FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE
The concept of functional medicine was created in 1990 by a biochemist named Jeffrey Bland (1), who saw the value of molecular medicine, which seeks to understand and treat disease based on the causes and mechanisms at a molecular level (3, 4). He decided to combine integrative medicine with molecular medicine to form a framework called “functional medicine” (5).
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Functional medicine addresses imbalances in the body and refines nutrition and lifestyle to restore optimal health and function. Through food, lifestyle, and professional grade supplementation, functional nutrition unlocks barriers and threats to health, providing breakthrough science with the art of nutrition as therapy.
CHARACTERISTICS OF FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE
1. It is patient-centered rather than disease-centered, with the goal of promoting health that extends beyond the absence of disease (7).
2. The practitioner evaluates clinical imbalances within biological systems and identifies points of connection that reveal the underlying cause of disease or dysfunction (5, 8).
3. The aim is to treat the root cause of disease to promote healing, instead of treating symptoms to provide temporary relief (6).
4. Lifestyle changes are heavily emphasized in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases (7).
5. Through a therapeutic partnership, the practitioner and the patient work together to achieve goals (6).
Chronic illness and disease are often diet and lifestyle related, and many drugs only mask symptoms, leaving the root causes unresolved. Doctors who practice functional medicine believe it is a better model for addressing chronic disease, because of its focus on prevention through lifestyle changes such as diet, exercise, and stress management.
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Nutrition plays such an important role in functional medicine. The Institute of Functional Medicine defines functional nutrition as an approach that “emphasizes the importance of high-quality foods and phytonutrient diversity to address clinical imbalances and move people to the highest expression of health” (14). Nutraceuticals may be necessary in adjunct to dietary changes to enhance, support, and shift the intricate and diverse pathways to restore balance and productivity.
EPIGENETICS
The field of epigenetics has demonstrated that we have the power to turn good genes on and bad genes off through personalized choices and potential interventions, which inherently optimizes quality of life and lifespan. Through lifestyle choices and mind-body connection among other factors, your genes or past do not have to dictate your health outcomes moving forward.
The epigenome consists of chemical compounds that modify, or mark, the genome in a way that tells it what to do, where to do it, and when to do it. Epigenetic factors have an impact on DNA and gene activation.
We now understand that our genes don’t just switch on and off by themselves. Our epigenome reads our genes, and we can influence this process through the choices we make and how we live our lives. (David Sinclair, Harvard professor, researcher and bestselling author).
The great thing about the epigenome is that it can change! We are not victims of our genes and our biology. There are things we can do to activate the correct epigenetic responses in the brain and body. Like heart disease, we cannot prevent aging, but we can make the process better by taking action now and making important lifestyle changes that switch on our epigenome. These lifestyle changes can turn on the genes which make enzymes that protect the brain and body and slow down the aging process, maximizing our longevity. (Dr. Caroline Leaf, cognitive neuroscientist, communication pathologist, bestselling author).