It’s an exciting time for the fields of nutrition and neurology. This year, two large studies determined that taking a daily multivitamin could improve memory and cognition in older adults. So can supplements actually improve your brain health? How else can food choices affect cognitive function? Here, our Eat host, Leslie Beck, RD, is joined by Toronto Memory Program medical director Dr. Sharon Cohen (pictured above) to provide a comprehensive guide to multivitamins and cognition.

Gastrointestinal health complaints form a large proportion of the reasons people visit their doctors—even though few people like to talk about what’s going on down there. So our Eat host, Leslie Beck, suggested a guide to all the gut, microbiome and digestive tract questions our listeners might otherwise not be comfortable asking. Here, Beck is joined by Medcan gastroenterologist Dr. Bharat Markandey (pictured above).

Intermittent fasting is one of the most popular fitness and nutrition trends out there right now—not only as an effective weight loss technique, but as a way to manage chronic disease risk and lower blood pressure. So what risks come with IF, and what should you know before giving it a try? In this encore presentation, Eat host Leslie Beck joins IF expert Dr. Krista Varady (pictured above) to break down the various types of IF, and how to do it safely and effectively for your body.

“If you’re eating something that came wrapped in plastic and contains even one ingredient that wouldn’t be found in most household kitchens, it is most likely ultra-processed food,” writes today’s guest, Dr. Chris van Tulleken (pictured above). His latest book, an international bestseller, is Ultra-Processed People. He says that North Americans get 50-60% of their calories from ultra-processed food. So how is ultra-processed food affecting our bodies and our brains? How is it really bad for us, and how can you optimize your wellness in an ultra-processed world? Medcan director of food and nutrition Leslie Beck, RD, answers these questions and more in her conversation with Dr. Chris van Tulleken.

The body’s metabolism rate, genes, and microbiomes can all affect the way we lose or gain weight. The good news? The field of personalized nutrition will likely soon be able to give you a full list of which foods will help your body lose weight, and which will contribute to weight gain. Medcan’s director of food and nutrition, Leslie Beck chats with Dr. Christopher Gardner, the director of nutrition studies at the Stanford Prevention Research Center (pictured above).

In this episode of Eat Move Think, we explore the world of women's nutrition. Guided by Medcan’s director of clinical innovation, Allison Hazell, our Eat expert, Leslie Beck, RD, and registered dietitian Joanna Stochla (pictured above) clear up the biggest misconceptions around nutrition for women, and provide a suggestion for what you should be incorporating into your diet, right away.

Curious about the food trends that will affect how and what you eat in 2023? Medcan director of food and nutrition Leslie Beck sure is. So in this episode she checks in with Nourish Food Marketing president Jo-Ann McArthur, the author of a closely watched annual report on food trends. The two experts discuss what’s likely to trend in the next year, the innovations headed our way, and how we may eat differently in the next 12 months and beyond.

We hear lots of talk about the importance of a healthy and diverse gut microbiome. So what foods should we be eating to maintain our gut health, and how does a healthy microbiome affect the rest of our body? What’s the science behind at-home microbiome testing products, and are they worth trying? How could microbial science help with early detection or treatment of conditions like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s? Medcan’s director of food and nutrition, Leslie Beck, RD, sits down with Dr. Brett Finlay, (pictured above) microbiologist and University of British Columbia professor, to find out.

If you’re a dietitian, some questions come up all the time. Is diet soda bad for you? How much coffee is too much? How many eggs can I eat? Which supplements do I need to take? How many calories should I eat every day? Which foods should I never eat? In this episode, Eat host Leslie Beck (pictured above), Medcan’s director of food and nutrition, leads her dietitian colleagues Olivia Cupido and Terence Boateng through a discussion that provides easy to understand answers.

A growing body of research suggests that your food choices can affect the long-term health of your brain. In fact, one study showed that those who scored in the top third in terms of adherence to the MIND diet were associated with being 7.5 years younger in brain age versus those who scored in the lower third. So how does the MIND diet work? Which foods are in the MIND diet—and what are some practical tips to help us to incorporate this eating pattern into our lives? Leslie Beck (pictured above) gets the answers from two of the researchers who helped develop the MIND diet: cognitive neurologist Dr. Neelum Aggarwal, and nutritionist Dr. Christy Tangney, both of Chicago’s Rush University Medical Center.

A growing body of research indicates the MIND diet can be so protective of the brain that one study showed those who most adhered to it had a brain age 7.5 years younger compared to those who least adhered to the diet. So how does the MIND diet work? Which foods are in the MIND diet—and what are some practical tips to help us to incorporate this eating pattern into our lives? In the second of our three-part series on Alzheimer’s, Leslie Beck (pictured above) gets the answers from two of the researchers who helped develop the MIND diet: cognitive neurologist Dr. Neelum Aggarwal, and nutritionist Dr. Christy Tangney, both of Chicago’s Rush University Medical Center.

The relationship between diet, exercise and weight loss is more complicated than you think. The work of evolutionary anthropologist and globally recognized metabolism expert Herman Pontzer of Duke University (pictured above) suggests that your body will figure out a way to offset burned calories after exercise, possibly by decreasing calorie-burning inflammation in the body. In this encore presentation of Pontzer’s conversation with Medcan’s director of weight management, Dr. David Macklin, the Duke associate professor discusses his most recent book, Burn, and the truth about metabolism and weight loss.

Cannabis has been legal in Canada for almost four years now. Eat Move Think’s very first episode explored cannabis and wellness and featured Dr. Mark Ware, the chief medical officer of Canopy Growth. Here, we get an update from Dr. Ware. Can cannabis change how we treat anxiety or chronic pains? Who is using it more, and what are they using it for? Dr. Mark Ware sits down with Medcan MD Dr. Lorne Greenspan to chat about new developments, and explore the ways cannabis and wellness intersect.

Health Canada recently approved a new weight loss drug, semaglutide, also known as “Ozempic” or “Wegovy.” Experts refer to it as a “game changer” for its ability to curtail appetite and spur weight loss. In this episode, Medcan’s director of weight management, Dr. David Macklin (pictured above), a co-author of Canada’s national guidelines for obesity treatment, provides host Shaun Francis with a semaglutide explainer. “We’re in a super exciting stage in my field of medicine,” Dr. Macklin says.

Intermittent fasting is an increasingly popular diet method intended to trigger weight loss. It’s also said to provide other health benefits. But does it actually work? Dr. Krista Varady is the University of Illinois, Chicago professor of nutrition and an expert in intermittent fasting. Here she discusses her recommendations with Leslie Beck.

As you get older, your chances of getting sick and developing diseases get higher. But what if aging itself is the condition we should be treating? Dr. Nir Barzilai is the founding director of the Institute for Aging Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the world’s leading expert on metformin. Here, he joins host Shaun Francis to discuss the potential of metformin to fight aging, and his new trial that could change the way we view and treat old age.

Lots of studies have been done on the effects of exercise on men. But when it comes to exercise and women’s health, there’s still so much we don’t know. Here, exercise physiologist Dr. Michaela Devries-Aboud and Medcan’s Clinical and Product Director of Sports Medicine, Therapy, Rehabilitation and Fitness, Dr. Andrew Miners, explore what we do know about women and exercise, and how that knowledge could change the way you approach your workouts.

Age-related inflammation, or “inflammaging,” has recently been linked to higher risks of chronic disease, dementia and Alzheimer's. But how can we know which foods spur inflammaging? Leslie Beck provides guidance with our host Shaun Francis.

We’ve spent 99 episodes interviewing global experts about optimal wellness. So for our 100th episode, host Shaun Francis and his team turned the mic over to listeners and explored audience-submitted Eat, Move and Think stories. Also: An Omicron COVID-19 update from Medcan’s chief medical officer, Dr. Peter Nord.

Eat Move Think experts nutritionist Leslie Beck (eat), our host Shaun Francis (move), psychologist Dr. Jack Muskat (think) and Dr. Peter Nord (medicine) discuss the year that was, make their picks for the wellness trend that dominated the last 12 months, and speculate about what’s to come in 2022.