Martha Carlin’s journey into microbiome science began after her husband, John, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at just 44 years old.
With a background in systems analysis, Martha did what came naturally. She started investigating.
That search for answers has now spanned 24 years and led her deep into the science of the microbiome, how our modern diet, environmental toxins, and pharmaceuticals disrupt the gut, hinder the immune system, and can lead to chronic brain diseases like Parkinson’s. Martha’s work has led to collaborations with leading researchers, publications in medical journals, a TEDxBoulder talk, and an invitation to speak at the White House Microbiome Initiative.
Martha’s new book, CONNECTED: Love, Loss, and the Unseen Forces Behind Chronic Disease, tells the story of her husband’s diagnosis and how her relentless search for answers transformed her understanding of chronic disease.
This conversation hits close to home for me because my dad passed away from Parkinson’s complications in 2020. I’m thankful for Martha’s passionate research on gut and brain health. Enjoy!
Watch our interview below, or listen to it on the Chris Beat Cancer podcast on iTunes or Spotify.
Show Notes
-John’s Parkinson’s diagnosis at 44 [2:38]
-An early warning sign of Parkinson’s [5:16]
-Getting to the root cause of chronic disease [6:50]
– How commercially grown food affects the gut microbiome [10:12]
-The connection between gut bacteria and Parkinson’s [11:48]
-How extreme endurance exercise may harm gut health [14:41]
-Marathon running increases colorectal cancer risk [16:43]
-How fiber and resistant starch feed good gut bacteria [17:25]
-Martha’s concerns about keto and low-carb diets [18:36]
-Alcohol’s harmful effects on the gut [20:08]
-My dad’s neurodegenerative decline [20:49]
-What Martha would do differently today [23:38]
-Constipation is an early warning sign [26:10]
-A nutrition and lifestyle approach [29:18]
-Dairy, diet, and restoring a healthy microbiome [33:41]
-Antimicrobial properties in plant foods [35:01]
-How diet and fermented foods help support beneficial gut bacteria [40:08]
-The importance of clean water [45:25]
-Exercise, cycling, and movement for people with Parkinson’s [47:04]
-Singing and humming to stimulate the vagus nerve [48:28]
-Oral health and the gut microbiome [49:14]
-Are microbiome stool tests worth doing? [51:40]
Connect with Martha:
Website: www.biotiquest.com
New Book: CONNECTED: Love, Loss, and the Unseen Forces Behind Chronic Disease
Substack: www.marthasquest.substack.com
The BioCollective
Instagram: @biotiquest
Martha’s Fire Cider recipe
Related interview
Dr. Dean Sherzai – The Alzheimer’s Solution
…
I created a coaching program and a private online support community to help you survive and thrive through cancer. The SQUARE ONE Program contains the step-by-step strategies used by myself and many others who have healed cancer with a holistic approach using evidence-based nutrition and natural non-toxic therapies.
This Post Has 10 Comments
Dr Ardis found that nicotine patch was able to reverse Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s among several other things. He has a video on it which is worth watching.
Absolutely fantastic that you share such knowledge with us. Thank you for doing this. The interview was very informative.
Living within one mile of a golf course is associated with a 126% higher risk of developing Parkinson’s disease. To me that implicates Glyphosate.
Thank you so very much for all of your research in your journey through very difficult circumstances. We always have more to learn. Great work!
Chris, I love your interviews! Hopefully they will keep coming to my inbox!
Just recently, I learned of some new, AMAZING information regarding Parkinson’s on Substack. Chris, are you on Substack? I am fairly new on Substack, so I don’t even know how to check to see if you are on there. ???
Anyway, please consider researching the work of an Italian doctor, Dr. Antonio Costantini and one of his patients, Dr. Daphne Bryan. She also wrote a book, Parkinson’s and the B1 Therapy, about her amazing recovery from Parkinson’s using high-dose thiamine! Wow!
I found it all so very interesting … there is a 34-minute video on Substack about all this. Please let me know if you want the link … I think I could supply it for you.
Here is the link … only 34 minutes, too!
https://robertyoho.substack.com/p/425-high-dose-thiamine-hdt-is-the?r=17jy1i&utm_medium=ios
Hopefully you’ll be able to watch it. I found it riveting, just as I found all the information about Laetrile so interesting … urrrrr! Inexpensive ways to treat problems are buried time and time again! It seems CRIMINAL to me. After going through breast cancer two times, and NEVER hearing about multiple things that we can do just seems so WRONG!
Chris, have you ever watched the old, excellent documentary, Second Opinion, by Ralph Moss about the big cover-up at Sloan -Kettering back in 1977? That was 25 years BEFORE my first bout of breast cancer in 2002! Urrrrr!
It’s amazing to me how people are stepping up to the plate, taking the bull by the horns, starting to do a lot of research on their own now, and not waiting for our overloaded , bogged down and corrupt research and development big pharma companies and government blockades! Thank you for bringing this forward! May God continue to bless your work Martha and Chris too!
I appreciate all the knowledge you are revealing. I have had Uterine cancer and Breast Cancer. I come from a family where both sides have had a lot of people have died from cancer.
Where can I find the recipe for the fire….what you described helped with GERD?
Thank you so very much.
Mary
[email protected]
Hi Mary, here’s Martha’s Fire Cider recipe :)
https://biotiquest.com/blogs/blog/gut-health-recipe-how-to-make-fire-cider-with-martha-carlin