In this YouTube daily health update, Dr. David "Dave" Koivuranta of the Toronto Neck and Back Pain Clinic presents six recent health‑related research findings and offers brief commentary. He first emphasizes the importance of vitamin D, noting a February 2021 study showing that six‑month supplementation improved liver health in non‑alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) patients, and an April 2021 Spanish study linking vitamin D deficiency to a higher risk of coronary artery disease even after adjusting for traditional risk factors. He then discusses a meta‑analysis indicating that men who switch from high‑fat to low‑fat diets experience a 10‑15% drop in testosterone, with low‑fat vegetarian diets potentially lowering testosterone by 26%, suggesting the inclusion of healthy fats. Next, he cites the American College of Sports Medicine, which reports that regular exercise benefits autistic children by enhancing focus, academic performance, reducing stereotypical behaviors, and building confidence. He mentions an Associated Press report that the United States saw a roughly 6% decline in suicide rates in 2020—the largest drop in four decades—though reasons remain speculative. Finally, he references a Spartan Medical Research Journal study finding sacroiliac (SI) joint dysfunction in 51 of 84 low‑back‑pain patients, underscoring the joint’s role in back pain and the importance of assessment and functional improvement. Throughout, Dr. Dave invites viewers to contact the clinic for questions, clarifies that he is not providing medical diagnosis, and encourages outdoor activity as the season warms.
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Hello everyone, it's Dr. Dave. Hopefully you're all doing well, you're having a nice week, enjoying whatever it is you're doing and how you're doing it, where you're doing it this week as well. Coming at you on behalf of the Toronto Neck and Back Pain Clinic with your daily health update. It's Thursday, May 13th, 2021. Gonna look at 6 areas of health and wellness news and information somewhere around this video. You can read through all 6 areas, and if you'd like a copy or you have any questions, you can DM us on social, send us an email, give us a call. We'd be happy to help you out. Not gonna treat, diagnose, prevent, or cure any illness or disease with our time together today. However, we will share with you some of the latest and greatest from the research and literature world when it comes to what they've explored and what they've kind of looked into when it comes to health and wellness, because some of that might be interesting to you and/or it may just influence some of your own decisions, thoughts, and actions today when it comes to supporting your own health and wellness journey. So good for you for being here. Always happy to share. Couple of vitamin D, uh, pieces of information today. One of our favorite nutrients, uh, here on the Daily Health Update. It's involved in so many different things, and they continue to find, uh, the value of making sure your body has the right levels, uh, at least no deficiency in vitamin D. This time it's with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. This is a condition that occurs when fat accumulates in the liver for reasons other than excessive alcohol consumption, and it can lead to inflammation, cirrhosis, and liver failure. And researchers found that when non-alcoholic fatty liver disease patients took a vitamin D supplement for 6 months to increase their vitamin D levels, their liver health also improved. So good correlation there between vitamin D and liver function, especially with NAFLD as well. The clinic— that was from Gastroenterology and Hepatology, From Bed to Bench. February 2021. Then the Clinic and Research in Arteriosclerosis from Spain in April 2021 looked at vitamin D deficiency and risk cancer— risk factors, sorry, for coronary artery disease. And even after adjusting for traditional cardiovascular disease risk factors, researchers found that vitamin D deficiency is associated with an elevated risk for coronary artery disease. So good for the liver and good for the blood vessels on our heart. Uh, so again, good motivation to make sure you're getting exposed to what helps create some vitamin D in your body, which is some healthy sunshine, but maybe also getting it from diet and supplementation if needed, especially if the levels are low. Here's an interesting, uh, correlation because for many years we were told that low-fat diets were good. Um, and I think there's been a switch to maybe knowing that a healthy fat diet is actually better. And here's one of the side effects of that low-fat diet. They found that, um, when they looked at a meta-analysis of men who switched from a high-fat to low-fat diet, they experienced a 10 to 15% drop in testosterone levels. And adopting a low-fat vegetarian diet can lower testosterone by 26%. Though they do need to do more and further research, it's noted that men with low levels of testosterone may want to avoid low-fat diets. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that you should be eating a high-fat or bad fat diet, but including healthy fats in your diet may help promote those kinds of chemicals in the body that require some level of fat to produce what it is that they are made of and what they do. And testosterone is one of those things. So you wanna keep those healthy fats in your diet for sure. Autistic children benefit from exercise according to the American College of Sports Medicine. So exercise goes beyond health-related benefits and increased levels of fitness with those with autism. Research shows that exercise can increase focus, improve academic performance, and reduce stereotypical behaviors and build confidence. So, uh, I think those are positive traits that occur to many of us when we engage in activity, um, but according to the American College of Sports Medicine, autistic children, uh, can benefit from exercise with those projected outcomes as well. The suicide rate, never fun to talk about, but interesting to note, as difficult and different and challenging as 2020 was, a preliminary government study found that there was nearly a 6% decrease in suicides in the United States in 2020, and that was the largest decline in 40 years. Be interesting to find out why. That was reported in the Associated Press, April 2021. Um, but there may have been a shift in industries or an increase in certain sectors because of everything that was happening. Uh, but overall the rate seems to have declined. So I guess that's good news, of course. And finally, the Spartan Medical Research Journal, April 2021, looked at sacroiliac joint dysfunction and low back pain. Sacroiliac joint is part of your pelvis. There's 3 joints, uh, in your pelvis. There's one in the front where there's something called the pubic symphysis, and then there's 2 joints in the back of the pelvis called the sacroiliac joints, left and right. They looked at 84 patients who sought treatment for low back pain, and it revealed sacroiliac joint dysfunction to be either the sole or contributing cause of back pain in 51 of those 84 patients. Certainly here at the clinic, when we assess people not only for low back pain but other presenting complaints as well, we quite often find that the majority of people have some sacroiliac or SI joint dysfunction. And a lot of it comes from our dominance, our activities, the way we do things, our habits and patterns. Some of it may relate to old trauma, some of it may relate to new trauma, but quite often there is some discrepancy in function, how well those SI joints are sitting and moving, and a good idea to get them assessed and get them sitting and moving better. They have some far-reaching implications on preserving and recovering any function in your body, as would any other restriction that might be found in a similar kind of assessment, but sacroiliac joints, particularly of note today, based on that research from the Spartan Medical Research Journal. All right, that's your daily health update for Thursday. We'll throw a written format at you tomorrow, Friday, heading you into the weekend. I hope you have a great one. In our area here in, in the Northern Hemisphere, we're starting to see some warmer temperatures, so that means you can get outside, enjoy some fresh air, and get your body moving and work out some of that stress from if you've been in an area with a lockdown like we have. So a time to start moving beyond that, hopefully, and enjoying ourselves a bit. So I hope I hope you do just that this weekend, and then I'll catch up with you next week with your, uh, continued, uh, daily video health updates. We'll look forward to chatting with you then. All the best. Take care. See you soon.
