The International College of Integrative Medicine is a community of dedicated physicians who advance innovative therapies in integrative medicine by conducting educational conferences, supporting research, and cooperating with other scientific organizations, while always promoting the highest standards of practice.

This ICIM conference looked at integrative approaches to prenatal optimization, infertility and childhood disorders. The conference was designed to pinpoint specific types of intervention that presented new ideas and effective tools to help patients enjoy a lifetime of well-being and prevention of chronic conditions. The conference included lectures about predictive autoimmunity, acute infections, the use of cannabis in family health, breast feeding, the lifetime effects of dental disease, allergies, autism, micro-current neurofeedback, neural therapy, spore-based probiotics, glyphosate, toxicity, EMF, and homeopathic remedies.

Following are six previews/reviews of lectures presented this year.

Carmel Dekel Wiseman, DC, DICCP (Diplomate in Clinical Chiropractic Pediatrics)

The Roadmap to Healthy Children: Ahead Start for Health

This was Dr. Wiseman's introduction.

In 1946, Harry Truman said that “A nation is only as healthy as its children.” In this conference we are examining approaches to creating healthy children, beginning with healthy parents. So what does it take to give children a head start for health so that they might live happy and productive lives?

This is a multi-faceted problem, one which I say is worthy of dedicating our lives and making a difference for future generations. Together, we will take a journey on the road to a new generation of children. A generation of children that are resilient and thrive in the face of growing global environmental challenges and a complex world.

In this presentation, I will introduce a clinical roadmap to use in your practice which outlines standards of care and best practices. This roadmap will support you when including preconception care in your practice and/ or collaborating with other clinicians to support individuals and couples on their journey to parenthood.

We will begin this journey right where we are, examining the status quo -- looking at the world around us and our modern established practices in pediatrics, perinatal care, and preconception care. Embarking on the journey, we will explore current trends and forecast the viability of our species, assuming no course correction. Finally, we will investigate a plethora of resources available to practitioners which can serve as pathways for course correction.

After this presentation, you will have the tools to be effective in guiding your practice members and when evangelizing the importance of preconception care in your communities. Together, we can give children a "head start" for a healthy, vibrant, and productive future.

My unique educational background allows me to approach this complex issue with a comprehensive perspective. I began my academic career studying the interplay of ecology and animal behavior as a College Scholar, under the mentorship of Dr. Neil Greenberg, at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. My interests evolved as I sought to understand the complex relationships that humans have with our environments. I became particularly interested in the impact that human activities have on health (both humans are our larger ecosystem) This topic constituted the focus of my masters work at Tel Aviv University and The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies.

Early on in my doctoral studies at Life University and Palmer College of Chiropractic West, I was introduced to the vitalistic chiropractic health model. I began investigating what it takes to create and maintain health, in a preventative sense, rather than just constantly 'putting out fires'. Out of that exploration, I chose to specialize in pediatrics, knowing that I could impact my patients lives most effectively, when they began care early in childhood.

During my postdoctoral studies in Clinical Chiropractic Pediatrics (Palmer College of Chiropractic), I discovered how deeply a child’s birth and gestation can impact their lifetime of health. In practice, which included a variety of clinical settings in two countries, I took a deep dive into the world of perinatal care. Over the course of my 15 years of practice, I have cared for hundreds of expectant women, preparing them for the physical, chemical, and emotional challenges of birth and the postnatal period.

While living and practicing in Israel for two years, I had the privilege of volunteering with the Mobile Clinic of Physicians for Human Rights. During this time I successfully introduced the organization to the benefits of integrative approaches to patient care, and until this day, their delegations include a wide variety of healthcare providers.

In recent years, I have intensified my focus and commitment to altering our current paradigm for preconception care. From this commitment, I am completing my certification in Functional Medicine and last year, I founded “Ahead Start for Health”, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the importance of preconception care through research, community outreach, and educational programs.

Robert Banner, MD

Dr. Banner is an ICIM member and one of the speakers for a break-out session. To prepare us for his topic, ICIM asked him a few questions:

1. Why is your lecture ESSENTIAL for integrative practitioners to hear?

Almost all bodily functions are dependent on the function of the autonomic nervous system – from the cardiovascular system, the gastrointestinal tract, the evacuative and sexual organs, to the regulation of temperature, metabolism and tissue defense. Balanced functioning of this system is an important basis or our life and well-being. Neural Therapy can be called an autonomic nervous system regulating therapy. The basics are easy to learn and apply. Advanced techniques can be applied with experience.

The autonomic nervous system is in charge of the functions of our bodies that we do not consciously direct. The sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems have different and frequently opposing actions. The sympathetic nervous system, the “fight-flight-freeze” system, is in charge of the stress response; among other activities it raises heart rate and blood pressure and slows digestion so that the body’s resources can go towards dealing with immediate threat. The parasympathetic system is in charge of the “rest-digest” function; it stimulates the digestive tract and all its accessory organs such as the pancreas but slows the heart rate and drops blood pressure. In normal physiology, these two systems take turns depending on the need of the hour. All of this is well known to any first or second year medical student but by the time most of us graduate and move on to our clinical work, the functions of the autonomic nervous system are not considered on a day to day basis.

A healthy system can run smoothly and it allows us to see why its deterioration has such disastrous consequences. The broad application of neural therapy will appeal to all students of the autonomic nervous system within various biological and medical sciences and will give access to ideas propagated in psychosomatic disease and what is considered “alternative medicine.

Neural Therapy has application for physicians in almost every medial specialty. My aim is to provide an overview and also enough about diagnosis and treatment that the attendee can begin to practice immediately. Neural Therapy techniques are very safe and forgiving of beginner’s errors. The presentations of conditions that might respond to neural therapy are so numerous and so varied that they cannot be taught on a “how to” basis. Rather the would-be practitioner must first learn and apply the general principles and experience will do the rest.

2. What PROBLEMS do our members encounter in their practice that you can help them SOLVE?

Dr. Stephan Weinschenk from the University of Heidelberg, as an Obstetrician/Gynaecologist suggests that infertility is one of the primary reasons for Neural Therapy. By correcting dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system using the principles of neural therapy, one can make enormous improvements in the biology and health of our patients leading to fertility!

3. What are the most important things you want the world to know about YOU?

Robert Banner, MD is currently in private practice in London, Ontario. He is Board Certified in Family Medicine (Fellow) and Anesthesiology (Fellow). He holds additional certification in Traditional Chinese Medicine Acupuncture from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He is a member of many professional organizations and is the current president of the newly formed North American Academy of Neural Therapy. He is a certified Functional Medicine Practioner (IFMCP) and also holds qualification with the American and Canadian Academies of Pain Management (AAPM/CAPM) and the American Board of Integrative and Holistic Medicine (ABIHM) and is a Fellow of the American Ozonotherapy Association (FAOO). The Centers for Development of Homeopathy (CEDH) granted certification in homeopathy in 2015. His is also a certified Irlen Screener and Gluten Practitioner. He is past president of the Ontario Society of Physicians for Complementary Medicine and Past Chair of the Ontario Medical Association Section of Complementary and Integrative Medicine. Currently he sits on the Board of the Canadian Integrative Medical Association (CIMA). Traditional Allopathic and Complementary/Alternative/Holistic therapies are used in the care of patients including Neural Therapy, Prolotherapy/Prolozone, Applied Kinesiology, Nutritional Medicine and Functional Medicine. Holistic care directed at optimizing general health (physical, mental, spiritual) and targeting “root” causes of dysfunction are the cornerstone of his practice.

Youngran Chung, MD

Dr. Chung is Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine) at Northwestern University. Having been trained in medical acupuncture, homeopathy, and medical hypnosis, she is interested in the integration of complementary/alternative medicine modalities along with conventional medicine to provide safe and effective ways to treat patients.

She writes:

Homeopathy is one of the safest, most practical and effective tools that can be incorporated into any integrative medicine practice for both children and adults for a wide range of medical issues. A basic understanding of homeopathy will be presented, along with examples of how it can be used for common problems such as recurrent infections in children.

As a board certified Integrative medicine physician, and practicing as a pediatric pulmonologist at an academic medical center, I have found homeopathy to be the easiest and most effective modality to incorporate in my practice as it is without side effects and does not interfere with pharmaceutical drugs, or with other complementary modalities such as herbs, acupuncture , body works etc.

Clinical homeopathy (CEDH: training through Center for Education & Development of Clinical Homeopathy) offers a practical way to learn homeopathy, and the result of my training from this teaching organization is being able to offer my patients safe and effective options which has been immensely satisfying for myself as well as my patients.

Phil Doyle, MB BCh NUI, MICGP, MRCGP, CFCP

Reproduction is a fundamental biological process. The fact that humans are having such a hard time with it highlights the dire nature of the health of our societies. Einstein famously said, "we cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them." As integrative physicians we suspect that behind infertility lurk the same processes that are behind the rise of all chronic diseases: poor nutrition, toxins and endocrine disruptors, chronic stress, EMF pollution, the list goes on. Once we understand the underlying issues with infertility--the root causes--we can better understand the solutions.

Phil Doyle, President of the International Institute for Restorative Reproductive Medicine, and Founder and Director of the Neo Fertility Clinic, Dublin, Ireland addressed this issue. He was asked three questions:

1. Why is your lecture ESSENTIAL for integrative practitioners to hear?

My lecture is essential for integrative practitioners to hear as it conveys a fundamental shift in thinking with respect to modern fertility treatments. Currently too many fertility clinics give up on the possibility of natural conception and recommend In Vitro Fertilization to "treat" infertility. Increasingly less attention is paid to asking the question - "Why is it that this couple cannot conceive?" instead a "By-pass" procedure is offered with IVF which has a low success rate, high cost, is invasive and results in a higher incidence of abnormal pregnancy outcomes with premature delivery, low birth weight and multiple pregnancies. I propose that we have a better solution to the infertility problem using restorative reproductive medicine that identifies and treats multiple factors that cause sub-fertility in the first place. When the root causes are treated, fertility is restored and full term, healthy singleton pregnancy with normal birth weight is much more likely.

2. What PROBLEMS do our members encounter in their practice that you can help them SOLVE?

I will introduce you to a new concept where you can interpret the "Quality of ovulation" - and help restore optimal ovulatory function to increase the chances of natural conception for your patients.

3. What are the most important things you want the world to know about YOU?

I have over 20 years of experience treating infertility and have helped over 3,500 couples achieve successful pregnancy. Many had been trying for several years with failed IVF and repeated miscarriage.

I have developed a new system with the neofertility app to document and record key factors of a woman's fertility cycle and help doctors to evaluate and treat infertility with confidence.

Bruce Holub, PhD

At the Lipid Analytical Lab (LAL) within the Univ. of Guelph Research Park in collaboration with CanAlt (our lab partner in Toronto), we have acquired the paper strip evidence-based technology/published for collecting a few blood spots or breast milk spots for omega-3 analyses at the LAL.

These collected blood or breast milk spots are well stabilized for omega-3 analyses such that they can be mailed in to the lab for analyses and reporting with risk analyses for cardio events and all-cause mortality in the case of blood spot analyses OR risk of premature births (if measured on pregnant mothers) in the case of blood spot results OR high likelihood of subsequent positive cognitive and visual development in term infants if omega-3 measurements are done on breast milk spots (and if high values).

All cut-off points for risk are based on published clinical trials in peer-reviewed journals. Most analyses will show high risk zones in the typical Canadian population which can be 'cured' via increased omega-3 intakes from diet and/or supplemental sources and confirmed via subsequent blood spot or breast milk analyses.

Lief Destrade Sosa, MD

Is Cannabis Medicine Right for Your Child? A Personalized Approach

Some of the key topics in Dr. Sosa’s lecture on the endocannabinoid system as part of our endorphins were as follows:

• Cannabinnoids and metabolism (including genomics metabolism mapping)
• Dosing and administration modalities
• Cannabinoids and Neurotransmitters
• Dynamics of cannabis and serotonin
• Dopamine: ADHD/movement disorders/Psychosis
• GABA: anxiety, Seizure disorders
• NMDA: addiction, memory
• Cannabinoids and the autistic brain
• Sleep disorders
• Anger/aggression/self-harm
• OCD

For more information about the International College of Integrative Medicine go to the ICIM website.