St. Charles Functional Medicine

02/20/2026

💊Supplement Hot Seat: Zinc Carnosine💊

Zinc gets talked about for immunity…
But zinc carnosine is a completely different conversation.

This form doesn’t just support immunity —
it repairs and protects the gut lining.

Who Zinc Carnosine Helps

✔️ Leaky gut / intestinal permeability
✔️ Gastritis / stomach irritation
✔️ Acid reflux & GERD (supportive)
✔️ IBS
✔️ H. pylori support protocols
✔️ NSAID-related gut damage
✔️ Chronic inflammation driven by the gut
✔️ Poor wound healing in the GI tract

Why It Works

Targets the gut lining
— zinc carnosine binds directly to damaged mucosa
— stays localized where healing is needed

Enhances mucosal repair
— stimulates cell regeneration
— strengthens tight junctions

Reduces gastric & intestinal inflammation
— protects against acid and enzymatic injury

Antimicrobial synergy
— supports H. pylori clearance when used in protocols
— without wiping out beneficial flora

Why It Works Better Than Zinc Alone

❌ Regular zinc absorbs systemically
✔️ Zinc carnosine stays in the gut
✔️ Prolonged contact = better healing

How to Take It

75–150 mg daily
Split doses with meals

For active gut irritation:
75 mg 2x/day

Clinical Pearls

1️⃣ One of the best gut-healing nutrients available
2️⃣ Does NOT commonly upset the stomach
3️⃣ Excellent during antimicrobial protocols
4️⃣ Helps protect against NSAID damage
5️⃣ Safe for longer-term gut repair phases

🚫 Who Should Be Cautious

⚠️ Long-term high-dose zinc use (monitor copper)
⚠️ Advanced kidney disease

02/18/2026

Normal ranges were designed to detect disease — not create health.

02/16/2026

🔥 Hot Take: Autoimmune disease doesn’t “just happen.”

That’s one of the biggest myths in conventional medicine.

Your immune system doesn’t wake up one day and randomly decide to attack you.

Autoimmunity follows patterns:
• Gut permeability
• Chronic infections
• Toxin exposure
• Nutrient deficiencies
• Hormone imbalance
• Blood sugar dysfunction
• Chronic stress & poor sleep

Calling it “bad luck” or “just genetics” is lazy medicine.

Genetics load the gun —
environment and physiology pull the trigger.

And if no one looks for the triggers…
You’re left managing symptoms forever instead of changing the terrain.

Autoimmune disease isn’t a mystery.
It’s a message.

The question is whether your care team is listening… or just prescribing.

02/13/2026

💊Supplement Hot Seat: Apple Cider Vinegar 🍎
(Why We DON'T Recommend It Anymore)

Apple cider vinegar used to be the go-to for digestion…
👉 But clinically, we’re seeing far more harm than benefit.

ACV isn’t “natural stomach acid support.”
It’s acid stress on already stressed tissue.

Who ACV Used to Be Recommended For

✔️ Bloating
✔️ Reflux
✔️ “Low stomach acid” symptoms
✔️ Blood sugar support

But here’s the problem…

Why It Backfires So Often

🔥 Irritates the gut lining
— worsens gastritis, ulcers, and leaky gut
— delays true mucosal healing

🧠 Triggers reflux via irritation, not acid deficiency
— reflux is often pressure + motility + nerve signaling
—not simply “low acid”

🦷 Damages teeth & enamel
— even diluted ACV is highly erosive over time

🦠 Worsens histamine symptoms
— fermented + acidic = flares in sensitive patients

⚡️ Increases adrenal stress
— acid load activates stress responses in already dysregulated systems

Why the “Low Stomach Acid” Theory Is Oversimplified

❌ Symptoms overlap with reflux, SIBO, bile dysfunction
❌ ACV doesn’t fix motility
❌ ACV doesn’t fix enzyme output
❌ ACV doesn’t heal the gut lining

Acid alone is not digestion.

What We Use Instead

✔️ Digestive enzymes
✔️ Bitter support
✔️ Zinc carnosine for mucosal repair
✔️ DGL for reflux without acid burn
✔️ Motility support when needed
✔️ Nervous system regulation

Clinical Pearls

1️⃣ Reflux ≠ low stomach acid by default
2️⃣ Burning ≠ need more acid
3️⃣ Healing the lining comes before adding acid
4️⃣ Most chronic reflux patients have inflamed tissue, not deficiency
5️⃣ ACV may feel helpful short-term but worsens long-term outcomes

02/12/2026

Parasite cleanses are popular because they give people something to blame

02/09/2026

Myth: “Kids shouldn’t lift weights—it’ll damage their growth plates.”

Reality: That idea is outdated and unsupported by evidence.

Growth plate injuries in kids come from contact sports, falls, and poor coaching—not properly supervised strength training.

In fact:
• Medical organizations support youth resistance training
• Strength training improves bone density
• Injury rates are lower than football, soccer, and basketball

The real danger isn’t lifting weights.
It’s unsupervised, poorly programmed training.

Strong kids aren’t broken kids.
They’re more resilient kids.

02/06/2026

Supplement Hot Seat: L-Glutamine

L-glutamine is often called a “gut healing” supplement…
But it’s actually a primary fuel source for the gut lining and immune cells.

If the gut barrier is damaged, glutamine demand skyrockets.

Who L-Glutamine Helps

✔️ Leaky gut / increased intestinal permeability
✔️ IBS-D (diarrhea-dominant)
✔️ Post-infection gut recovery
✔️ Food sensitivities
✔️ Inflammatory bowel patterns (supportive, not curative)
✔️ Athletes with high gut stress
✔️ Frequent illness / immune depletion
✔️ Sugar cravings driven by gut stress

Why It Works

Primary fuel for enterocytes
— repairs and maintains the intestinal lining
— supports tight junction integrity

Immune system support
— fuels lymphocytes & macrophages
— critical during stress, illness, and inflammation

Reduces gut inflammation
— lowers inflammatory signaling in the intestinal mucosa

Stabilizes blood sugar signaling
— improves gut-brain communication
— reduces stress-driven cravings

Why It Can Backfire

Can increase anxiety in sensitive individuals
Can worsen symptoms if glutamate is already high
Not ideal in active SIBO without strategy

How to Take It

5–10 g daily
Split doses AM / PM

For gut repair:
Take on an empty stomach

Clinical Pearls

1️⃣ Essential for gut barrier repair — not optional
2️⃣ Demand increases during stress, illness, or training
3️⃣ Pair with zinc carnosine & DGL for synergistic healing
4️⃣ Can reduce food reactivity over time
5️⃣ Rotate or pulse in neurologically sensitive patients

🚫 Who Should Be Cautious

⚠️ Severe anxiety or panic disorders
⚠️ Glutamate sensitivity
⚠️ Active SIBO without microbial control
⚠️ Advanced liver disease

02/05/2026

Cold plunges won’t fix a nervous system that’s fried by poor sleep and blood sugar swings

02/02/2026

Gut-healing myths that need to die

If gut healing were as easy as social media makes it seem, nobody would still be bloated, tired, itchy, or reacting to everything they eat.

• “Just take a probiotic.”
Probiotics can help the right person. They can also make symptoms worse. If the gut environment is inflamed or imbalanced, adding bacteria isn’t always the answer.

• “Bone broth heals the gut.”
Sometimes. Other times it triggers symptoms, especially in people with histamine issues or active inflammation. If you feel worse, that’s not healing it’s a poor match.

• “If you cut out gluten, your gut will heal.”
Removing triggers helps, but it doesn’t fix why the gut became reactive in the first place. That’s why symptoms often return.

• “Leaky gut isn’t real.”
It’s very real. Well documented. The better question is why your gut barrier is compromised.

• “Just give it time.”
Time doesn’t correct dysbiosis, immune activation, or infections. Those need to be addressed directly.

The reality:
There is no universal gut-healing protocol. What works for one person can make another worse.

If you’ve “done all the right things” and still don’t feel right, the issue usually isn’t effort, it’s that the root cause hasn’t been identified.

01/30/2026

💊Supplement Hot Seat: Oil of Oregano

Oil of oregano gets labeled as “natural antibiotics”…
👉 But it’s actually one of the most powerful botanical antimicrobials we have — and it needs to be respected.

This isn’t a daily wellness herb.
It’s a microbial reset tool.

Who Oil of Oregano Helps

✔️ SIBO (hydrogen & mixed types)
✔️ Candida / yeast overgrowth
✔️ Parasites
✔️ Chronic sinus infections
✔️ Recurrent UTIs
✔️ Chronic bloating / gas
✔️ Mold-related gut dysbiosis
✔️ Frequent infections

Why It Works

🦠 Broad-spectrum antimicrobial
— carvacrol & thymol disrupt bacterial, fungal & parasitic cell membranes
— reduces biofilms and resistant organisms

🔥 Anti-inflammatory
— calms cytokine storms
— reduces inflammatory signaling in gut & sinuses

🧬 Immune modulating
— improves innate immune response
— enhances microbial clearance

🧠 Anti-biofilm action
— weakens microbial protective layers → allows clearance

Why It Can Backfire

❌ Can wipe out beneficial flora
❌ Can worsen histamine reactions
❌ Can irritate gastric lining
❌ Can trigger die-off reactions (headache, nausea, fatigue)

How to Take It

150–300 mg
1–3x/day with food

Use in short cycles (2–6 weeks), not long-term.

Clinical Pearls

1️⃣ One of the strongest botanical antimicrobials
2️⃣ Always pair with gut lining support
3️⃣ Follow with targeted probiotics
4️⃣ Expect die-off if infection burden is high
5️⃣ Not for maintenance — this is a treatment tool

🚫 Who Should Be Cautious

⚠️ Pregnancy
⚠️ Gastritis / ulcers
⚠️ Histamine intolerance
⚠️ Very sensitive nervous systems
⚠️ Long-term daily use

01/29/2026

🚨 New Study Says “Fat Might Be Safe After All” 🚨

A big headline came out claiming that saturated fat isn’t as bad as we once thought and social media is exploding with people celebrating that shaming on low-fat diet culture is finally “science-approved.”

But here’s the part almost nobody is talking about…

These headlines ignore the context of the person’s biology.

Here’s what research and clinical experience show:

• Saturated fat is not inherently evil, but how your body handles it depends on your metabolic state.
• If someone is insulin resistant or inflamed, eating lots of fat without stabilizing blood sugar can still drive fat storage, hormonal disruption, and dysbiosis.
• If someone’s gut is unhealthy or bile flow is poor, fats can cause bloating, pain, constipation, and nutrient malabsorption.

So yes, the old “fat is bad” idea needed to be retired.

But the new oversimplified conclusion that fat is universally good for everyone, in any quantity is exactly the same mistake in reverse.

Health is not about vilifying a nutrient.

Health is about how your body processes that nutrient.

This is why:
Two people can eat the same meal and have very different reactions
A food that heals one person can inflame another
Guidelines that treat everyone the same still fail the individual

Functional medicine doesn’t ask:
“Is this food good or bad?”

We ask:
“How does your body interact with this food?”

01/27/2026