Functional medicine Information & Functional medicine Links at HealthHaven.com

Functional medicine is an alternative medicine that focuses on improving physiological function as a primary method of improving the health of patients with chronic disease. The Institute for Functional Medicine defines this approach as "personalized medicine that deals with primary prevention and underlying causes, instead of symptoms, for serious chronic disease".^[1]

Functional medicine practitioners provide chronic care management with the belief that:

"Diet, nutrition, and exposure to environmental toxins play central roles in functional medicine because they may predispose to illness, provoke symptoms, and modulate the activity of biochemical mediators through a complex and diverse set of mechanisms."^[2]

[edit] Patient care

Functional medicine is patient; the goal is to understand each individual patient's physiological, environmental, and psychosocial contexts within which his or her illnesses or dysfunctions occur. Functional medicine seeks to control or reverse each person's physiological imbalances through individualized treatment. Enhancement of patients' self-efficacy with a collaborative relationship between patient and healer is the goal in all clinical encounters.^[2]

[edit] Systems biology approach

Functional medicine reflects a systems biology approach because^{[improper synthesis?]} it includes an analysis of how all components of the human biological system interact functionally with the environment over time. The Institute for Functional Medicine contrasts this approach with an organ system biology broken down into modern medical specialties.^[3]

Most chronic disease results when multiple organ systems and multiple physiological and biochemical pathways interact with environmental influences and genetic predispositions.^[4]^[5]^[off-topic?]

Functional medicine, in agreement with modern medicine, holds that the entire "patient story" needs to be heard and understood in context in order to truly help the patient.^[6]

[edit] Organizations

[edit] The Institute for Functional Medicine

Jeffrey Bland, PhD, and Susan Bland founded the Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM) in 1992. IFM is a nonprofit educational organization that provides continuing medical education for healthcare providers.

[edit] Criticism

In 1991, the FTC charged that two corporations led by Jeffrey Bland (HealthComm and Nu-Day Enterprises) had falsely claimed that their diet program could cause weight loss by changing consumers' metabolism and cause them to lose weight without exercising so that fat is lost as body heat instead of being stored.^[7] In 1995, the FTC charged Bland and his companies with violating the 1991 consent order by making further unsubstantiated weight-loss claims for several products, including the UltraClear dietary program, which had been falsely claimed to reduce the incidence and severity of symptoms associated with gastrointestinal problems, inflammatory or immunologic problems, fatigue, food allergies, mercury exposure, kidney disorders, and rheumatoid arthritis. The second settlement agreement included a $45,000 civil penalty.^[8] The Institute for Functional Medicine, was created as division of HealthComm division.^[9]

[edit] See also

Functional symptom

[edit] References

^ Jones DS, ed. Textbook of Functional Medicine. Gig Harbor, WA: The Institute for Functional Medicine; 2005. ISBN 0977371301
^ ^a ^b Galland L (2006). "Patient-centered care: antecedents, triggers, and mediators". Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine 12 (4): 62–70. PMID 16862744.
^ Jones DS, ed. Textbook of Functional Medicine. Gig Harbor, WA: The Institute for Functional Medicine; 2005. ISBN 0977371301^{[page needed]}
^ Liu ET (May 2005). "Systems biology, integrative biology, predictive biology". Cell 121 (4): 505–6. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2005.04.021. PMID 15907463.
^ Grumbach K (2003). "Chronic illness, comorbidities, and the need for medical generalism". Annals of Family Medicine 1 (1): 4–7. doi:10.1370/afm.47. PMID 15043173.
^ Jones DS. Functional medicine model: Comprehensive care for complex, chronic disease. http://www.functionalmedicine.org/eduprog/webinar_series.asp
^ FTC charges diet company's "infomercials" contained false and unsubstantiated claims about its diet program; Consent agreement settles charges. FTC News Release, Oct 30, 1991.
^ Defendants in a previous FTC lawsuit agree to pay $45,000 civil penalty to settle charges. FTC News Release, Jan 19, 1995.
^ Stephen Barrett, M.D., Some Notes on Jeffrey Bland, Quackwatch

[edit] External links

[0] Jones DS, ed. Textbook of Functional Medicine. Gig Harbor, WA: The Institute for Functional Medicine; 2005. ISBN 0977371301

[pmid16862744-1] Galland L (2006). "Patient-centered care: antecedents, triggers, and mediators". Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine 12 (4): 62–70. PMID 16862744.

[2] Jones DS, ed. Textbook of Functional Medicine. Gig Harbor, WA: The Institute for Functional Medicine; 2005. ISBN 0977371301^{[page needed]}

[3] Liu ET (May 2005). "Systems biology, integrative biology, predictive biology". Cell 121 (4): 505–6. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2005.04.021. PMID 15907463.

[4] Grumbach K (2003). "Chronic illness, comorbidities, and the need for medical generalism". Annals of Family Medicine 1 (1): 4–7. doi:10.1370/afm.47. PMID 15043173.

[5] Jones DS. Functional medicine model: Comprehensive care for complex, chronic disease. http://www.functionalmedicine.org/eduprog/webinar_series.asp

[6] FTC charges diet company's "infomercials" contained false and unsubstantiated claims about its diet program; Consent agreement settles charges. FTC News Release, Oct 30, 1991.

[7] Defendants in a previous FTC lawsuit agree to pay $45,000 civil penalty to settle charges. FTC News Release, Jan 19, 1995.

[8] Stephen Barrett, M.D., Some Notes on Jeffrey Bland, Quackwatch

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

Contents