At a time when conventional health care in the United States is under greater scrutiny than ever, the concept of functional medicine has emerged with a new and different approach entirely. With a greater focus on the underlying, root causes of illness from a tailored, individualized perspective, this form of alternative health care is growing more popular by the day. Let’s take a look at why!
What is “Functional Medicine?”
To summarize, we looked first for a definition of the practice from the Institute for Functional Medicine website. There it is stated, “The Functional Medicine model is an individualized, patient-centered, science-based approach that empowers patients and practitioners to work together to address the underlying causes of disease and promote optimal wellness. It relies on a detailed understanding of each patient’s genetic, biochemical, and lifestyle factors and leverages that data to direct personalized treatment plans that lead to improved patient outcomes. By addressing root cause, rather than symptoms, practitioners become oriented to identifying the complexity of disease. They may find one condition has many different causes and, likewise, one cause may result in many different conditions. As a result, Functional Medicine treatment targets the specific manifestations of disease in each individual.”
This sounds great, but one may wonder: Why is it considered “alternative”? Don’t “regular” doctors do that too?
Measured against a system that essentially tests for illness according to its corresponding to a matching pharmaceutical medication, functional medicine may seem a bit odd. Doubtlessly, nutrition and lifestyle play a much greater role in functional medicine than in conventional care – while pharmaceuticals may seem to play less of one. However, both are utilized in combination with a comprehensive health history and a timeline mapping of issues related to the patient’s current health. In addition, it may take longer for results, require more one-on-one time with physicians, and be less attractive to insurance providers than other forms of health care.
But does it work? Most who support it say yes, and they say so emphatically.
The Cleveland Clinic is trying out their own “Center for Functional Medicine”
One collaboration between Dr. Mark Hyman and the Cleveland Clinic has culminated in the Clinic’s Center for Functional Medicine, described here as having the premise of promoting “the ability to optimize function.” This goal explores numerous interacting body systems and symptoms of underlying problems found within them, including “biochemical abnormalities, nutritional deficiencies, viral patterns present in the body, G.I. tract and gut dysbiosis, and immune system dysfunction.” The Clinic then follows this with treating any of such findings with medication and diet/nutrition/lifestyle management. Says Dr. Aunna Herbst of the Clinic, “We look for a root cause and restore balance so that the body can function really well.”
Our Current Health System Ranks Poorly
Additionally, according to Dr. William Cole, the current U.S. conventional medical care isn’t the highest ranked on health care provision in the world anyway. In a October 2014 MindBodyGreen article he shared that, “According to a comprehensive study by the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council, American men ranked last in life expectancy, and women were ranked second to last. When it comes to the health of a pregnant mother or her child, the U.S. has the highest mortality rate among all developed nations. The U.S. also has the third-worst mortality rate from nutritional deficiencies, and the highest absolute age-adjusted mortality rate among all developed nations!”
With this in mind, patients may do well to consider alternatives to such a seemingly insufficient, simplistic orientation with the new options and practices coming on the scene. Functional medicine alternatives to the “cookie cutter approach” of mainstream medicine may offer greater success to those struggling, since according to Dr. Hyman, “one health condition can have many different causes and how one symptom or cause can lead to many different conditions.”
Ancient Wisdom Meets Modern Advancement
And judging by the age-old wisdom of Greek physician Hippocrates, considered to be the Father of Modern Medicine, with the statment, “Let food be thy medicine, and medicine thy food,” this trend appears to indeed be on the right path. Followed up with Thomas Edison’s prediction for the future of health care uttered over a century ago, “The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will instruct his patient in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease,” it seems that functional medicine is right on time.
