Kerri Nichols Naturopathic Clinic

15/05/2026

Aspect Skincare available from my clinic 👌

Mood: skincare first, everything else later ✨

12/05/2026

Mood: skincare first, everything else later ✨

12/05/2026

Great advice from Naturopath Ross Walter Nutritionist & Naturopath!

06/05/2026

Great Mother’s Day ideas from Aspect Skincare available from my clinic 🌸

Bag check: skincare edition 🩵

06/05/2026

Mainstream science is beginning to arrive at a conclusion long held by natural therapists and integrative clinicians: complex chronic diseases cannot be solved by targeting a single pathway. Now, in a striking shift, leading Chinese scientists are explicitly calling for a complete rethink of Alzheimer disease treatment, moving beyond reductionist models toward a systems-level understanding of the disorder.

Alzheimer disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder marked by memory loss, cognitive decline, and behavioural disruption that ultimately erodes independence and quality of life. Despite major investment and recent small advances, including amyloid-targeting drugs like lecanemab and donanemab, the core problem remains unsolved: these therapies may slow aspects of pathology, but they do not reverse cognitive decline or restore normal brain function. The reason is increasingly clear: AD is not driven by a single mechanism.

In a major review led by Professor Yan-Jiang Wang, AD is reframed as a “multifactorial architecture” involving amyloid-beta accumulation, tau pathology, genetic susceptibility (including APOE ε4), and the biology of ageing itself—mitochondrial dysfunction, cellular senescence and DNA damage. Crucially, their review highlights that the disease also extends beyond the brain. Systemic drivers such as insulin resistance, hypertension, and gut microbiome disturbances are now flagged as active participants in disease progression, not just background noise.

The implication is profound: AD must be treated as a network disorder. The authors urgently call for integrated, multi-target strategies, combining therapies across pathways, guided by early biomarkers like plasma pTau217 and enabled by advanced models such as human brain organoids. This is a decisive break from the “one drug, one target” paradigm. The proposed shift also reframes prevention, highlighting that modifying systemic drivers early, long before cognitive symptoms emerge, may be the most powerful lever we have to delay or even avoid disease onset. If successful, it will redefine AD not as a condition waiting for the elusive silver bullet, but as one requiring coordinated, system-wide intervention to stabilise and restore function. Sounds like Functional Herbal Therapy to me.

For more information see:
https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-call-for-a-complete-rethink-of-alzheimers-treatment/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41627667/

04/05/2026

Venous reflux is the backward flow of blood in the veins due to incompetent valves, most commonly in the superficial or deep veins of the lower limbs. It leads to vein distention and the development of varicose veins. Clinically it manifests as the spectrum of chronic venous disease, from leg heaviness, pain and oedema, as well as skin changes (such as hyperpigmentation) and, in advanced cases, venous ulceration. The duration of reflux (as measured by Doppler ultrasound) is a key haemodynamic marker of disease severity, and longer reflux times are associated with a greater symptom burden and risk of progression. Varicose veins affect 25 to 40% of adults, with higher prevalence in older populations.

A single-centre, open-label randomised controlled trial from Korea (n=200 adults aged 19 to 80 years; 176 completed) evaluated the impact of grape seed extract (Vitis vinifera, 150 mg twice daily for 12 weeks) versus lifestyle measures alone in patients with Doppler-confirmed varicose veins (the VICTORY study). Both groups made lifestyle changes as part of a standard care program, which included avoidance of prolonged sitting or standing, elevation of the legs when possible, and the use of compression stockings.

The key finding was a significantly greater reduction in mean venous reflux time with the herbal extract, with an adjusted between-group treatment effect of −2490 ms (p

29/04/2026

The condition once called NASH (non-alcoholic steatohepatitis) is now called MASH (metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis), and it sits within a broader category called MASLD (metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease), formerly NAFLD (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease). These new names were introduced because fatty liver disease is now understood to be part of a wider metabolic disorder rather than just a liver problem defined by the absence of alcohol. These name changes are relevant in the context of CKD (chronic kidney disease), because the same underlying factors, such as insulin resistance, obesity, inflammation and vascular damage, can affect both the liver and the kidneys. In other words, MASH and CKD often occur together not because one directly causes the other, but because both develop from the same underlying metabolic stress.

The incidence of both MASH and CKD has been rising steadily worldwide in parallel with the epidemics of obesity and type 2 diabetes. In Australia, fatty liver disease overall affects about one in four adults, and it is estimated that around 4 to 6% of adults have MASH, the inflammatory and more progressive form. Biomedical evidence of CKD is present in roughly 11% of Australian adults (about 1.7 million people), with rates increasing sharply with age. In the United States, MASH is estimated to affect about 5 to 6% of adults, within a much larger group with fatty liver disease, and CKD affects roughly one in seven adults (around 35 million people).

Given this rather alarming epidemiological context, a recent clinical trial of bioavailable curcumin in patients with MASH and CKD is highly noteworthy. In this double blind trial, 52 patients with biopsy-confirmed MASH were studied. Most had moderate to advanced liver scarring (71% had stage F2 fibrosis or worse), and more than half also had moderate CKD (58% had stage 2 or 3). They were randomised 1:1 to receive 2 g/d of a curcumin phytosome (containing 400 mg/day curcumin) or placebo for 72 weeks.

The primary endpoint was NASH resolution with no worsening of fibrosis. The secondary endpoints included a ≥1 stage liver fibrosis improvement with no MASH worsening; regression of significant fibrosis and CKD; and improvement in renal, glucose lipid, and inflammatory parameters. The scientists also explored the treatment effect on hepatic activation of NF-kB, a key proinflammatory transcription factor and a major target of curcumin.

Fifty-one patients (26 on curcumin and 25 on placebo) completed the trial. Sixteen (62%) patients on curcumin versus 3 (12%) patients on placebo had MASH resolution (relative risk, RR = 5.33; p = 0.003). Thirteen (50%) patients on curcumin versus 2 (8%) patients on placebo had ≥1 stage fibrosis improvement (RR = 6.50; p = 0.008). Eleven (42%) patients on curcumin versus 0 (0%) on placebo had regression of significant liver fibrosis (RR = 18.01; p = 0.02). Hepatic NF-kB inhibition predicted MASH resolution and fibrosis improvement. Thirteen (50%) patients on curcumin versus 0 (0%) on placebo had CKD regression (RR = 10.71; p = 0.004). Compared with placebo, curcumin improved eGFR (difference in adjusted eGFR change: +3.59; p = 0.009), fasting glucose, HbA1c, LDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL-cholesterol and inflammatory markers. Adverse events were rare, mild, and evenly distributed.

These are truly amazing results that make me wonder why findings like this receive such little attention, and why studies like this are so often overlooked by mainstream medicine and the general media, especially when we are talking about one of the central epidemics in modern healthcare.

For more information see: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38809154/

27/04/2026

Looking for a great gift for your Mum? Look no further than Aspect Skincare available from my clinic 🌸

Your A, B, C essentials.✨

22/04/2026

According to a new study, urban women may have higher estrogen over our lifetimes compared to women living more traditional lifestyles.

It's all because of differences in our estrogen-metabolising microbiome (estrobolome) that can make it harder to properly eliminate estrogen.

Scientists don't yet know all the consequences of the higher estrogen, but (among other issues) it could contribute to a tougher perimenopause because the higher estrogen goes, the further it has to fall.

Link: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2522701-urban-living-may-be-causing-big-changes-to-our-oestrogen-levels/ =1776640009

22/04/2026

The olfactory nerve represents a unique pharmacological window to the brain, bypassing the blood-brain barrier. Molecules absorbed across the olfactory epithelium can travel along olfactory neurons into the olfactory bulb and adjacent brain regions via intracellular transport and perineural diffusion, allowing some drugs, toxins and volatile compounds to reach the brain more rapidly and certainly than through the systemic circulation. This intranasal-olfactory route is now recognised in neuropharmacology as a potential delivery pathway for central nervous system therapeutics, as well as a mechanism by which environmental exposures can directly influence brain function.

The pathway is also central to the theory of aromatherapy, which proposes that volatile plant constituents inhaled through the nose can access the brain via the olfactory nerve and limbic system, allowing essential oils to influence mood, autonomic function, and neurochemistry through direct neuropharmacological mechanisms.

Inhaled menthol has shown promising effects in animal models of dementia, where repeated exposure has been reported to improve cognitive performance and reduce neuroinflammation. Recently a clinical trial found that inhalation of peppermint essential oil (containing menthol) significantly reduced the incidence of postoperative delirium, a serious complication in elderly patients following major surgery that is strongly associated with increased morbidity and mortality.

This single-centre randomised controlled trial from China enrolled 178 patients aged ≥65 years undergoing total hip or knee joint replacement, randomised 1:1 to treatment with either peppermint oil or saline. The intervention consisted of inhalation of 2 mL of a 2% peppermint essential oil solution on a cotton pad for 10 minutes, administered at three perioperative time points (night before surgery, immediately before anesthesia induction and after extubation).

The primary outcome, postoperative delirium within 3 days assessed by blinded raters using the CAM (Confusion Assessment Method) scale, occurred in 7.9 % of the peppermint group vs 19.1 % of controls (risk ratio 0.41, p = 0.048), indicating a large 60 % relative risk reduction. Secondary outcomes also favoured peppermint, with significantly lower pain scores at multiple time points, modest reductions in anxiety scores, and no increase in adverse events. However, delirium severity and duration were not changed.

The trial was only single blind, because patients could smell the peppermint, creating a substantial risk of expectancy and performance bias. However, taken together, this clinical trial (showing reduced postoperative delirium with inhaled peppermint oil) along with animal studies (demonstrating menthol-related improvements in neuroinflammation, synaptic function and memory), suggests that the brain delivery of volatile peppermint constituents via the olfactory pathway may have therapeutic relevance for cognitive disorders such as dementia. This intriguing possibility remains hypothetical and requires direct clinical testing.

For more information see: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41390992/

14/04/2026

Aspect Skincare available from my clinic 🌸