritionist, a BANT registered Nutritionist, and a CNHC registered Nutritional Therapist, with a nutrition career spanning more than 20 years. She obtained a BSc Hons in Public Health Nutrition and a PhD in Nutrition from Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, and a DipION in Nutritional Therapy from the Institute for Optimum Nutrition in Richmond, London. She obtained a PGCE in Higher Education at the University of London to support her academic role. She is also completing an MSc in Neuroscience and Neurodegeneration through the University of Sheffield School of Medicine and Population Health.

In addition to her clinical role, Kirstie was integral in the establishment of the UK's first level 6 Graduate Diploma in Integrative Functional Nutrition at the Institute for Optimum Nutrition in collaboration with Portsmouth University, which was developed to support medical doctors, allied and complementary healthcare practitioners, to understand and incorporate functional nutritional concepts into their current practice. She is also a member of the editorial board of the Nutritional Medicine Institute (NMI) and journal.

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Her interest in brain health is based on her own experience with a seemingly undiagnosable range of neurological symptoms, which have improved through diet, lifestyle and nutraceutical support. She is currently focusing her clinical work on diet and lifestyle approaches to support those with Motor Neurone Disease (MND)/Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson's Disease and Huntington's Disease.

Guest websites and links:

• https://www.younutritionclinic.com/

Additional publications:

• Crayle J, Lutz M, Raymond J, Mehta P, Bedlack R. Study of "ALS reversals": LifeTime environmental exposures (StARLiTE). Amyotroph Lateral Scler Frontotemporal Degener. 2023 Feb;24(1-2):54-62.
• Okun MS, Dorsey R. The Parkinson's Plan: A New Path to Prevention and Treatment. PublicAffairs. 2025.

Dedication:

Dr. Lawton would like to dedicate this episode to Ray Griffiths (1959-2025), who's work on Parkinsons disease inspired her own and was important for laying foundations for a systems-based approach to personalised nutrition and lifestyle medicine for neurodegenerative disease.

Genetic testing can help guide highly individualised diet and lifestyle medicine-based interventions and is also highly motivational. We meet Dr Denise Furness, a pioneer and thought leader on nutrigenomics and hear how she started in research and extended into clinical work and education for health professionals focusing on the role of genomics in nutritional and lifestyle medicine. Our discussion includes foundational concepts around nutrigenomics in clinical practice and her recent BIO AGE study.

Guest:

Dr. Denise Furness, PhD

About our guest:

Dr. Denise Furness PhD is a pioneer in the field of nutrigenomics and personalised health with almost 20 years' experience in the area. Dr Furness began her research career in 2003 investigating folate and B vitamin metabolism, methylation and DNA damage in relation to pregnancy health. Over the years her research expanded to include vitamin D, immune health and oxidative stress in relation to both male and female fertility. This research was conducted with the University of Adelaide, CSIRO human nutrition and The Women's and Children's Hospital in Adelaide, Australia. During this time, she witnessed a high success rate in the recurrent miscarriage and high-risk pregnancy clinics. She has published her work in peer reviewed journals and has won numerous awards for her research and conference presentations.

In 2012 Dr Furness founded Your Genes & Nutrition and began working with integrative medical doctors and learning about functional medicine. She has since become a prominent thought leader in this field and lectured for the Australasian College of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine (ACNEM), is editor of the ACNEM Journal and on the editorial board for the Nutritional Medicine Journal. Dr Furness regularly lectures globally at conferences for health professionals on topics related to nutrigenomics and functional medicine.

In her clinical practice, Dr Furness works with a range of patients helping them identify underlying triggers and root causes of their health concerns. Using a combined approach of genetics, biochemical markers, nutrition and lifestyle medicine she helps people take charge of their health and wellbeing.

Guest websites and links:

https://drdenisefurness.com.au

Selection of our guest's publications:

• Jankovic-Karasoulos T, Furness DL, Leemaqz SY, Dekker GA, Grzeskowiak LE, Grieger JA, Andraweera PH, McCullough D, McAninch D, McCowan LM, Bianco-Miotto T, Roberts CT. Maternal folate, one-carbon metabolism and pregnancy outcomes. Matern Child Nutr. 2021 Jan;17(1):e13064.
• Kos BJP, Leemaqz SY, McCormack CD, Andraweera PH, Furness DL, Roberts CT, Dekker GA. The association of parental methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase polymorphisms (MTHFR 677C > T and 1298A > C) and fetal loss: a case-control study in South Australia. J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med. 2020 Mar;33(5):752-757.
• McCormack CD, Leemaqz SY, Furness DL, Dekker GA, Roberts CT. Anti-Müllerian hormone levels in recurrent embryonic miscarriage patients are frequently abnormal, and may affect pregnancy outcomes. J Obstet Gynaecol. 2019 Jul;39(5):623-627.
• McCormack C, Leemaqz S, Furness D, Dekker G, Roberts C. Association between vitamin D status and hyperinsulinism. J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med. 2019 Dec;32(23):4005-4008.
• Furness DL, Yasin N, Dekker GA, Thompson SD, Roberts CT. Maternal red blood cell folate concentration at 10-12 weeks gestation and pregnancy outcome. J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med. 2012 Aug;25(8):1423-7.

Thomas G. Guilliams, PhD is an expert in a systems-biology based approach to dietary interventions, lifestyle medicine and nutritional and herbal supplements. This conversation shares his insights from extensive experience in dietary supplements that culminated in the publication of a foundational textbook, Supplementing Dietary Nutrients. We discus important themes such as how to contextualise the use and expectations of supplements alongside dietary and lifestyle changes, marketing vs. science, bioavailability, and issues around quality.

Guest:

Thomas G. Guilliams, PhD

About our guest:

Thomas G. Guilliams, PhD (Tom) earned his doctorate in molecular immunology from the Medical College of Wisconsin. For the past 28 years, he has spent his time investigating the mechanisms and actions of lifestyle and nutrient-based therapies and is an expert in the science and therapeutic uses of dietary supplements. Tom currently serves as an adjunct associate professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Pharmacy and was the VP of Science for Ortho Molecular Products for 24 years (he now serves them as a consultant). Over the past decade, he has written a series of teaching manuals (Road Maps) that teach and evaluate the principles and protocols that are fundamental to the functional and integrative medical communities. His publication The Role of Stress and the HPA Axis in Chronic Disease Management, now in its second edition, has become the standard for teaching this critical topic to healthcare professionals. He is the founder and director of the Point Institute, an independent research and publishing organization that facilitates the distribution of his many publications. A frequent guest-speaker, Dr. Guilliams provides straight-forward science-based training to a variety of healthcare disciplines in the use of lifestyle and non-pharmacological therapies. Tom is an avid outdoorsman with too many hobbies to list. He is blessed to live in the woodlands of Central Wisconsin with his family.

Guest websites and links:

• https://www.pointinstitute.org

Selection of our guest's publications:

• Guilliams, T. Supplementing Dietary Nutrients, Second Edition. The Point Institute. 2020.
• Guilliams, T. Bioavailability of Supplemental Dietary Nutrients: Challenges and Conundrums. The Point Institute. 2020.
• Guilliams TG, Weintraub J. Implementing Personalized Dietary Interventions for Immune-Mediated Inflammatory Diseases. Integr Med (Encinitas). 2023 Nov;22(5):18-26.
• Guilliams TG, Drake LE. Meal-Time Supplementation with Betaine HCl for Functional Hypochlorhydria: What is the Evidence? Integr Med (Encinitas). 2020 Feb;19(1):32-36.

Dr David Unwin started a grass-roots approach to reversing cardiometabolic disease, in particular type-2 diabetes, in his clinical practice that has resulted in the publication of clinical evidence documenting patient outcomes and spurred a global movement that is transforming people's lives. In this remarkable conversation he shares his story, insights from the work he is doing, and new concepts around ultra-processed food addiction.

Guest:

Dr. David Unwin

About our guest:

Dr David Unwin is an award-winning GP known for pioneering the low-carb approach in the UK. He is the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) national champion for collaborative care and support planning in obesity and diabetes. He also won the NHS Innovator of the Year Award 2016 for his research into diet and lifestyle interventions. He has worked at Norwood Surgery in Southport since 1986 as a family doctor. To date, he has helped 141 patients achieve drug free, type 2 diabetes remission (achieving a remission rate of 51 per cent).

Guest websites and links:

• https://phcuk.org/
• https://phcuk.org/sugar/
• https://courses.bslm.org.uk/product?catalog=1693826133zBxc8

Selection of our guest's publications:

• Unwin J, Delon C, Giæver H, Kennedy C, Painschab M, Sandin F, Poulsen CS, Wiss DA. Low carbohydrate and psychoeducational programs show promise for the treatment of ultra-processed food addiction: 12-month follow-up. Front Psychiatry. 2025 Apr 14;16:1556988. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1556988. PMID: 40357512; PMCID: PMC12067479.
• Unwin D, Delon C, Unwin J, Tobin S, Taylor R. What predicts drug-free type 2 diabetes remission? Insights from an 8-year general practice service evaluation of a lower carbohydrate diet with weight loss. BMJ Nutr Prev Health. 2023 Jan 2;6(1):46-55.
• Unwin D, Unwin J, Crocombe D, Delon C, Guess N, Wong C. Renal function in patients following a low carbohydrate diet for type 2 diabetes: a review of the literature and analysis of routine clinical data from a primary care service over 7 years. Curr Opin Endocrinol Diabetes Obes. 2021 Oct 1;28(5):469-479.
• Brown A, McArdle P, Taplin J, Unwin D, Unwin J, Deakin T, Wheatley S, Murdoch C, Malhotra A, Mellor D. Dietary strategies for remission of type 2 diabetes: A narrative review. J Hum Nutr Diet. 2022 Feb;35(1):165-178.
• Unwin D, Khalid AA, Unwin J, Crocombe D, Delon C, Martyn K, Golubic R, Ray S. Insights from a general practice service evaluation supporting a lower carbohydrate diet in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and prediabetes: a secondary analysis of routine clinic data including HbA1c, weight and prescribing over 6 years. BMJ Nutr Prev Health. 2020 Nov 2;3(2):285-294.
• McAuliffe S, Unwin D, Bradfield J, Ray S, Martyn K. Bridging the gap between science-led research and evaluation of clinical practice: the role of service innovation audits and case studies. BMJ Nutr Prev Health. 2021 Feb 16;4(1):350-351.

Dr. Michelle Barrow is transforming personalised nutrition practice through rigorous academic training and the publication of research at the Centre for Nutrition Education & Lifestyle Management (CNELM), where she is Academic Team Director and Clinical Director. A key area of focus in her work is 'pathophysiological reasoning,' which builds on systems biology and functional medicine. Dr. Barrow share her personal story, her research, and why she is so passionate about building a better model for healthcare that is evidence-based and personalised with nutritional therapy and lifestyle medicine at its core.

Guest:

Dr. Michelle Barrow

About our guest:

Dr Michelle Barrow, DProf is the Academic Team Director and Clinical Director at CNELM. Her roles also include BSc (hons) Nutritional Science Programme Leader, Institution Link Tutor, Lecturer, and Research Supervisor. Michelle thoroughly enjoys supporting students to achieve their aspirations and goals. Her passion comes from overcoming her own health issues using nutrition. Michelle strives to develop the evidence base to support personalised nutrition practice through her academic work, research supervision, post-doctoral research, and publication. She completed a Doctorate in Professional Studies (DProf) in 2019, titled "Leading transformation in Personalised Nutrition Practice". Her doctoral research included the construction of clinical tools to enable the development of a new case-by-case evidence base for personalised nutrition practice in obesity management.

Michelle continues to work on the development of robust translational bioinformatics tools, using pathophysiological reasoning and systems biology approaches, as they are key to achieving evidence based personalised nutrition practice. She is published in numerous scientific journals, including Autoimmunity Reviews, Nutrition Reviews and Current Research in Food and Nutrition. Michelle is a Registered Nutritional Therapist and was awarded fellow membership with the British Association of Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine (BANT) in 2017 for outstanding contribution to the profession.

Guest websites and links:

• https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michelle-Barrow-2/research

Selection of our guest's publications:

• Barrow M, Bell L, Bell C. Transforming personalized nutrition practice. Nutr Rev. 2020 Dec 1;78(12):1046-1051.
• Vázquez B, Barrow M, Neil J, Seidler K. Is there a role for nutritional advice during breastfeeding for infant colic relief? A mixed-method study. Heliyon. 2024 Dec 28;11(1):e41562.
• Crabtree D, Seidler K, Barrow M. Pathophysiological mechanisms of gut dysbiosis and food allergy and an investigation of probiotics as an intervention for atopic disease. Clin Nutr ESPEN. 2025 Feb;65:189-204.
• Quinones D, Barrow M, Seidler K. Investigating the Impact of Ashwagandha and Meditation on Stress Induced Obesogenic Eating Behaviours. J Am Nutr Assoc. 2025 Jan;44(1):68-88.
• Swallow J, Seidler K, Barrow M. The mechanistic role of curcumin on matrix metalloproteinases in osteoarthritis. Fitoterapia. 2024 Apr;174:105870.

Phytonutrients have been called the 'dark matter' of nutrition, a significant but often uncharacterised and poorly understood class of nutrients that have a profound impact on human health. In this remarkable interview, Dr. Deanna Minich dives into her specialist area, the relationship between phytonutrients, health and wellbeing. She discusses new research that is changing the way we think about plant foods, controversies such as diets that restrict plants, and weaves in several practical clinical takeaways that bridge the connections between food, biology, behaviour, environment, and spirit.

Guest:

Dr. Deanna Minich, MS, PhD, CNS

About our guest:

Deanna Minich, MS, PhD, CNS, Certified Functional Medicine Practitioner (IFMCP), is a nutrition scientist, international lecturer, teacher, and author, with over twenty years of experience in academia and in the food and dietary supplement industries.

Throughout the years, she has been active as a functional medicine clinician in clinical trials and in her own practice (Food & Spirit™), which has now become oriented towards groups, workshops, and retreats. She is the author of seven consumer books on wellness topics, four book chapters, and over fifty scientific publications. Her academic background is in nutrition science, including a Master of Science (M.S.) degree in Human Nutrition and Dietetics from the University of Illinois at Chicago (1995) and a Doctorate (Ph.D.) in Medical Sciences (nutrition focus) from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands (1999). For a decade, she was part of the research team led by the "father of Functional Medicine," Dr. Jeffrey Bland, and has served on the Nutrition Advisory Board for The Institute of Functional Medicine, as well as on the Board of Directors for the American Nutrition Association. Since 2013, she has been part of the faculty for the Advanced Practice Module in Environmental Health offered by the Institute for Functional Medicine and has been teaching a graduate level course in metabolic detoxification at the University of Western States. Over the decades, she has taught thousands of nutrition classes for health coaches, fitness trainers, and healthcare professionals, including for programs offered by the Functional Medicine Coaching Academy, the Integrative and Functional Nutrition Academy, and the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. In conjunction with her academic degrees and extensive teaching experience at the university level, she is both a Fellow (FACN) and a Certified Nutrition Specialist (CNS) through the American College of Nutrition. She is Chief Science Officer at Symphony Natural Health, where she leads the medical advisory team, oversees scientific communication, and provide educational leadership for the company's plant-derived nutraceuticals. She is passionate about helping others to live well using therapeutic lifestyle changes that impact their physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health.

Guest websites and links:

https://www.foodandspirit.com

Selection of our guest's publications:

• Minich DM. A Review of the Science of Colorful, Plant-Based Food and Practical Strategies for "Eating the Rainbow". J Nutr Metab. 2019 Jun 2;2019:2125070.
• Petroski W, Minich DM. Is There Such a Thing as "Anti-Nutrients"? A Narrative Review of Perceived Problematic Plant Compounds. Nutrients. 2020 Sep 24;12(10):2929.
• Minich DM, Brown BI. A Review of Dietary (Phyto)Nutrients for Glutathione Support. Nutrients. 2019 Sep 3;11(9):2073.
• Bush CL, Blumberg JB, El-Sohemy A, Minich DM, Ordovás JM, Reed DG, Behm VAY. Toward the Definition of Personalized Nutrition: A Proposal by The American Nutrition Association. J Am Coll Nutr. 2020 Jan;39(1):5-15.

Dr. Hemilä became interested in the possible benefit of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) when exposed to conflicting opinions on its clinical efficacy. He has spent decades specialising in vitamin C research and, as a result, has addresses important issues such as the efficacy of vitamin C, sub-groups most likely to benefit, and dose-response relationship. Dr. Hemilä has also published several important papers that reveal methodological and analytical problems as well as bias in vitamin C research that, at least in part, explain why vitamin C has been sidelined in medicine and erroneously dismissed. In this informative interview he speaks to the history of vitamin C research for infection and its clinical implications.

Guest:

Dr. Harri Hemilä, MD, PhD

About our guest:

Dr. Harri Hemilä first studied biochemistry and received his PhD (biochemistry) in 1993. Thereafter he studied medicine and receive MD degree, and thereafter PhD (epidemiology) in 2006. His major scientific interest has been the effects of vitamin C on the common cold, and on infections in general. He has not done experimental work of his own in this field, but he has carried out several meta-analyses that have estimated the effects of vitamin C from studies published over half a century. He has also analyzed the effects of vitamin E on infections and on total mortality in the ATBC Study data set of 29,133 Finnish male smokers. Most recently he has carried out meta-analyses on the treatment effects of zinc lozenges on the duration of the common cold. Along with research, he is doing clinical work in the GP context. By the year 2021, he has 155 PubMed publications, 76 of which are focused on vitamin C, 28 on vitamin E, and 12 on zinc lozenges. Dr. Hemilä is Adjunct Professor at the Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki.

Guest websites and links:

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Harri-Hemilae-2

Selection of our guest's publications:

• Hemilä H, Chalker E. Vitamin C for the common cold and pneumonia. Pol Arch Intern Med. 2025 Jan 30;135(1):16926.
• Hemilä H, Chalker E. Vitamin C reduces the severity of common colds: a meta-analysis. BMC Public Health. 2023 Dec 11;23(1):2468.
• Hemilä H, Chalker E. Bias against Vitamin C in Mainstream Medicine: Examples from Trials of Vitamin C for Infections. Life (Basel). 2022 Jan 3;12(1):62.
• Hemilä H, de Man AME. Vitamin C and COVID-19. Front Med (Lausanne). 2021 Jan 18;7:559811.
• Hemilä H. Vitamin C and Infections. Nutrients. 2017 Mar 29;9(4):339.