Integrative Practitioner

By Irene Yeh Alcohol consumption remains one of the leading causes of disease and death in the U.S., yet there is still limited knowledge about how much drinking can truly be considered low risk. To address that gap, researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health conducted a comprehensive analysis to estimate the lifetime risk of alcohol-related illness and death across different levels of alcohol consumption.

By Allison Proffitt Researchers from Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis have showed that elevated levels of a set of circular RNAs (circRNAs) in the blood nearly tripled patients’ risk of developing Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) symptoms, suggesting these molecules are more sensitive to symptom onset than traditional AD biomarkers. Their work was published last week in Nature Medicine (DOI: 10.1038/s41591-026-04485-5).

By Kyle Proffitt July 7, 2026 | While most of the research on Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) in the last few decades has focused on amyloid-beta plaques and the tau tangles—the misfolded debris cluttering and hindering normal brain function—a group at the University of Florida has identified a new angle of pursuit by performing an unbiased survey of all the different fats, sugars, and small molecule metabolites in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.

By Irene Yeh Anorexia nervosa is a mental illness characterized by extreme food restriction, self-starving, significant weight loss, fear of gaining weight, and body dissatisfaction. Even after restoring weight, patients still experience psychological struggles, which increase the risk of relapsing. It is not enough to simply get to a target weight. Though diet interventions may raise concerns about promoting unhealthy eating patterns, the ketogenic diet might be an effective solution.

By Deborah Borfitz People are not only human but also microbial, a summation largely of the choices they make: their social interactions, the food they eat, medications they take, their activity level, and daily habits.

By Integrative Practitioner Staff Last week, Boston Children’s Hospital, Texas Children’s Hospital, and Baylor College received grants for up to $17.5 million each from Aligning Research to Impact Autism (ARIA) and became participants in the Innovative Medicine and Precision Approaches to Clinical Trials (IMPACT) Network.

By Allison Proffitt Researchers at Stanford University have developed a blood test that reveals the functional age of your organs, predicting the odds of specific organ diseases within ten years, and opening new diagnostic avenues.

By Irene Yeh Creative arts and activities are associated with improvements in psychological and physical health, as well as social connections. There have been reports of reduced post-traumatic stress disorder and other trauma-related symptoms. Despite arts engagements showing improvements in trauma recovery, it isn’t a treatment method that has been extensively explored.

By Deborah Borfitz The diagnosis and management of hypertension is in a troublingly bleak state, despite myriad treatments and regular blood pressure checks in primary care settings intended to catch the condition early. The conundrum is rooted in a trio of problems that co-exist like “gears with broken teeth that don’t mesh together very well,”according to Michael Liebman, Ph.D., managing director of IPQ Analytics. Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on Diagnostics World News.

By Integrative Practitioner Staff University Hospitals in Cleveland has secured $1 million in funding from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). PCORI is a nonprofit organization that funds and supports patient-centered comparative effectiveness research that provides patients and caregivers with reliable evidence to make better health care decisions.