http://www.healthykidshappykids.com/

Elisa Song, MD - Healthy Kids Happy Kids, Belmont, CA (2026)

08/16/2026

⏳We’ve been counting the wrong thing. How much social media may matter less than what kind.

Four studies landed in the same two weeks. and the ones that separated out the kind of use found something clear. The one that looked hardest at total hours found the least.

🔎 143,203 teenagers, 47 countries. Passive scrolling is where the anxiety showed up. And when passive use was accounted for, most of the associations with active use — posting, messaging, actually talking to friends — reversed or disappeared altogether.

🔎 5,227 Italian students, followed from age 7 to 16. The ones who opened a social media account in 6th, 7th, or 8th grade did worse on standardized tests than the ones who waited until 9th. The researchers traced much of it to one thing: the phone being present at key moments of the day.

And this isn’t new.

A 2020 meta-analysis of 42 studies and nearly 19,000 children found the same split with television. More screen time meant weaker language skills. But co-viewing with a parent meant stronger ones.

Same screen. Different outcome, depending on whether someone was in it with them.

Twenty years later, we’re relearning it with social media.

So the question I ask families is not just how many hours. The two I also now ask are:

👉 Is this child scrolling, or connecting?
👉 Is the phone in the room at dinner, at homework, at bedtime?

That second one is what the Italian study actually traced the damage to.

All of this is observational — none of it proves cause. But the direction is consistent enough that it changed what I ask.

📬 As I’m getting ready to dive back into a jam-packed fall conference season, I am diving into the research to make sure that my talks have the most up-to-date information possible. So I’ve decided to start a Research Roundup newsletter to keep you up-to-date, too! If you’d like to receive my Research Roundup reviews, be sure to sign up for my newsletter. Comment NEWSLETTER and I’ll send you the link, or subscribe at healthykidshappykids.com

Save this for the next screen time conversation. And send it to a parent who needs this, too.

xo Elisa Song, MD 💕

08/16/2026

⏳We’ve been counting the wrong thing. How much social media may matter less than what kind.

Four studies landed in the same two weeks. and the ones that separated out the kind of use found something clear. The one that looked hardest at total hours found the least.

🔎 143,203 teenagers, 47 countries. Passive scrolling is where the anxiety showed up. And when passive use was accounted for, most of the associations with active use — posting, messaging, actually talking to friends — reversed or disappeared altogether.

🔎 5,227 Italian students, followed from age 7 to 16. The ones who opened a social media account in 6th, 7th, or 8th grade did worse on standardized tests than the ones who waited until 9th. The researchers traced much of it to one thing: the phone being present at key moments of the day.

And this isn’t new.

A 2020 meta-analysis of 42 studies and nearly 19,000 children found the same split with television. More screen time meant weaker language skills. But co-viewing with a parent meant stronger ones.

Same screen. Different outcome, depending on whether someone was in it with them.

Twenty years later, we’re relearning it with social media.

So the question I ask families is not just how many hours. The two I also now ask are:

👉 Is this child scrolling, or connecting?
👉 Is the phone in the room at dinner, at homework, at bedtime?

That second one is what the Italian study actually traced the damage to.

All of this is observational — none of it proves cause. But the direction is consistent enough that it changed what I ask.

📬 As I’m getting ready to dive back into a jam-packed fall conference season, I am diving into the research to make sure that my talks have the most up-to-date information possible. So I’ve decided to start a Research Roundup newsletter to keep you up-to-date, too! If you’d like to receive my Research Roundup reviews, be sure to sign up for my newsletter. Comment NEWSLETTER and I’ll send you the link, or subscribe at healthykidshappykids.com

👉Save this for the next screen time conversation. And send it to a parent who needs this, too.

xo Elisa Song, MD 💕

07/11/2026

I spent the weekend at BoironUSA headquarters with these amazing people, my fellow CEDH USA faculty. I’ve taught clinical homeopathy for nearly 20 years. We all started as conventional physicians – and we’re all here because conventional medicine doesn’t have all the answers.

We spent much of our meeting reviewing the science. And this paper was too good not to share, from Anne Eckert’s lab at University of Basel (reference in first comment).

Human neuronal cells, exposed for 14 days to homeopathically diluted Gelsemium at 9C, 15C, and 30C:
✅ ATP production up as much as 32%
✅ Mitochondrial respiration and glycolysis both increased
✅ Superoxide down by nearly a quarter
✅ Neurite outgrowth — the branching that lets neurons reach each other — more than doubled

Across nearly every measure, statistically indistinguishable from nerve growth factor, the positive control. And the vehicle control, water carried through the identical dilution and succussion, did nothing at all.

So what does this mean? Anyone who cares about longevity and mitochondria should pay attention.
💡 Respiration went UP while superoxide went DOWN. This doesn’t look like a cell that got revved. It looks like a cell that got more efficient.
💡 The dose-response varies by dilution. The authors note this may be compatible with hormetic-like responses – the same language we use for exercise, fasting, polyphenols, cold. Mitohormesis.
💡 And a response in a cell in a dish can’t just be placebo.

As a pediatrician, why do I care about longevity? Because longevity starts in childhood, in the neurons that are forming right now

Full disclosure: Boiron funded this study, and 3 of the 6 authors are Boiron employees. But the analysis was blinded, and the funder had no role in analysis, interpretation, or the decision to publish.

This study opens the door to understanding how homeopathy works, beyond placebo.Our job is to stay open-minded and keep our inquiry nonjudgmental.

👉Practitioners: if you’ve been curious about homeopathy, learn more at CEDH USA

😍Parents: I can’t wait to share more about homeopathy with you! Stay tuned!

xo Elisa Song, MD💕

05/22/2026

🎉Practitioners — let’s reimagine pediatrics together!

The 5th annual A4M Pediatrics Reimagined: The Future of Pediatric Medicine Summit is happening September 17–19, 2026 & I would LOVE to see you there.

As Chair for A4M Pediatrics, I have the honor of creating THE pediatric functional medicine conference I wish I had when I was starting out as an integrative pediatrician — and the conference I want you to have now.

Reimagine what pediatric care can look like — for chronic inflammation, the microbiome, toxins, immune dysregulation, mitochondrial dysfunction, PANS/PANDAS, autism, eczema, metabolic health, vagus nerve dysregulation &whole-child resilience.

My goal for this conference is simple. Not just theory, not just research — but practical, clinically useful tools &protocols you can bring back to your patients on Monday.

And most importantly, you’ll find your people — like-minded pediatric practitioners who want to help end this unacceptable tide of childhood chronic disease & help children thrive from the inside out.

👉Register here [LINK IN BIO]: https://www.a4m.com/pediatrics-reimagined-2026.html
or comment CONFERENCE and I’ll send you the link.
👉Use code SONG200 for $200 off registration.

Here’s our amazing lineup of fantastic speakers:
✨ Microbiome, immunometabolism, Lyme, mold & mitochondria: Chris Magryta,
✨ Toxins, screens & stress: , ,
✨ Autism, neurodevelopment & mental health: Elizabeth Mumpe,
✨ Autoimmunity, eczema & allergic disease:
✨ Vagus nerve and neurolongevity: .ebonicornish
✨ Methylation, metabolism, genomics & vaccines: Sharon Hausman-Cohen .aricalhoun

✨ And I’ll be teaching you “The biology of resilience: how the microbiome, neuroception, and the cell danger response shape pediatric health”

👉Share with any pediatric practitioner you know. Hope to see you in Nashville! 💛

xo, Elisa 💕
P.S. There’s a special dinner meetup for HKHK Practitioner members - more coming soon!

05/20/2026

In case you’re wondering, Pepsi Prebiotic Cola is NOT good for your gut microbiome.

I’m seeing a disturbing trend among children and teens. More and more believe:
🥤 soda can replace real prebiotics
💪 protein shakes and bars can replace meals
🥬 greens gummies can replace vegetables

Wellness-washing is teaching our kids that soda, bars, shakes, and gummies can replace real food.

And this deceptive marketing is not new.

Back in 2007, Coca-Cola launched Diet Coke Plus — fortified with vitamins and minerals and marketed as a “better” soda choice. The FDA stepped in and warned that adding nutrients to carbonated beverages could mislead consumers into believing they were healthy dietary choices.

Now it’s happening again — this time with gut health buzzwords.

Here’s what worries me most:
1️⃣ Many of these “healthified” products still contain too much added sugar, artificial sweeteners, artificial flavors, emulsifiers, and ultra-processed additives that can negatively impact kids’ health and gut microbiomes.
2️⃣ They teach our kids that nutrition can be engineered in a factory instead of nourished through real food.

Prebiotics added to soda are NOT the same as eating:
🫐raspberries
🫘 lentils & beans
🧄 garlic & onions
🥣 oats
🍌 green bananas
🥦 asparagus

✨ REAL food delivers fiber alongside vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, phytonutrients, healthy fats, amino acids, enzymes, and cofactors that work TOGETHER, synergistically to nourish the gut microbiome, brain, immune system, and metabolism.

You can’t isolate one nutrient, drop it into a package, and expect the same effect. The same goes for:
➡️ protein shakes vs real meals
➡️ greens gummies vs vegetables
➡️ fortified snacks vs whole foods

Supplements should SUPPLEMENT a healthy diet — not replace one.

That’s exactly why I teach the foundations of Food as Medicine for your gut microbiome in my book, Healthy Kids, Happy Kids. And why I created Microbiome Magic™: to help fill nutritional and microbiome gaps in today’s world while we continue building a strong foundation of real food habits for our kids.

Because the goal isn’t to raise kids who can “hack” nutrition with processed products.

The goal is to raise kids who understand what REAL nourishment looks like.

xo Elisa Song, MD💕

05/15/2026

The Lancet just officially renamed PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) to PMOS (polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome) — and here’s what it means for our teenage daughters.

For 90 years, we’ve been calling it the wrong name. This week, that changed. 14 years of global consensus. 56 organizations. 14,360 patient and clinician voices. And one truth so obvious it almost didn’t make it to print:

This was never just an o***y problem. It’s a multi-system problem.

Most teenage girls get missed.
✨75% of lean teens with PMOS have insulin resistance — even with a “normal” BMI. They’re the girls being told their irregular cycles are “stress” or their acne will “pass.” They deserve so much more.

And at the root, lies the gut microbiome.
✨ The microbiome sits at the root of nearly every PMOS driver. Insulin resistance. Androgens. Inflammation. Mood.

🎉The good news? Most root causes of PMOS are modifiable.

👉Swipe through for the evidence-backed interventions I recommend for my teenage patients — food, inositol, sleep, movement, stress and mental health support, and reducing microbiome-disrupting chemicals (yes — endocrine disruptors are also microbiome disruptors. That’s why they have negative effects far beyond hormones).

👉Save and send this to a mom or teen in need. Share with your pediatrician.

This is the new paradigm. This is how our teenage daughters become empowered to make the choices that help them thrive!

📚For the foundational microbiome science behind everything in this carousel — including the framework I use with every patient — see my book Healthy Kids, Happy Kids. Link in Bio or comment “BOOK” below and I’ll DM you the link.

💩And in case you’re wondering how to know if your daughter’s microbiome needs support, .health is the ONLY gut microbiome test I recommend for all ages. (Disclosure: I believe in Tiny Health so much that I am proud to serve as Chief Medical Officer).

Knowledge is power.

xo Dr. Elisa Song, MD 💕

05/13/2026

🥰This is my best friend Keir.

💔She died by su***de when she was 28, after losing her battle with depression and anorexia-bulimia. She would have been 56 today.

I always wonder what more I could have done for Keir. I wish I knew then what I know now about the gut-brain connection, and the power of the microbiome and Vagus Nerve to heal. I wish I knew then about the nutritional deficiencies that make anorexia-bulimia one of the most difficult mental health disorders to treat.

I wish I knew then to ask her the tough questions.

This weighs heavily on my heart, knowing that today, 1 in 3 teenage girls has seriously thought of su***de. I watch my beautiful 16 year old daughter laughing with her gaggle of friends, and think - it could be one of them …

So today, and every day, I want to dispell the most common myth about su***de.

➡️What’s the #1 Myth about su***de?
That if you ask someone about su***de, you’ll make them want to do it.

❌Asking about suicidality does NOT increase suicidal ideation.
✅Asking whether your loved one is thinking about su***de, or has a plan, can help reduce the stigma that su***de must remain an unspoken word.
✅Asking the question can help them rethink their opinions and options, and seek the help they desperately need.
✅Asking the question can relieve them of the heavy burden of hopelessness they are keeping silently to themselves.

⁉️So ask the question!
If you know someone who is hurting - reach out to them.
Ask them, “Are you OK? How can I help?”
And if YOU are hurting - please, reach out for help.

🙏Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org to reach the 24/7 Su***de & Crisis Lifeline (https://988lifeline.org/)

❤️May is Mental Health Awareness.
Let’s raise awareness together so that no one else has to ask what more they could have done …

xo Elisa Song, MD💕

(Love you so much, ❤️)

05/07/2026

The future of medicine is connection.

In a world of AI, wearables, and direct-to-consumer testing, we can lose sight of the fact that medicine is both a science, and an art, that requires human connection.

Only a human heart and eyes can capture the nuance of personalized precision medicine that is possible when you have a trusted practitioner by your side. Dr. AI has its place, but should not be where your healthcare starts and ends.

That’s why I am so honored to be a part of ‘s Fullscript Forward, on Friday, May 8, for practitioners - to learn from 20 trusted leaders in modern medicine what you should know about healthspan, clinical innovations, and patient care.

Sessions are streamed live from 12-4pm ET. Here’s a taste of what you’ll hear:
✅Health exposome: Reducing toxic load with
✅Urolithin A and mitochondrial health with Dr. Anurag Singh of
✅Pediatrics & ADHD with Dr. Matt Hand
✅Restorative sleep in practice: Using wearables to personalize care with and
✅Less paperwork, more patient work: Use AI to automate manual work and find more time to deliver care with
✅And more!

👉And be sure to join me at 11:45am PT/2:45pm ET where I will share with practitioners how to approach children’s attention, mood, and behavior through the lens of the pediatric gut-brain axis — and what that means for how we actually help them. We’ll cover:
✨Why kids’ microbiomes are fundamentally different from adult microbiomes (and why using adult reference ranges on kids’ labs will mislead you)
✨How gut dysbiosis, metabolic endotoxemia, and nutrient insufficiency drive neuropsychiatric symptoms
✨A precision Gut ReSET protocol integrating nutrition, targeted supplementation, and vagal support — grounded in a clinical story that makes the framework concrete.

👉Reserve your free spot here [LINK IN BIO]: https://www.fullscriptforward.com/?utm_campaign=fullscript-forward-may-26&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=elisa-song

(BONUS: Practitioners who register will get an exclusive 30% discount on Oura Ring 4. )

Hope to see you there!
Elisa Song, MD💕

05/06/2026

🥰 I am speechless.

Three years ago, I started formulating Microbiome Magic™ with one vision: an all-in-one daily supplement that fills kids’ nutritional and microbiome gaps better than anything else on the market.

🎉 And less than 1 week into our Founding Family launch, we sold out of every Subscribe & Save spot!

❤️I knew our community was passionate about children’s gut health. But the response to Microbiome Magic™ has been overwhelming, and I am so thrilled for the magic that we are creating together!

💛 To our Founding Families — thank you.

💪You didn’t just buy a supplement. You backed a vision for what whole child resilience can be.

If you joined as a Subscribe & Save Founding Family, your first shipment + Welcome Kit (HKHK Hydrate & Shake Bottle, Magic Stirring Wand, and digital Taste the Magic recipe guide) is on the way (if it hasn’t arrived already). You’ve locked in your Founding Family price for as long as you stay subscribed.

🎉 Limited Microbiome Magic™ one-time orders are still available
If you missed Subscribe & Save, we still have limited inventory for one-time orders of Microbiome Magic™. When this inventory runs out, Microbiome Magic™ won’t be back until our next batch arrives.

👉 Order at www.microbiomemagic.com [LINK IN BIO] or comment MAGIC and I’ll send you the link!

Our next batch of Microbiome Magic™ is already in production with our manufacturing partner and is currently estimated to be completed in early fall. The moment we have a confirmed restock date, I’ll let our community know.

I’ll be sharing more microbiome tips and tricks with you all summer long, so stay tuned!

💩Everyone can be a Gut Hero!

xo Elisa Song, MD 💕

04/30/2026

💥If you’re not breezing through menopause, then you need to attend this free masterclass by my friend and women’s health expert, .frontiero , NP.

🌺I thought perimenopause was a breeze - no hot flashes, no brain fog, no sleep problems. I had no idea that the heart arrhythmias, vertigo, and apathy were my perimenopausal symptoms.

And … hormones were only a piece of the puzzle.

💪Mamas - we are more than just our hormones! That’s why I want you to attend Laura’s free masterclass, Break the Midlife Symptom Cycle,, Thursday, April 30 at 4pm PT/7pm ET.

Learn the ROOT CAUSES of why your body, brain, and belly are struggling, and how to develop a plan that actually works to address your multiple symptoms - beyond hormones.

👉Grab your seat here [LINK IN BIO]: https://breakthemidlifecycle.com/registration?am_id=elisa8037
Or comment LAURA and I’ll send you the link.

During this live masterclass, you’ll discover:
✨Why midlife is a prime time for health struggles (and no, it’s not just hormones)
✨The biological reason multiple symptoms appear together
✨The surprising reason symptoms return again and again (even with intervention)
✨The 5 specific things blocking your body’s ability to heal itself (and why doctors don’t usually test for them)
✨How to stop treating symptoms one by one and start addressing what’s actually broken
✨The testing that shows you exactly what YOUR body is dealing with - no more guessing

🥰You deserve so much more than just a “hormone fix.”
Hope to see you there!

xo Elisa Song, MD💕

Elisa Song, MD - Healthy Kids Happy Kids

08/16/2026

08/16/2026

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05/22/2026

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