Functional

Functional medicine is a form of alternative medicine that focuses on interactions between the environment and the gastrointestinal, endocrine, and immune systems. Practitioners develop individualized treatment plans for people they treat.

Overview

Functional medicine refers to a range of therapies that aim to treat the underlying cause of disease, rather than simply treating the symptoms. This approach is intended to address the healthcare needs of the 21st century, by focusing on prevention and finding the underlying causes of serious chronic disease.

Principles

Functional medicine is guided by six core principles:

1. An understanding of the biochemical individuality of each human being, based on the concepts of genetic and environmental uniqueness.
2. Awareness of the evidence that supports a patient-centered rather than a disease-centered approach to treatment.
3. Search for a dynamic balance among the internal and external factors in a patient's body, mind, and spirit.
4. Interconnections of internal physiological factors.
5. Health as a positive vitality, not merely the absence of disease.
6. Promotion of organ reserve as the means to enhance the health span, not just the life span, of each patient.

Criticism

Functional medicine has been criticized for lacking in scientific rigor, overuse of laboratory tests, and that it is a rebrand of complementary and alternative medicine.

See also

• Alternative medicine
• Integrative medicine
• Holistic health

External links

• Institute for Functional Medicine

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