Rowena Kissun Naturopath & Medical Scientist

05/11/2025

17/10/2025

15/10/2025

Hot off the press: For the first time, researchers have systematically assessed the impact of long-term medication use on the gut microbiome.

This 2025 retrospective study, "A hidden confounder for microbiome studies: medications used years before sample collection," found that multiple medicines affected the gut microbiome for many years after use.

Typically, we think of antibiotics as the primary medication that alters the gut ecosystem in the long term. However, this study found that beta-blockers, benzodiazepine derivatives, glucocorticoids, PPIs, biguanides (metformin is the most widely prescribed drug in this class), and antidepressants affected the gut microbiome for several years after discontinuing use. And for many of them, the effects at the microbiome level are additive.

Overall, of the 186 drugs analyzed, 167 were found to be associated with the microbiome—affecting alpha diversity, beta diversity, or the abundance of at least one bacterial species—and 78 of those exhibited long-term effects on the gut.

Of note, benzodiazepines—nervous system depressants commonly prescribed for anxiety—impact the microbiome even more than several broad-spectrum antibiotics. The impacts of benzodiazepines and broad-spectrum antibiotics were detectable even when the drugs had not been used for over three years prior to microbiome sampling.

Read the full study at PMID: 40910778

28/09/2025

💠The Mackay dream team look forward to seeing you at our Mackay (Mt Pleasant) clinic this coming Monday and Tuesday for IV, consults, functional testing and high quality supplementation.

💠Call 07 49467910 to book or email your queries to: info@kissunclinics.com

💠If you require medicine pickup from Mackay on Monday, please email by 8pm tonight

07/09/2025

More and more doctors are prescribing body-identical progesterone for premenstrual or perimenopausal mood symptoms. That’s great because for most women, it works beautifully.

But for some, progesterone can worsen mood thanks largely to its “biphasic” (Goldilocks) effect on GABA receptors, plus the fact that some women have less adaptable GABA receptors due to genetics, histamine, or inflammation.

If you’ve ever had a negative mood reaction to progesterone, consider:

⭐️ Was it actually a progestin (synthetic), not progesterone? If so, body-identical could still be fine.

⭐️ If it was natural progesterone, you may still be able to tolerate it by:
– lowering inflammation, histamine, or estrogen
– or even going up in dose, not down (but check with your clinician).

⭐️ Doses over 400 mg can knock you out—causing grogginess or even depression, especially if taken during the day.

Read my fully updated article: https://www.larabriden.com/progesterone-mood-treat-pmdd/?8Sept2025

And share your knowledge. Your story could help another woman. 💛

02/09/2025

21/08/2025

12/08/2025

30/07/2025

A new study links drinking green tea with having fewer white matter lesions (WML) in the brains of Japanese seniors, potentially providing a level of protection against dementia. WML are abnormalities in the brain’s white matter (the part of the brain that contains nerve fibres responsible for communication between different brain regions) seen as hyperintense (bright) areas on MRI scans. They generally indicate chronic small vessel (microvascular) disease and are a relatively common finding in an older brain.

Researchers from institutions across Japan teamed up to analyse data on 8,766 volunteers over the age of 65, collected as part of a survey conducted between 2016 and 2018. Self-reported green tea and coffee consumption was cross-referenced against magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scans, which measured overall brain volume and features of five different brain regions.

The scientists claimed: “This cross-sectional study found a significant association between lower cerebral white matter lesions and higher green tea consumption, but not coffee consumption, in older adults without dementia, even after adjusting for confounding factors”.

The observed effects were not large. Averaged out, those who had three cups of green tea per day had 3 percent fewer WML compared with those drinking one cup per day. Those who drank seven to eight cups per day had 6 percent fewer lesions, compared to those drinking one cup a day. One cup of tea was equivalent to approximately 200 mL.

WML, indicative of cerebral small vessel disease, are associated with vascular dementia and Alzheimer disease (AD). Larger WML were associated with more severe brain atrophy in patients with AD. Recently, a longitudinal study also identified WML as an independent risk factor for cognitive decline, even after accounting for traditional AD risk factors.

Given previous investigations linking green tea with lower blood pressure, and other studies associating lower blood pressure with a reduced risk of dementia, at least one mechanism responsible for the results could be cardiovascular. Interestingly, the scientists observed a significant relationship between increased green tea intake and decreased white matter lesions in individuals without the ApoE ε4 allele, but not in individuals with the ApoE ε4 allele (p for trend = 0.008 and 0.491, respectively).

I have maintained for some time now that my microcirculation phytonutrient diet will help to protect against brain WML. Now there is clear proof of this for green tea (a key element of the diet). The relatively small protection seen for green tea highlights that, as per the basis of the diet, one single intervention might not be enough on its own.

For more information see: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/green-tea-drinkers-have-fewer-brain-lesions-linked-to-dementia

and

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39774601/

29/07/2025

Dr Andrew Lucas here with one of our favourite clients Mr Nigel Ralph , thank you for visiting us!

Today (Tuesday 29th July) the Kissun Clinics team are working from our Mackay hub in Greenfields, within Anderson Family Chiropractic Health Centre .

There are a few appointments available for Rowena Kissun and Dr Andrew Lucas (Integrative GP).

Call 49467910 to book.

14/07/2025

One of the best health decisions I made was to go to the gym every day instead of some days. Before that decision, I was inconsistent. But choosing to exercise daily - no matter what - ended an exhausting daily debate.

Just like I shower or brush my teeth without question - because it’s a habitual, not optional - I started exercising consistently without thought.

In any area of life, trying to win a daily mental debate is far harder than taking one action to end the debate for good.

So many of my good habits finally stuck when I moved them from DEBATE to DEFAULT.

I’m starting to think the same way in other areas of my life like diet and sleep & wake times. How can I make those behaviours the default?

Just a thought that’s been on my mind..

07/07/2025

A major new analysis by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington reveals that even small amounts of processed meat, sugary drinks, and trans fats can significantly increase the risk of serious diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and colorectal cancer.

For example, consuming just one hot dog a day raises diabetes risk by 11% and cancer risk by 7%. A single 12-ounce sugary soda daily increases heart disease risk by 2% and diabetes risk by 8%. The study, which reviewed over 60 previous studies, concluded that there is no safe level of consumption for these foods.

The harmful effects are linked to ingredients like nitrates, nitrites, and added sugars, which promote inflammation, weight gain, and metabolic disruption. Researchers used a rigorous “burden-of-proof risk function” method to evaluate the strength of the evidence.

They recommend minimizing these foods and instead focusing on whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and fermented dairy.

While the study is observational and based on self-reported dietary data, the consistent findings across research provide strong evidence that even light, regular intake of these foods carries real health risks.